One road death is one too many - Taking care on our roads

So far this year, 191 people have died on our roads, one more than for the whole of 2013 and 29 more than in 2012.

That is not just an appalling statistic, but also a wake-up call to all of us to take road safety seriously and address with urgency the rise in fatalities. For a second year in a row, we will record an increase in the number of deaths on the roads.

Last year saw the first year-on-year increase in the number of road deaths in Ireland for the first time since 2005. This is not just disappointing and frustrating but unacceptable. The question must be asked why this is happening when so much has been invested in road safety in the last decade. Apart from the building of safer roads and improvements in infrastructure, there has been a concerted campaign to educate motorists and it appeared to be working. In 2012 the proud boast was that Ireland was one of the safest EU nations for motorists. Whether this remains the case will depend mostly on road users. There is only so much the RSA and the gardaí can do.

It had been assumed that driver behaviour had been improving, with fewer motorists willing to get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol, a practice that was akin to a national pastime not so long ago. Yet other, equally dangerous practices have now emerged, with drivers taking less account of other, more vulnerable road users, particularly cyclists and pedestrians.

Allied to that is the growing use of mobile phones by motorists. The Road Safety Authority is particularly concerned at the rise in smartphone use while driving.

Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, RSA chief executive Moyagh Murdoch said Garda detections of mobile phone use while driving was up 16% this year. “It is a very worrying trend and something that we need to tackle now before it becomes an epidemic,” she said. “Like drink driving, the role of the Road Safety Authority is to change attitudes and behaviour and we’ve seen that happen in terms of drink driving so we need to see the same sea change in the attitude towards using a mobile phone while driving.”

Despite an increase in the number of cars on the road, reflecting an improvement in the economy, the number of drivers dying on the road is actually declining, with deaths among drivers in their 20s and early 30s reducing, too.

But that’s where the good news ends. The biggest and most worrying increase in deaths this year in Ireland has been among pedestrians and cyclists, with the very young and the elderly most at risk. The number of drivers who lost their lives last year was down on previous years but there has been an increase of 240% in the number of cyclists who died.

An RSA report published this year shows that there has been a 59% increase in injuries among cyclists. As the authority advises, regardless of who is at fault, drivers need to appreciate that if involved in a collision with a cyclist, the cyclist is going to suffer the most.

It must never be forgotten that each life lost represents huge grief and unbearable loss for the families left behind.

One death on the roads is one too many.