[Article] Hospital says accidents are as high as before penalty points

Victor

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2765-1216804,00.html

The Sunday Times - Ireland
August 15, 2004
Hospital says accidents are as high as before penalty points
Jan Battles

IRISH drivers are back to their old bad habits, despite the introduction of the penalty points system, a new medical study suggests.

The numbers of serious car crash victims admitted to the national spinal injuries centre at the Mater hospital has returned to normal, after dropping by 50% in the penalty points scheme’s first six months of operation.

The study, Speed and Spinal Injuries, is the latest evidence that drivers are becoming immune to the deterrent effects of penalty points introduced by Seamus Brennan, the transport minister.

The research, by orthopaedic surgeons at one of the main referral centres for serious spinal injury, compared admissions from November 2002 to October 2003, the first full year of operation for penalty points, with the average figures for the previous four-year period.

In the first six months of penalty points, the number of admissions from road accidents fell by half, from an average of 33 during the preceding four years to 17. The surgeons found that after six months, the numbers of admissions for car crash-related spinal injuries had returned to normal levels. The numbers were back up to 33, similar to the 36.5 average for the preceding four years.

“The results of this study show that spinal injury from road traffic accidents can be prevented with aggressive deterrents for excessive speeding,” said the authors of the article in the current issue of the journal Injury.

“However, this effect has not persisted in the second six months of the new system, suggesting that to maintain this change the perception and familiarity of a penalty are important factors in its impact.”

The orthopaedic surgeons also point out that a similar pattern was seen in the number of deaths from road traffic accidents during the study period. There were 333 deaths compared with 409 in the previous year, before the points system came in. Of the reduction of 76 deaths, the majority, 68, were in the first six months.

“The initial launch of the new system was accompanied by a significant advertising campaign and achieved high threat perception,” said the report. “It may be that with time the driver has become familiar with the system and that the level of perceived threat with this system is not as great as it was initially. The driver is reverting to type.”

The findings are the latest indicator that drivers no longer regard the penalty point system as a significant deterrent.

The annual six-week crackdown by gardai at Christmas 2003 saw a 30% increase in the number of speeding offences compared with the same period in 2002. There were 25,914 motorists caught speeding during this time, just after the Mater study was conducted, compared with 18,339 the previous year, when the penalty points system was in its infancy. Gardai said the marked increase in speeding offences reflected driver complacency.

A survey by the National Safety Council and Car Buyers Guide last month found that 95% of motorists thought it acceptable to break the speed limit, with 16% saying it was all right to drive 15mph above it.

Three drivers have lost their licences since the introduction of penalty points. At the end of June, 139,437 drivers had two points, 12,023 had four points, 1,258 had six points, 185 had eight points and there were 35 people on 10 points.

Experts say there needs to be a more visible enforcement of the law. Fred Wegman, a Dutch safety expert who was commissioned by the government to examine road safety, said: “In the beginning you have a positive effect because people expect quite some police presence on the roads and are afraid of gaining points. After a while they are aware that that is not the case and they go back to their original behaviour.

“It is now the task of the government to be aware of that and take appropriate action. Most of the time that is related to additional police force activities and extra publicity.”

Brian Farrell of the National Safety Council said: “We knew there was going to be an initial significant drop. It’s still having an effect; it is saving lives. But we need to go where we were in the first four months. It was always going to be difficult to sustain that level.”

Bee

Isn't it sad? A good idea destroyed by poor implementation and mis-use of Garda resources.

I can confirm the above article.

We need a professional Garda Traffic corps. Not the current revenue collectors on safe motorways providing useless stats via the "Pulse" computer system.

Bee