Road safety - Stay sober, slow down, arrive alive
In the past five years, there have been 25 fatal crashes that led to 30 deaths over this period. Last year was the worst, when nine people lost their lives in accidents. Another 300 people were seriously injured over those Easter weekends.
The carnage was the cause of enormous grief for loved ones. Many of the people killed or injured were totally innocent. They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, when somebody else made a tragic mistake. Ultimately, 90% of all accidents are due to driver error.
The two biggest contributory factors are drink and speed. The gardaí and RSA have been highlighting these dangers regularly, but 95 people have already been killed on our roads in the first 95 days of this year.
As St Patrick’s Day was on a Saturday, the gardaí and RSA engaged in a media blitz, warning drinkers not to drive and drivers not to take more than one drink. Yet 479 drivers were arrested on suspicion of drink driving after failing breath tests over that weekend.
A frightening number of people are simply not heeding the warnings. More than 400 people a week are still being caught. If only by attrition, this figure will eventually be brought down as more and more people are banned from driving.
Since the crackdown on the last long weekend, just two weeks ago, the Garda Síochána had the embarrassing spectacle of the superintendent in charge of a regional traffic division arrested in a garda car on suspicion of drunken driving.
Yet in the midst of what has been an avalanche of embarrassments — capped this week by the McEntee Report highlighting atrocious record-keeping of the force in the wake of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings — the arrest of Superintendent Jim Fitzgerald is something which they can be proud of, because it sends a powerful message to everybody that gardaí are prepared to stop and breathalyse anybody.
In the midst of the current affluence, more young people than ever have their own cars and they also have their own money for drink. The vast majority of young people begin drinking as teenagers.
The combination of speed and drink are a lethal cocktail for anyone, but most especially for young inexperienced drivers.
The reckless culture of drink driving that was allowed to develop in this country must be stamped out. As the gardaí come to grips with the drink driving, however, the problems of speed will become more prominent.
Speed is the main factor in two out every five fatal collisions. With so many young people on our roads, it is necessary to demonstrate an equal determination in tackling this speeding problem.
Two young men were killed yesterday morning, while earlier in the week three young men were killed in a horrific accident in broad daylight in Co Kerry. Two of them were in a car in the slow climbing lane when another young man driving in the opposite direction lost control of his car and ploughed into them.
Gardaí have indicated that they will be very active and will be focussing particularly on speed this weekend. The message to all drivers is stay sober, slow down and arrive alive.
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