Road safety - Rift needs to be healed

AS the toll of fatalities on Ireland’s roads continues, it is disturbing to note that relations have deteriorated badly between Justice Minister Alan Shatter and chairman of the Road Safety Authority, veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne.

Especially worrying is that they are perceived by the public as the most important figures in the national road safety campaign. However, as documents seen by the Irish Examiner show, they are at loggerheads over the level of enforcement of road traffic legislation by gardaí.

The row flared after Mr Byrne called on the minister to personally intervene with An Garda Síochána amid concerns over the possible link between falling enforcement levels and a rising number of road deaths in 2013.

Characteristically robust in his reply, Mr Shatter accused Mr Byrne of creating “an entirely false impression” that traffic enforcement was no longer a Government or Garda priority. Insisting that enforcement levels remained “high and determined”, he claimed Mr Byrne was questioning his personal commitment to road safety.

If this reflects the tetchy nature of Coalition ministers in face of criticism, it is an issue that must be mended.

With lives in the balance, Mr Shatter and Mr Byrne should start singing from the same hymn sheet on the crisis of road safety.