Irish Examiner view: Time for a new approach to road safety 

RSA road death statistics for 2023 show the intersection of wider social forces

The pressure on road infrastructure is growing as the population grows: If the census tells us more and more people are living in the country, it follows that more and more of them are driving. Picture: Larry Cummins

The Road Safety Authority’s round-up of 2023 made for grim reading earlier this week, with their headline statistic particularly disappointing.

There were 184 people killed on the roads last year, a sharp rise on the 155 recorded in 2022. Last year saw the highest number of deaths on the road since 2016, and that leap of 20% in the number of fatalities since 2022 is a shocking statistic in and of itself.

This loss of life should give us all pause.

Drilling into those RSA statistics is illuminating. They reveal that one in four of those killed were aged between 16 and 25, for instance, while more pedestrians are being killed and there are also more deaths occurring at night.

The benefit of such granular analysis is that it helps regulatory bodies to focus their approach. If younger people are dying in high numbers, then a greater emphasis can be placed on targeting safety measures at younger drivers.

However, there are other challenges to be considered also, because the RSA statistics also show the intersection of wider social forces.

Stricter and wider enforcement of the traffic laws would surely help to make the roads safe, but the ongoing staff shortages in An Garda Síochána make such enforcement a serious test of the force’s resources.

Also, the pressure on road infrastructure is growing as the population grows: If the census tells us more and more people are living in the country, it follows that more and more of them are driving.

Here a specific challenge arises for the Government’s short-term and long-term objectives. For the sake of the environment, it obviously makes sense to have more people taking public transport, cycling, and walking, but effecting such changes in behaviour, resources and infrastructure takes time.

On the other hand, we have an immediate and ongoing crisis of safety on our roads, with hundreds dying in traffic incidents.

We must invest in the safety of those driving now while also steering people towards greener alternatives in the medium term — a difficult balancing act.

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Expand existing rail lines in Cork 

A computer-generated image of a light rail system operating in Blackrock, Cork, on the 'old railway' line.

Readers will have seen Paul Hosford’s wide-ranging interview with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in this newspaper, and those living in the deep south may have examined with interest one of the subjects raised.

The Taoiseach said of a proposed east-west light rail system for the city of Cork: “Light rail has worked extremely well in Dublin and I’d like to see more of it. And I don’t see why we can’t have it in other cities too...

“But the priority in terms of public transport in Cork is Bus Connects and also the Cork metropolitan rail, which is upgrading the existing train service on the existing lines and putting in new stations, sort-of a Cork Dart.”

Apart from giving locals a readymade nickname for such a metropolitan rail line — the Cart — is the Taoiseach sending mixed messages when it comes to the proposed light rail
system? Such a network, running from Ballincollig to Mahon in the city, would make a significant difference in terms of transport and access, but in truth the Taoiseach is correct to prioritise a metropolitan option.

It is necessary for the environment, for the development of Cork as part of the national aim to strengthen the regions, and for the balanced development of Cork itself to focus on existing rail lines. The explosion of population to the east of the city means the Midleton rail link to the city centre should be expanded, while the Kilbarry/Blackpool location on the city’s northern approaches is crying out for full development as a commuter spur on an existing national rail line.

The experience of the long-anticipated Cork event centre also lends weight to focusing on the metropolitan rail option. The sod was turned on the event centre site back in 2016 but it has not advanced since, becoming something of an embarrassment.

On that basis alone, to focus on expanding and developing existing rail lines seems a better option than building a network from scratch.

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RTÉ can still learn from Tubridy saga 

Ryan Tubridy began his Virgin Radio show on January 2. Picture: virginradio.co.uk

Former RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy began his new radio shows in London this week. He is presenting a morning show on Virgin Radio, as well as a weekend show which will be broadcast across several local radio stations in Ireland.

In his first outing on Tuesday, the former Late Late Show host told listeners he “cannot wait to say goodbye to 2023”, which is understandable. The financial controversy which swirled around Tubridy and his departure from RTÉ has been discussed in great detail for months, and the fallout from that scandal continues to have an impact on Irish life.

For instance, even as Tubridy returned to the airwaves this week there were reports of the difficulties being faced by TV licence inspectors: They reported facing “intolerable abuse”, losing sleep, and having their cars damaged in the wake of the RTÉ’s payments scandal.

There have also been widespread media reports of Tubridy taking a “drastic” pay cut to work for Virgin, reports which are likely to be of some interest to those in RTÉ.

If accurate, those reports confound the long-running theory that RTÉ presenters had to be highly paid to retain their services and to stop them being poached by British competitors.

Those reports may also influence RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst’s attitude to the salaries of other high-profile presenters at the national broadcaster.