We’re in no position to point the finger of blame at foreign drivers

We can hardly complain about the status of licences held by other nationalities when so many of our older generation were given the right to drive under a scandalous amnesty.

We have an enormous number of provisional licence-holders driving unaccompanied for years

THERE’S a danger that some Irish people are going to try to blame foreigners for all that’s going wrong on our roads.

The fact that five of the eight people killed in dreadful accidents last weekend were foreign, and that in one horrific case two Limerick men lost their lives apparently because of reckless overtaking at speed by a Polish driver coming in the opposite direction, has added grist to the mill.

However, the authorities say the number of accidents involving foreigners is not disproportionate to their number in the adult population. They are part of — not the cause of — the problem.

Many would like more detailed analysis of these figures. It may be more urban myth than fact, but people all over the country have stories to tell of foreigners driving dangerously or without regard for others.

They tell of seeing foreigners getting into their cars swigging from open cans of beer — and Gay Byrne, chairman of the Road Safety Authority, gave those reports some credence this week.

They claim reckless behaviour because foreigners cannot be given penalty points if they commit the same offences for which Irish people get them. They suspect some foreigners are driving on false or provisional licences, which means they get to avoid fines or insurance surcharges.

They worry about the overtaking skills of people driving from the left-hand side of the car and note that somebody in that position reacting in a split second to an incident may be inclined to swerve to the right instead to the left.

Add complaints about the standard of cars brought into the country — and to which the national car test is not applied — and you have a long list of grievances.

These are issues that could cause resentment and division between Irish people and immigrants, especially if they are exaggerated, as the authorities claim is the case.

But the truth is that the Irish are no position to lecture any other nationality about the standards of behaviour and conduct on the roads.

For years, drink driving has been a feature of Irish life. While there has been a cultural shift, especially among younger people, there are still many fools who do not realise the serious risk they pose to themselves and to others with their bravado in driving under the influence of alcohol.

Irish people continue to collect penalty points with a seeming rare abandon, especially for speeding, gambling apparently that they will not be caught if they offend.

Irish drivers in standard right-hand drive cars engage in all sorts of poor and dangerous practices when it comes to tailgating, overtaking and using headlights inappropriately. They seem to think the right-hand lane on dual-carriageways can be used for cruising when it is meant for overtaking. They misuse hard shoulders.

We can hardly complain about the status of licences held by other nationalities when so many of our older generation never passed a test and were given the right to drive under a scandalous amnesty.

We have an enormous number of people who have been driving unaccompanied for years while on a provisional licence and who kick up hell about the idea of restrictions on this privilege.

Most notably, hundreds of Irish people die every year in accidents in which no foreign people are involved.

Thankfully, when it comes to fatal accidents the long-term trend is positive. While the absolute number of road deaths annually is unacceptably high at 336 for 2007, things are nowhere near as bad as they used to be. That was 29 fewer deaths than the previous year and 60 fewer than in 2005, when 396 people died on our roads.

Yet the number of cars on the roads, driven by Irish people and foreigners, has multiplied in recent years. Clearly, people are more educated about the risks and despite Byrne’s lament about a “lost generation” whose habits cannot be changed, it may be that he is being unduly pessimistic. There is also better enforcement. The introduction of random breath-testing has been a wonderful deterrent. It proves that a heavy garda presence on our roads is required — and suggests that something should be done to introduce random drug-testing as well.

But there is a third element that gets pushed to the end of the list: engineering.

Indeed, the condition of our roads appears to be a contributory factor in many fatal and non-fatal road accidents.

The latest official statistics on road accidents — released this week and for the year 2006 — suggest that just 2.5% are caused by the condition of the roads.

Driver error gets the blame for 88% of crashes, pedestrians for 7% and other issues — such as animals coming onto the road — the balance.

One wonders how the gardaí categorise things. It is easy and obvious to blame driver error, but what causes that? Should it not be categorised further, or can it be?

Sometimes drivers are speeding beyond the limits set for the road, or at speeds below the limit but which are inappropriate for the weather conditions. Sometimes they are tired, on medication or have consumed alcohol and their reactions are not fast enough.

Of course, people have to adjust to the conditions they face. It comes down to personal responsibility if a road is bad or weather conditions are dangerous, or if they not healthy enough to drive. They should not take chances overtaking justbecause they see an apparent gap.

But how often are drivers put into overly testing positions by poor roads or poor road design? The country may have become rich but look at the state of many of our primary roads, let alone secondary ones.

The Cork-to-Limerick road, for example, should be dual carriageway at least from start to finish, but it is restricted to a single-lane highway for many miles. The situation on the Cork-to-Killarney road is even worse and drivers then tend to speed once they have overcome miles of frustration caused by congestion on winding, narrow roads.

EVEN on better roads drivers have reason to complain about poor design and location of essential information signs and of a lack of relevant information on the few electronic signs. They complain about inconsistent and confusing junction layouts on new roads.

There remain far too many single-carriageway roads where the hard shoulder should be replaced by widening the road. If there is not enough room for dual carriageways, then so-called 2+1 roads can be introduced instead, whereby the lanes switch every few miles giving drivers safe space in which to overtake. Unfortunately, the National Roads Authority seems to have abandoned this idea apparently because of a fear that Irish drivers would not use them properly or safely.

Good roads will lead to safer driving, even if at higher speeds. It is reasonable to expect people to obey the rules of the road and to modify their behaviour appropriately to accommodate the conditions they face.

However, it is also reasonable for motorists, who pay vast amounts in vehicle registration and hefty annual motor taxes, to expect logical road layout that allows for safe entry, exit and ongoing driving. They should also demand roads sufficiently large to handle the volumes of traffic that are likely to grow further.

The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.