[Article] Cullen under fire as road deaths soar

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/7096041?view=Eircomnet

Cullen under fire as road deaths soar
From:The Irish Independent
Sunday, 1st January, 2006
SHANE HICKEY

THE Government has ducked the issue of introducing random breath-testing in 2006, seen as a key priority by road safety campaigners, as deaths climbed to a four-year high this weekend.

But the Minister for Transport, in an interview with the Sunday Independent, has revealed that he is going to order gardai to move speed cameras away from revenue-rich areas to locations where accidents more regularly occur.

However, Mr Cullen has refused to give any commitment on introducing random breath-testing as the number of people killed on Irish roads reached 399 yesterday, the biggest annual toll since 2001.

With gardai reporting record numbers of drink-drive arrests this Christmas, the Minister brushed aside the controversial issue of random testing, which safety campaigners and Opposition TDs want introduced.

The issue of random breath-testing has been stalled after advice from the Attorney General who has said that it would be open to a constitutional challenge.

Minister Cullen made an extraordinary claim that "a form" of random breath-testing was already in place in Ireland, where a Garda could test anyone they suspect of having been drinking.

But he refused to say specifically if random testing of anyone who is stopped by gardai would be brought forward, saying there would be "an amplification" of the law in the New Year in terms of Garda procedures.

Questioned over the issue of a constitutional amendment, he said: "It's a possibility but the issue is to stop people drinking and driving and to make people understand that if they do go drinking and driving, they will get caught."

But stung by accusations of inaction, Mr Cullen has ordered speed cameras to be introduced at the country's worst accident blackspots in a bid to cut road deaths in 2006.

Yesterday Kildare North Independent TD Catherine Murphy said the most recent statistics available indicated that existing technology available to gardai was partly being used to generate income.

Citing 2004 figures in the annual Garda report, she said that while 30 per cent of the population lived in the Dublin metropolitan region, it had the lowest (13 per cent) number of road traffic fatalities.

But a massive 23 per cent of fatalities occurred in the eastern region, where just 17 per cent of the population live. Compared to Dublin, where over half of all road traffic offences were recorded, only 15 per cent of road traffic offences were recorded in the eastern region.

Catherine Murphy said: "You can't tell me that people using Dublin's roads are more prone to accidents, but less prone to fatalities. That just doesn't add up."

She said: "In reality, it seems that while road traffic fatalities are high in certain Garda regions, the potential for revenue to be collected, in the form of on-the-spot fines, is greater in Dublin."

"These statistics are telling us that there's not enough of a Garda presence on the roads in certain Garda regions . . . saving lives and reducing serious injuries is more important than the number of fines issued."

The failure to give any commitment on introducing random breath-testing comes after almost 1,000 motorists were caught for drink-driving in the countdown to Christmas after Gardai increased by 25 per cent the number of people being breath-tested.

Gardai have been more active than last year in breath-testing motorists in the Christmas campaign, with 1,437 tested in the first three weeks compared to 1,159 in 2004. Of the 1,437 people tested in three weeks of a six-week campaign, 977 were over the limit.

Labour transport spokeswoman Roisin Shortall said random breath-testing should be introduced as "a priority".

"If it is not possible to do this under the constitution, then I think we should have a referendum. I think that is absolutely critical," said Deputy Shortall.

Fine Gael transport spokesperson Olivia Mitchell has said government promises in the area amount to "a litany of abject failures" while Ms Shortall claimed Mr Cullen was not "showing any real interest in the issue of road safety".

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Minister Cullen said legislation would be brought before the Dail soon to put speed cameras in accident blackspots around the country.

A number of other road safety measures are also set to be put in place during the year including more penalty points and increased numbers in the Garda traffic corps, he said.

Minister Cullen said the position had improved between 1998 and 2004, the first time that a road strategy had been introduced.

"That is at a time when there is 40 per cent more vehicles on the road so in one sense, we must be doing right. If nothing was in place, the deaths would be over 600 or certainly approaching it," he said.

"It has gone back up again last year from the lowest year ever which was in 2003. We have had a reversal in 2004 and 2005 but not back to the levels previous to that. It was coming down quite substantially but it is way below what it was in previous years before we introduced a road traffic strategy."

He said an additional 30 penalty points offences, such as crossing a straight white line and dangerous overtaking, could be added once appropriate Garda processing systems are in place.

Legislation to put in place private speed cameras will be brought in during the next Dail term but there will be "no connection between those operating the cameras and revenue income at all," he said.

"I have spoken to the guards about this and told them I want them located at accident blackspots," said Minister Cullen.

"The new system must be designed to save lives and not raise revenue which has been a big question in people's minds and the camera suppliers have to be answerable to the Garda," he said.

However Fine Gael's Olivia Mitchell said the Government's aims of reducing road deaths to below 300 by 2006 had a long way to go.

"The list of Government promised, but unfilled, measures ranging from legislative changes to enforcement is a litany of abject failures and a testimony to this Government's indifference, incompetence or both to the serious issue of road safety," she said.

Deputy Shortall said the Government had a "lack of interest in the area".

"The whole area of road safety needs to be seen as one of investment rather than expenditure because if you invest in the gardai to police it with the resources that are required, you will get the return on it," she said.

The AA's Conor Faughnan said there was no sense of urgency to tackle the problem of road safety. What was needed was leadership from Government and the same sense of urgency they showed in dealing with gang crime after the murder of Veronica Guerin.

"Let's begin by caring. If we lost 400 people to a plane crash or a train crash then you would never hear the end of it - it would be an overwhelming priority for everybody but because it happens every weekend, people seem to accept it," said Mr Faulknan.

"The first thing is that we need leadership from government - the government will always say in response to a question that road safety is a priority but judging by their actions, it is not.

"I would argue that if the Government is to be serious about this, it needs to have a single minister, perhaps even the Taoiseach, take over all responsibility for road safety because it crosses across different departments and different ministers.

"And they will have to act on it with the same type of urgency that they showed in response to the Veronica Guerin assassination, Foot & Mouth - the various things that seem to galvanise us when the issue is seen to be important."

Brian Farrell of the National Safety Council (NSC) called for more enforcement, warning that the same "errant behaviour" of drivers will continue if it goes uncorrected.

"It's common sense, if you talk to any psychologist, they will tell you that if errant behaviour is not corrected, people are going to continue with that errant behaviour," said Mr Farrell.

"We know what works, we know that enforcement will change people's behaviour or the threat or the perception of enforcement and that is missing on our roads," he said.

Last year was blighted by a series of crashes including the most most high profile tragedy when five schoolgirls were killed in the Navan bus crash last May.

Among the latest deaths was a pedestrian, Emily Gilmartin, from Greenhills Estate, Ballina, Co Mayo, who died in the town on Christmas Eve. Another pedestrian, 55-year-old Marie Brennan, died after she was struck by a car at Cashel, Tubbercurry, Co Sligo, also on Christmas Eve.

In Cork, 28-year-old Eugene Whelan from Annakissa, Mallow, died after a collision at Ballyhadeen, Castletownroche on December 27.

Gardai named the victim of a hit-and-run traffic collision on the Lee Road on December 30 as Finbarr Walsh, 54, from Connolly Road, Ballyphehane. And 32-year-old Lee McNamara of Pembroke Wood, Passage West, died after a fatal traffic collision on Rochestown Road, Ardmore, Passage West on December 29 when his car hit a wall.

The death of an 82-year-old man in a two-car collision on Friday at Drennanstown, Rathangan, Co Kildare, brought the death toll for the year to 399. The man was named yesterday as Kevin Callinan from Scotland.

This is the highest death toll on our roads since 2001 when 411 people died.

Tipsy Mac

Not much he can do, there's plenty of laws there at the moment to stop the carnage they are just not being enforced. In my 7 years of driving in Dublin I have never once seen a Garda checkpoint for drink driving yet I see carparks of pubs full of cars every night.

Turner

Tipsy Mac wrote:

In my 7 years of driving in Dublin I have never once seen a Garda checkpoint for drink driving yet I see carparks of pubs full of cars every night.

"Gardai have been more active than last year in breath-testing motorists in the Christmas campaign, with 1,437 tested in the first three weeks compared to 1,159 in 2004. Of the 1,437 people tested in three weeks of a six-week campaign, 977 were over the limit."

1,437 people this xmas had dealings with the Gardai

Maskhadov

the law simply isnt enforce strictly enough. We need more GARDA enforcing the law, giving out penality points and having more checkpoints.

Tipsy Mac

Chief--- wrote:

"Gardai have been more active than last year in breath-testing motorists in the Christmas campaign, with 1,437 tested in the first three weeks compared to 1,159 in 2004. Of the 1,437 people tested in three weeks of a six-week campaign, 977 were over the limit."

1,437 people this xmas had dealings with the Gardai

1,437 tested is a paltry amount out of a driver number of about 1.5 million and is unacceptable. In those 3 weeks it amounts to 68 a night, I would imagine that's not even one test per station around the country per night.

DubTony

Personally I am totally against the introduction of random breath testing (I'm a bit of a libertarian). As has been suggested here already, enforcing the laws that are in place will catch even more drunks on the road. How often have you seen a car suddenly swerve for absolutely no reason on a road? Take into account the average miles an average motorist does and it stands to reason that a cop in a car or on a bike will see a hell of a lot more. There's a reason to pull someone over. "You were driving a bit erratically - blow in this"

Here are a few more. "Your brake lights aren't working." "You were in the wrong lane at that roundabout." "You were travelling in the outside lane of the dual carraigeway and not overtaking" "You're driving without your lights on." "Your passengers are jumping around the car in a manner that could affect your driving. Tell them to calm down." "You were speeding." etc. etc. etc.

A cop needs to determine if a person has been drinking. They usually do this by setting up a phony motor tax check, sticking their head in the window and taking a deep breath. If he smells alcohol he can ask you to "blow in the bag". Great. But it stands to reason that if more Gardai stop more people for car and driving offences they'll catch more drunks without ever having to set up mammoth road blocks and infringing upon peoples rights. (That'd be the one that says you're free to come and go and do as you like as long as you don't break the law). These nuisances masquerading as motor tax checks are nothing but a farce. Put a second tax disc on the back of the car, let the cop behind have a look from there and pull you over if it's out of date or missing. Instead of wasting man hours on road blocks and testing less that 3 people per county per day, for a puny 3 weeks of the year, use the laws that are already in place and catch hundreds all through the year. Rest assured that when a fellah knows he is likely to be pulled over because he didn't indicate, he'll think hard about driving drunk.

This is a no-brainer. Enforce the laws we have and let the law abiding citizens get on with their lives without hindrance or obstruction.

Victor

But why rely on the farce of motor tax checks to do this? Is abuse of the law not worse than an erosion of rights.

And while yes "you're free to come and go and do as you like as long as you don't break the law", you need a licence to drive motor vehicle on the public road. Its permission, not a right.

Thomond Pk

Victor wrote:

But why rely on the farce of motor tax checks to do this? Is abuse of the law not worse than an erosion of rights.

And while yes "you're free to come and go and do as you like as long as you don't break the law", you need a licence to drive motor vehicle on the public road. Its permission, not a right.

I totally agree and feel it is time for you to edit your signature to reflect the further waste of talent that has occured since you first recorded the carnage.

When penalty points were introduced everyone behaved and both accidents and fatalities declined significantly. However once people figured out that there was just as little chance of getting caught as before old habits came back and the usual level of drunken driving and resulting fatalities returned. With a statement from our Minister like the one below it is not hard to see why boy racers and drunks are complacent.

But the Minister for Transport, in an interview with the Sunday Independent, has revealed that he is going to order gardai to move speed cameras away from revenue-rich areas to locations where accidents more regularly occur.

Why haven't the number of speed cameras and additional gardai promised in 2002 materialised? Surely speed cameras can be bought. It is only logical that most accidents will occur where least garda supervision is in place whatever the road conditions.

Nuttzz

despite 399 dead its still an "improvement" on the figures from 1990-2000 where 400+ were killed every year, sadly the suicide rate is higher than the road fatality rate and it doesnt get the same press coverage or resources applied to tackling it

http://www.irishhealth.com/index.html?level=4&id=8429

Turner

Tipsy Mac wrote:

1,437 tested is a paltry amount out of a driver number of about 1.5 million and is unacceptable. In those 3 weeks it amounts to 68 a night, I would imagine that's not even one test per station around the country per night.

They do have other policing issues to deal with on a daily basis all which like drink driving require huge amounts of paper work and court appearances down the line..

Daily they have to deal with domestic violence/joyriding/burglaries/public order/station duties/serious and fatal Road traffic accidents/assaults/rapes/criminal damage/managment of prisoners/immigration duties/prison and cash escorts/traffic management/On the beat.

You seem to forget at any one time there is only about 3,000-3500 Gardai working throughout the country. They are seriously under resourced.

Thomond Pk

Nobody is going to argue that the police are adequately resourced nor that they don't have to deal with some pretty graphic situations and characters.

However it is clear that more Gardai are required on the roads to maintain a visible presence that leads to a situation where boy racers and drunk drivers have at least some fear that they may be caught if they offend. I see additional police recruitment as the most attractive option howver I would also favour privatised speed detection along the lines of the clamping contract should the 2002 election promise of 2000 additional recruits not be met.

DubTony

Victor wrote:

But why rely on the farce of motor tax checks to do this? Is abuse of the law not worse than an erosion of rights.

Actually, to be honest I'm not so sure. Erosion of rights in itself is usually an abuse of the law. A person going about his or her business should never have to be concerned with being hindered by the authorities (represented by the Gardai). If the authorities have to delay people going about their business in order to get their job done they aren't doing their job properly.

Policing, by it's very nature, is a responsive function. Policing doesn't take place until a crime has been committed. If no crimes were committed there would be no need for a police force. By setting up road blocks they are becoming pro-active. While many people believe that this is a good way to police, there is no evidence to show that this is so. In fact, the numbers of people caught driving drunk seems to increase year on year. Whether this is because the Gardai are more pro-active year on year is really irrelevant. The idea of more checks is supposed to be to deter the criminal rather than catch him. There is still an attitude taken by people who drive drunk that they have a better chance of getting away with it than they have of being caught. The unfortunate thing is they are right. However, setting up huge road blocks with lots of flashing lights, police vans, and tens of Gardai will not do anything to deter this.

Setting up personnel to man a RBT operation is a massive task. Vans are required to take away the "suspects". For every person caught a Garda must take a car to the station or pound. So apart from being very expensive to operate it pulls personnel from other duties (while you're being told to "blow in the bag" on your way home from the cinema your house is being robbed because ... etc. etc.). It's also intimidating to the public, especially those who never have any type of dealings with the Gardai.

Every motor accident has someone at fault. The first thing to determine is whether or not alcohol is involved. That's an example showing that we already effectively have RBT. It's a back door method that is not used often enough. When a cop feels that someone is driving like an idiot he should stop the driver and determine if alcohol is involved. Have cops do their job. We'll get more tests done and catch more people. That in itself will be the greatest deterrent. It could happen to anyone at any time. Let's ensure that the cops who can't be bothered to stop speeders, lane hoggers and general idiots on our roads simply do their jobs and in the process cut down on the number of people driving drunk.

A Dub in Glasgo

5 things

1. A dedicated traffic police that patrols and enforces current law including people driving without a full license and lane indiscipline

2. Get rid of the laughable driving on a 2nd provisional license

3. Pump up the driving testing/standards resource

4. Every driver to have a retest every 10 years

5. Every driver is required to attend an advanced driving course within 1 year of passing their test.

seamus

1,437 isn't a whole lot. Realistically if half of all drivers could expect to be tested at least once in a given year, then we'd be getting somewhere. That 70% of drivers tested does indicate that the Gardai are quite good at determining who is and isn't over the limit at the roadside - but the issue isn't catching those doing it, it's deterring people from putting themselves in the position in the first place.

If we lost 400 people to a plane crash or a train crash then you would never hear the end of it - it would be an overwhelming priority for everybody

I think Conor Faughan has started reading boards....

gobdaw

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

1. A dedicated traffic police that patrols and enforces current law including people driving without a full license and lane indiscipline.

Oh yes! Does not have to be "Garda", with full Tullamore training, but a narrorer and more focused training related to "traffic". Why is no thinking being directed to the wastage of skills and expertise in the manditary retirement of Gardai at 55 years?

2. Get rid of the laughable driving on a 2nd provisional license.[/QUOTE]

Oh yes! Yes!

Turner

DubTony wrote:

A person going about his or her business should never have to be concerned with being hindered by the authorities (represented by the Gardai). If the authorities have to delay people going about their business in order to get their job done they aren't doing their job properly.

I think yo have notions about the kind of country we live in, its not all sunshine and happiness.

Have you heard of Operation Anvil operating in the Dublin Region and soon to be extended hopefully throughout the country. The idea is having uniformed and armed gardai operating checkpoints daily thrtoughout the city.

Some of the results speak for themselves..

from garda.ie

Number of checkpoints undertaken: 12,037
Number of arrests: Total 753
Murder 4
Serious Assaults 203
Burglary 380
Robbery 166
Number of drug searches 3755
Number of theft related searches 279
Number of s.29 OASA (firearms) searches 304
Number of firearms seized / recovered 163
Vehicle seizures – s.41 RTA 1,492
Approximate value of property recovered €2.2m

jwt

I believe a similar operation is underway in the midwest called operation "Apron"??????

Armed checkpoints on the N4,N6 etc supposedly checking tax but actually looking for persons going equiped or on the return journey with stolen goods.


John

DubTony

Chief--- wrote:

I think yo have notions about the kind of country we live in, its not all sunshine and happiness.

Have you heard of Operation Anvil operating in the Dublin Region and soon to be extended hopefully throughout the country. The idea is having uniformed and armed gardai operating checkpoints daily thrtoughout the city.

I've heard of it and seen it in operation. While it has proven to be somewhat successful, the question arises; is it being used to replace "real" police work? By that I mean investigating, following up tip-offs, and maybe even a bit of detection.

Don't get me wrong. I'm simply making the point that 4 or 5 cops on the road stopping cars actually does more to piss off the public than it can ever do to deter drunk drivers. I was stopped at checkpoints 3 times in a 4 day period on the same road in October. One of them was at 5 pm and was causing a tail back onto the southbound exit ramp of the M50 at Firhouse. When I told the cop what was going on a half mile behind me he just shrugged and nodded toward the guys in the red vests. This isn't police work. It's donkey work.

Eddie Shaw on "The Right Hook" on Newstalk tonight stated that we would need 450,000 tests per annum to achieve a decent level of deterrent. Currently we have in the region of 20,000.

Here are some simple numbers. If just 1,500 Gardai did one test each per day every day of a year, there would be over half a million tests done per annum and would cause little disruption to anyone. That's about one eighth of the force producing a breathalyser once every 8 hours.

This ain't difficult folks.

dts

Why not try the grass aproch.
Offer 50euro to anyone who grasses on a drunk driver. All you have to do is go in your local pub and sit and watch. Everytime someone leaves to the carpark you phone the Gards and thats another 50quid. Now that may put a deterant that people can belive in.
They used this system in the UK to help catch people who were working and collecting dole checks.
The other way is to name and shame the drunks that are caught in the local papers and for every one of the 03:00am crashes with no other cars involved tell the public if the person who just killed themselfs was drunk.
The last thing I want to add is never mind the drunks or the bad driving, improve the roads without toll and the number of deaths will come down.