[Article] Time for drastic action on road slaughter

cyclopath2001

Article by Vincent Browne in the Sunday Business Post:

In three years alone, 2002-2004, more than 1,000 people will have been killed.

How high does the slaughter on the roads have to be before drastic action is taken? If the murder rate were a fraction of that, say one fifth, there would be an outcry. What is different about killings on the road?........

http://www.sbpost.ie/web/Sitemap/1.9did-601569849-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FComment-and-Analysis.asp

1

I think that more details need to be published about accidents..
For example how many road deaths were down to the drivers themselves? Drink? Drugs? over taking on a bends?

People need to be "woken up" to the truth behind most acidents. Its not the roads or the law.

A Dub in Glasgo

It has been well proven that driving is one of the most dangerous activities people do. People often say that they feel safe because they are in control of their car but they are not in control of the actions of the hundreds of people they pass every day.

Hundreds of people killed on the road network each year appears to be an acceptable standard so that we can enjoy our freedom of movement unhindered.

DoctorEdgeWild

I think that the only way to really wake people up to the reality of driving is to hand out stiffer penalties to those caught breaking the rules of the road.

For example, isn't drink driving tantamount to attempted manslaughter?

At the moment, drink drivers can be let off scot-free if the Gard who stopped and charged him/her doesn't turn up for his/her court appearance. (am open to correction though) It became apparent to me at least in a case some months back when singer Joe Dolan was cleared of alleged drink driving.

The real way to change people's attitudes is to force them. Possibly a very hard line view but this will save lives. IMO, all drink drivers deserve jail time, be it even for a day or two.

Road lighting, signage, armco barriers and revision of some road rules would also be ways to stop the needless slaughter.

sliabh

There is a bit of sensationalism to these numbers. Yeah 1000 will be killed every three years. However that is less that would have been killed 10 or 15 years ago when the fatalities per year were over 500.

But these are absolute figures. A true reflection of car safety is to do a comparison of deaths per number of road users or kilometres travelled.

The massive increase in car ownership in the country means that even if the number of deaths stayed static the overall accident rate is improving.

There is of course a load of room for improvement. Right now I think the numbers show we are middle of the pack in Europe with about 10 road deaths per 100,000 population (also an imperfect statistic as it doesn't reflect car ownership or usage). The best is the UK at about 6 and the worst is Portugal at 22. Acheiving the same as the UK may not be possible as they have an extensive and mature motorway network. But we are getting there.

It's not all doom and gloom!

loyatemu

I think that more details need to be published about accidents..

i'd particularly like to see information on whether fatalities were wearing seatbelts - especially when it is children that are killed. It's obviously a sensitive subject but something needs to be done to persuade more people to properly secure their kids when driving (I'm still astounded at the number of children I see jumping around in moving cars)

sliabh

loyatemu wrote:

I think that more details need to be published about accidents..

Its there. You just have to go and look for it:
http://www.nsc.ie/statistics/roadstats.cfm

cyclopath2001

sliabh wrote:

There is a bit of sensationalism to these numbers. Yeah 1000 will be killed every three years. However that is less that would have been killed 10 or 15 years ago when the fatalities per year were over 500.

.....the numbers show we are middle of the pack in Europe with about 10 ..... But we are getting there.

It's not all doom and gloom!

Tell that to the injured and bereaved.

Where exactly is 'there'?

C:\

sliabh

cyclopath2001 wrote:

Tell that to the injured and bereaved.

Where exactly is 'there'?

C:\

You are always going to have accidents and fatalities. What you have to look for is the situation where our safety work is amongst the best in the world. If we were at 7 deaths per 100,000 then we would be amongst the best in Europe and hence the best in the world. That would be a good target.

But even if the numbers were down to 50 per year (or less) there would still be Indo hacks writing sensationalist headlines.

cyclopath2001

sliabh wrote:

You are always going to have accidents and fatalities......
But even if the numbers were down to 50 per year (or less) there would still be Indo hacks writing sensationalist headlines.

As long as we allow the motor lobby to set the agenda, we'll never make a radical change in the number of deaths and injuries. Too much money and personal convenience depends on maintaining the 'acceptable level of death and injury' policy. Vehicles can be made safer & dangerous drivers can be put off the road if there is the will to do it.

Perhaps the article, which appeared in the Business Post and not the Indo, is not sensationalist but thought provoking? Sometimes it's necessary to jolt to take a fresh look at a problem.

Imposter

sliabh wrote:

You are always going to have accidents and fatalities. What you have to look for is the situation where our safety work is amongst the best in the world. If we were at 7 deaths per 100,000 then we would be amongst the best in Europe and hence the best in the world. That would be a good target.

In order to improve safety the government needs to make some unpopular decisions with regard to driving licences. Provisionals need to be done away with. Driving schools need to be regulated and probably more importantly all drivers need to undergo a retest, perhaps every 10 years as they renew their licences. Spending money on the roads and the safety aspects of roads is useless if driving standards remain as they are.