Irish Examiner view: Driving home the message on road safety

Henry Kiely was jailed for five and a half years. Picture: North West Newspix

The justice system and community-wide efforts to improve road safety have been undermined by an almost institutionalised inability to enforce some of the sanctions imposed by one court or another on deviant, dangerous drivers.

This has been a dispiriting process for the gardaí who enforce legislation and those who try to change our culture around road usage.

Responsible road users — the great majority of people — are frustrated too. 

Despite that, there has been a huge shift in the culture around what is acceptable or not on our roads. This has led to a spectacular fall in road deaths, down from 415 in 2000 to 149 last year.

The decision to jail a disqualified driver for five and a half years because he crashed into and killed a farmer while having a row with his girlfriend will add momentum to that important change. Henry Kiely, aged 24, was also banned from driving for 30 years.

This is a tragic situation but if it changes the behaviour of others, it is entirely justified and maybe belated.