Death toll - Road safety measures inadequate

This week witnessed a coincidence of tragedy. By Thursday, the number of people killed on our roads was 292, exactly equivalent to as many people who had died needlessly by the same date last year.

By yesterday, that number had, unfortunately, increased and if this weekend is characteristic of other weekends, there will be even more grieving families.

As safety improved significantly on roads all over other Western European countries, on a percentage basis,

Ireland was the exception.

The preliminary data on road safety in Europe in 2004, produced by the European Conference of

Ministers of Transport (ECMT), showed that fatalities in this country increased by slightly over 13%.

Last year, road accidents accounted for 379 deaths, and the trend in the current one indicates that that figure will be matched. It should make for morbid reading for the Government, and garda management, because those figures prove measures being taken to encourage greater road safety are inadequate.

It is primarily up to the Government to make sufficient resources available to the garda and for them to use them effectively to reduce the carnage on our roads. Justice Minister Michael McDowell has assured that a dedicated 600-strong Traffic Corps will be established, but this is predicated on 2,000 extra gardaí being recruited. This programme of recruitment, he maintains, would be completed by late next year or early 2007.

The people were promised before the last general election that exactly the same number of extra gardaí would be recruited, a promise which was promptly forgotten about as soon as the Government was returned to power.

It is a matter of record that most accidents are caused by human error, as much as 80% of them. Despite campaigns to promote a greater safety consciousness, the causes of accidents remain speeding, drink driving and the non-wearing of seat belts.

Undoubtedly, the realisation that there will be a garda presence on roads has a salutary effect on the behaviour of people, but in the absence of the promised Traffic Corps, this is all too often a sporadic, or seasonal, occurrence.

There is, obviously, a responsibility on road users to exercise care and safety, and the majority of them do, but the number of cars on the road is growing all the time, largely because of the socio-economic demands faced by families.

But, despite some gruesome television advertisements, every single week there is an average of 250 drivers arrested for drink driving and those are the ones that are caught. Research by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety for the year 2002 showed that 90% of those drivers were over the limit. Apart from the fatalities, in the region of 12,000 people are injured in road crashes every year, and 1,500 are seriously injured.

One of the most dangerous times of the year for road accidents is fast approaching and, again, Christmas will probably be targeted for a safety campaign.

Given the record in this country, and to borrow a phrase, road safety is not just for Christmas but an issue that will have to be dealt with more comprehensively on a year-round basis.