Irish Examiner view: Road deaths

St Patrick's Day celebrations

Figures from An Garda Síochána show that, to date in 2023, there have been 937 drink-driving and 584 drug-driving arrests. Picture: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

St Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday this year, a convenient day for those wishing to make a long weekend of celebrating our national saint.

Readers may observe that the word “celebrating” is doing quite a lot of heavy lifting in the above sentence. For those intent on a weekend of consumption and ingestion, it might be worth considering the Road Safety Authority’s (RSA) recent appeal for people to make good choices when driving and to avoid driving if impaired by drink or drugs. 

This is a serious issue — figures from An Garda Síochána show that, to date in 2023, there have been 937 drink-driving and 584 drug-driving arrests.

The RSA’s own statistics show that overall, 40 people have now lost their lives on Irish roads so far this year, which is eight more than during the same period in 2022 — not a record anyone wants to see maintained for the rest of 2023. 

The St Patrick’s Day holiday period is a particularly dangerous time of the year, with the RSA pointing out that in the last five years, 11 people have been killed and 55 people seriously injured on our roads over those holidays.

While driving under the influence is not confined to young people, the RSA’s statistics for 2023 so far state that 50% of driving fatalities involve those aged 35 years or younger, while for the whole of last year this age group accounted for 32% of fatalities.

Those figures combine to underline the importance of responsibility, particularly at a time of celebration. The temptation to drive when under the influence, to sidestep the inconvenience of walking or waiting for a taxi, may be seductive, but a tally of 40 deaths since the turn of the year is shockingly high.

Everyone needs to make the right choices at the wheel, and before they even get behind the wheel, to ensure that this St Patrick’s Day shouldn’t be remembered for the wrong reasons.