Ireland 13th in EU road safety laws!

r3nu4l

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0509/roadsafety.html

I wonder is there any surprise here? We are particularly admonished for failure to enact drink-driving laws! No surprise there.

I was home in Ireland for the last bank Holiday weekend and drove from Dublin to Lecanvey (in the back ar*e of Mayo) and back again in the same day and did not see a single Garda car despite the promise that there would be gardaí behind every bush and signpost just waiting to pounce on lawbreakers.

The report was compiled by the European Transport Safety Council, a non-profit road safety lobby group based in Brussels.

Apparently Finland received full marks in every category being praised for using new technology such as alcolocks, which won't allow a car to be started if the driver is over the limit!:D

That said, we were eight for deaths on the road which despite how dreadful any road death is , is still not as bad as I thought we would be!!

Any opinions?

murphaph

Opinions? Yeah. The Public needs to cop on and take driving remotely seriously, the local authorities and Department of Transport need to cop on and ensure roads and signage are up to scratch i every respect, the Gardai need to cop on and actually enforce the existing road traffic legislation, the government need to cop on and make as many road traffic offences fall under the fixed penalty (roadside justice) system to stop the ridiculous requirement for Gardai to summons to court (and appear themselves) accused offenders and speed up the process. The government also needs to cop on and bring in compulsory basic training for ALL vehicles with an abolition of the provisional licencing system (unheard of in most of Europe) or at least ensure it is policed properly.

Lots of problems there but also lots of opportunity (better way to look at it methinks) to reduce the carnage. We do have fewer accidents per capita but we also still have below average levels of vehicle ownership, so that might account for it. We should proabably compare ourselves more to the UK (similar weather, culture etc.) and we fail miserably in comparison to them.

Does the government have the will to push these changes and reforms though?

bacon&cabbage

"Number 25 is Latvia, the most dangerous EU state for road users."
and I think I saw Poland down there near the bottom too.

No surprises there really is there ?

r3nu4l

Are you trolling here? Or are you racist? Or did you mean it is unsurprising given the poor state of the infrastructure in those countries due to years and years of underfunding and a less than certain political future in these countries?

An intelligent response would be welcome

bacon&cabbage

Are you trolling here? Or are you racist? Or did you mean it is unsurprising given the poor state of the infrastructure in those countries due to years and years of underfunding and a less than certain political future in these countries?

An intelligent response would be welcome

No I am not trolling - are newer members not allowed have an opinion now ?

nor am I racist....:eek:

I dont think I am the only one here of the opinion that some drivers for certain eastern EU member states drive dangerously and at excessive speeds. A couple of miles down any DC will give first hand experience of this.
also it seems that there has been a noticeably high amount of fatalities amoung eastern european drivers recently - coincidence?


"the poor state of the infrastructure in those countries due to years and years of underfunding and a less than certain political future in these countries?" .... is unfortunate but, is no excuse for putting the lives of other road users at risk

I am not saying that us Irish drivers are perfect, far from it. I just feel that this is an issue that needs to be highlighted and addressed.

murphaph

Whilst the issue of foreign drivers (particularly eastern europeans) causing a disproportionate number of accidents does need addressing, it is far from our biggets problem in this country.

I have heard that the high numbers of accidents in Poland etc. are due to sh!t roads/sh!t law enforcement/recent economic freedoms allowing high powered cars onto the road. Hmmmm.....I know a place like that!

bacon&cabbage

Whilst the issue of foreign drivers (particularly eastern europeans) causing a disproportionate number of accidents does need addressing, it is far from our biggets problem in this country.

Agreed

I have heard that the high numbers of accidents in Poland etc. are due to sh!t roads/sh!t law enforcement/recent economic freedoms allowing high powered cars onto the road. Hmmmm.....I know a place like that!

I know this place too, they allow person to drive on public roads untested for as long as they like and if you really wanted to be tested they have to wait almost a year.:rolleyes:

Actually I wonder what the procedures are in Poland etc for getting a driving licence, I'm sure it can't be as easy as here......

r3nu4l

bacon&cabbage wrote:

No I am not trolling - are newer members not allowed have an opinion now ?

I consider myself to be a newer member so I hope we can have an opinion but you must admit, if you read back over your post that you didn't exactly explain your point and it could have been and was taken in a number of different ways

bacon&cabbage wrote:

nor am I racist....:eek:

Cool but your original post could have eben taken that way, be careful

bacon&cabbage wrote:

I dont think I am the only one here of the opinion that some drivers for certain eastern EU member states drive dangerously and at excessive speeds. A couple of miles down any DC will give first hand experience of this.
also it seems that there has been a noticeably high amount of fatalities amoung eastern european drivers recently - coincidence?

Agreed, I wonder is it because many either drive cars registered to their home country or use their licence from their home country when stopped by the gardaí and therefore are immune to penalty points system?

bacon&cabbage wrote:

"the poor state of the infrastructure in those countries due to years and years of underfunding and a less than certain political future in these countries?" .... is unfortunate but, is no excuse for putting the lives of other road users at risk

Point taken and thoroughly agreed with

bacon&cabbage wrote:

I am not saying that us Irish drivers are perfect, far from it. I just feel that this is an issue that needs to be highlighted and addressed.

Yep, some Irish drivers are far from perfect but the biggest issue to my mind is enforcement of the law. Okay the Gardaí do not have the resources they need but surely notorious stretches of road where accidents happen most frequently could be permanently policed by speed cameras or cctv?
I do think that all foreign nationals who intend to drive in Ireland should be issued with a "foriegn national" style-license that penalty points can be clocked up on and therefore makes them susceptible to the points system.

r3nu4l

bacon&cabbage wrote:

No I am not trolling - are newer members not allowed have an opinion now ?

I consider myself to be a newer member so I hope we can have an opinion but you must admit, if you read back over your post that you didn't exactly explain your point and it could have been and was taken in a number of different ways

bacon&cabbage wrote:

nor am I racist....:eek:

Cool but your original post could have eben taken that way, be careful

bacon&cabbage wrote:

I dont think I am the only one here of the opinion that some drivers for certain eastern EU member states drive dangerously and at excessive speeds. A couple of miles down any DC will give first hand experience of this.
also it seems that there has been a noticeably high amount of fatalities amoung eastern european drivers recently - coincidence?

Agreed, I wonder is it because many either drive cars registered to their home country or use their licence from their home country when stopped by the gardaí and therefore are immune to penalty points system?

bacon&cabbage wrote:

"the poor state of the infrastructure in those countries due to years and years of underfunding and a less than certain political future in these countries?" .... is unfortunate but, is no excuse for putting the lives of other road users at risk

Point taken and thoroughly agreed with

bacon&cabbage wrote:

I am not saying that us Irish drivers are perfect, far from it. I just feel that this is an issue that needs to be highlighted and addressed.

Yep, some Irish drivers are far from perfect but the biggest issue to my mind is enforcement of the law. Okay the Gardaí do not have the resources they need but surely notorious stretches of road where accidents happen most frequently could be permanently policed by speed cameras or cctv?
I do think that all foreign nationals who intend to drive in Ireland should be issued with a "foriegn national" style-license that penalty points can be clocked up on and therefore makes them susceptible to the points system.