Safer roads - Let’s apply this formula to smoking

That the number of people killed on our roads last year was at a record low is a considerable victory for public health campaigning and those who embraced the great cultural shift required to achieve its objectives.

Behaviour, especially around alcohol and driving, once widely tolerated if not routine, is no longer acceptable and the dividend — a 56% reduction in road deaths and a 51% fall in serious injuries since 2007 — more than justifies the effort and commitment made by a range of government agencies and individuals. Last year 161 people lost their lives on our roads, 25 fewer than in 2011 and 51 fewer than in the previous year.

That the great majority of people, especially those yet to reach middle age, have been convinced never to drink and drive is, in a society so very enthusiastic about alcohol, an achievement that should not be underestimated. Importantly, it shows that destructive behaviour can be modified if tackled properly.

It shows too that the great and not always benign influence of the drinks industry can be curbed if a determined programme involving sanctions and education is put in place. There is an encouraging lesson here for those politicians still nervous about confronting the commercial monolith at the root of so much under-achievement and misery in our society.

If the same determination was brought to bear on aggressive, anti-social drunkenness on our streets, the kind that has led to so many tragic and random deaths — at least one in recent days — then we could all, tourists too, enjoy our towns and cities with more confidence. This is not to advocate a prudish, hypocritical attitude towards responsible drinking but to suggest that open-ended tolerance has not worked and that the extremes of casual violence, often from normally placid individuals, fuelled by alcohol must be confronted with the same vigour as drink driving has been.

Unfortunately, the success of the safer roads campaign is in stark contrast to another but more important public health programme — the campaign to eradicate the curse of smoking. About 7,000 people still die from smoking-related diseases in Ireland every year. This figure, at last year’s rate, would take nearly 50 years to be reached through road deaths.

It is astounding that, after decades of campaigning and education, so many people, especially young people, still smoke. That they do so in the face of the accumulated experiences of so many families bereaved by tobacco suggests a psychological indifference to reality that borders on a death wish. An indifference that has considerable economic consequences for this society too as the Department of Health estimates that it costs €1bn a year to provide health services for smokers.

Making our roads so much safer is an achievement we can all take some pride in. How much more justified that pride would be if we tackled smoking, especially amongst young people, with the same determination. Making it illegal to supply anybody under 25 with cigarettes or any tobacco products, and applying draconian sanctions to those who do, would be a good way to start. After all, the prospect of losing a driving licence is the single change that has saved so many lives on our roads thus proving that very stiff sanctions work.