Road safety policy - We must tackle speed and drinking

EDDIE SHAW was clearly very disillusioned with politicians when he decided to step down in November, some six weeks before the end of his term as Chairman of the National Safety Council (NSC).

Resigning was his way of saying he was embarrassed at being part of road safety policy failure.

While he was quite critical of Transport Minister Martin Cullen, with whom he had a very difficult relationship, Mr Shaw insists his disillusionment was with politicians in general who were turning road safety into a political football.

Most road accidents - almost 90% of them - can be attributed to driver behaviour, rather than the conditions of the roads, so it is unfair to blame Mr Cullen, other than for his part in the collective responsibility of the Government.

After leaving the NSC, Mr Shaw feels free to speak his mind more clearly, as he is no longer shackled by political etiquette.

In reality he never was shackled, except in his own mind, so it is unfair to blame anyone else for his own timidity.

Of course, he has now discarded that timidity. He pulled no punches in accusing politicians of criminal negligence in their failure to implement the Government’s own road safety plans.

He came to see beyond statistics, to the appalling suffering of people maimed in road accidents, and the harrowing anguish of family members at the dreaded news that loved ones had been killed in accidents, often through no fault of their own.

Mr Shaw became disillusioned with the lack of response from Government ministers and senior civil servants.

Road safety is not just a transportation issue - it should involve the Departments of Justice, Health, Education and Finance.

Blaming the Minister for Transport alone is both unfair and unwise, because it obscures the dithering of others in assuming their responsibilities.

This is of crucial importance because the whole thing is more than an issue of competent political administration. It is a question of life and death involving one of the country’s biggest killers.

There was a dramatic drop in the number of road deaths following the introduction of the penalty points system.

This was proof that the system can work.

The level of road death dropped to 335 in 2003, but it has jumped up to at least 399 for 2005.

If there were sufficient will on the part of authorities that figure could be lowered dramatically. About 150 lives could be saved annually, and many more people rescued from the ordeal of serious injury.

Drivers should be targeted coming out of pub car parks at closing time, not primarily as a means of detecting those drivers who have consumed too much alcohol, but much more importantly, as a method of persuading people not to try to drive under the influence of alcohol.

We need to implement a coherent road safety programme, tackling the dangers of speed and drink, with no tolerance whatever for such behaviour.