Road safety an issue for us all

MICHEAL JOB (March 19) seems to think pedestrians have little or no part to play in their own safety and all the “enforcement” should be on the motorist.

At the risk of stating the obvious we are not talking about two separate classes of thing here.

Sometimes I am a pedestrian and sometimes I am a motorist. When I go for a walk on our country’s roads I take my own safety seriously — I wear a reflective jacket if it’s getting dark, I bring and use a torch and when I hear a car coming I try and step in off the road onto the grass verge and wait for it to pass. I use pavements where they are available.

I am all too aware, as a motorist, how narrow, winding and potholed many of our national roads are and how hard it is to steer safely around them while staying on your own half of the road — nor do I speed.

I am equally aware — again, as a motorist — of how alarming and infuriating it is to suddenly realise at the last second there is a pedestrian looming ahead in the dark, dressed in black, without any kind of reflective gear, without a torch and well out on the road. I dread turning a corner to find one unexpectedly. They must think motorists have night vision goggles. It’s only a matter of time before a motorist swerves out into the road to avoid one of these semi-invisible denizens of the dark and into the path of an oncoming car.

How will 30kph speed limits in urban areas help pedestrians? Are there no pedestrians in rural areas? And rarely are rural areas as well lit. Perhaps motorists should just all get out of their vehicles and push them along by hand. Blaming only motorists, or pedestrians or cyclists is only to ever deal with 33% of the road safety equation.

The fact is we are all road users and everyone has their part to play in staying alive. Placing all the blame on motorists helps foster the belief that we are not responsible for own safety when we use the road in other ways.

Nick Folley

Carriagline

Co Cork