Let’s put safety first — but ‘road holocaust’ headlines are just nonsense

WHILE the eight road deaths recently in Donegal were appalling, the accompanying hysteria in the national press, as a result, is idiotic.

Various writers have referred to “the carnage on our roads” or “our national disaster” and one even went so far as to refer to it as “a holocaust on our roads”.

The reality is, of course, entirely different. On average, about 30,000 people die in this country every year from all causes. Road fatalities account for less than 1% of these. More than 1.5 million cars are on our roads daily and, on average, two occupants in those cars will be killed every three days. That’s one chance in every 2.25 million of getting killed in your car tomorrow. You have a statistically much higher chance of falling to your death down the stairs.