Ireland has 10th safest roads in world: OECD

Bodan

Ireland is now ranked as the 10th safest country in the world, according to a new global road safety report.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found that out of 27 countries, Ireland had the fifth most improved road safety record, with six road deaths per 100,000 of the population.

The study found that road fatalities have dropped by almost a third since 2005.

However, the OECD also said the fatality risk to 18- to 20-year-olds in Ireland is three times higher than that of the general population.

Link: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/ireland-has-10th-safest-roads-in-world-oecd-445170.html#ixzz0eru8p8Dc

marmurr1916

There were 11 road fatalities per 100,000 population in 2000 (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/56/32/2487308.pdf) the fatality rate has almost halved since then.

A lot of that must be down to the increased percentage of motorways and dual-carriageways in the road network.

Chris_5339762

Definately. Safety wise the M9 completion, M11 gap, M17/18 and M20 will reduce that further. Most other schemes wont do much to the safety record. Badly needed schemes like Adare, Claregalway and SRR roundabouts wont make a difference as traffic is stopped anyway!

bacon&cabbage

In fairness I think a certain amount of credit must go to the Govt for this. They have strongly pushed a road safety agenda and their determination to complete the MIU's (late I know) has helped

road_high

The new roads have made a big difference. Parts of the old N1, N7, N8, N9, N11 in particular had all major accident blackspots. These are now bypassed, thankfully.

Tech3

I wouldnt just mention the motorway network, some good S2 and WS2 have got rid of a few bad blackspots. Take the N21 Abbeyfeale to Castleisland scheme where the previous road at headleys bridge was very dangerous.

Tommy Bateman

This study makes me proud to be Irish, but even prouder to be a FF voter.

challengemaster

I'm hardly the only one to think that whoever wrote this has obviously never actually driven on Irish roads, especially country ones.

irishdub14

Tommy Bateman wrote: »

This study makes me proud to be Irish, but even prouder to be a FF voter.

ewww.

Carawaystick

Tommy Bateman wrote: »

This study makes me proud to be Irish, but even prouder to be a FF voter.

have you any proof of this?

G_R

Tommy Bateman wrote: »

This study makes me proud to be Irish, but even prouder to be a FF voter.

Oh so your one of them

Slice

challengemaster wrote: »

I'm hardly the only one to think that whoever wrote this has obviously never actually driven on Irish roads, especially country ones.

I was wondering how long it would take for this report to be shot down

Zoney

Well, as good as the rank is, just imagine what it would be if one of the biggest issues in the country was tackled - drink. There are still far too many reports of single car collisions in the wee hours of the morning, although presumably some are just the hazards of driving at night on country roads.

Maybe it is the small size of the country - you can often be familiar with an area when you hear a report and think certain accidents could have been avoided. Or indeed you know someone who knows the person (or no doubt some contributors here have been directly affected). Whatever the reason, I think there is incentive regardless of a high rank to do better. Getting into a car (or indeed walking along the road) is still quite a dangerous activity in general terms.

As regards the current rank, I wouldn't just put it down to the new roads - other countries have motorway networks and some of ours has barely been opened - so presumably too recent to affect past statistics. Considering the poor driving you see every day here, there must be some other factor. Perhaps having hard shoulder on so much single carriageway is also a positive? (all the 1980s/1990s work) Also we have few dual carriageways with no hard shoulder (experience from NI/UK makes me think these are surely a bit lethal). It's encouraging as despite the downturn, we are slowly improving more of the road network.

It would be interesting to hear the comments of any non-Irish contributors as to what they think contributes to this rank?

Tommy Bateman

Carawaystick wrote: »

have you any proof of this?

The proof is in the concrete.

fricatus

Zoney wrote: »

As regards the current rank, I wouldn't just put it down to the new roads - other countries have motorway networks and some of ours has barely been opened - so presumably too recent to affect past statistics.

I'd agree with most of your post above, but not this point. Every time a new section of motorway is opened, that's another big chunk of single-carriageway, national-road traffic that disappears. With it go hundreds and thousands of potential head-on collisions, since it's the national road network that carries the bulk of the traffic in this country.

Remember how many fatal accidents there used to be on the old N1, for example? With the new motorway, these simply disappeared.

spacetweek

Slice wrote: »

I was wondering how long it would take for this report to be shot down

10 hours to be exact - pretty slow by normal Boards standards!

The report is good news of course.

Can I point out that if we didn't have bungalow blitz in this country, and people lived in towns and cities like they're supposed to, no-one would need to drive on those country boreens?

mikom

spacetweek wrote: »

Can I point out that if we didn't have bungalow blitz in this country, and people lived in towns and cities like they're supposed to, no-one would need to drive on those country boreens?

We have enough automatons, thanks.

spacetweek

fricatus wrote: »

Remember how many fatal accidents there used to be on the old N1, for example? With the new motorway, these simply disappeared.

Yea back in 2003 I remember a s**tty story about the N1.

It was 4 months before the M1 Swords-Balbriggan stretch would open, and a couple were using the old N1 to get to the airport. They were heading off on a gap year. On the way they were involved in a fatal collision which killed the bloke.

I remember thinking how crappy it was that this had to happen when only 4 months later the M1 would have saved him. So, when a road is dangerous, it's so essential to replace it as soon as possible. Every extra month it exists, it needlessly endangers people's lives.

nordydan

fricatus wrote: »

Remember how many fatal accidents there used to be on the old N1, for example? With the new motorway, these simply disappeared.

Indeed the new road is 30 times safer, three times busier in places with 10% of the accidents.

Danno

I think the title is rather mis-leading... Irish roads are far from safe. It's the safe way that the majority of Irish people drive on the roads.

Slice

Well it's not just better roads, it's also introduction of penalty points, introduction of the NCT, reduced speed limits in built up areas, introduction of speed traps, reduced alcohol limits, introduction of the car scrapping scheme, road safety campaign, etc.

People are also more safety conscious - I don't think I know anyone comfortable driving without a seatbelt on in either the front or the rear passenger seat anymore. That says a lot. Also, and maybe this has less to do with it, but the fact that cycling is on the up means there are more drivers who are also cyclists which in turn means there are more drivers who are aware and conscious of cyclists.

Zoney

fricatus wrote: »

I'd agree with most of your post above, but not this point. Every time a new section of motorway is opened, that's another big chunk of single-carriageway, national-road traffic that disappears. With it go hundreds and thousands of potential head-on collisions, since it's the national road network that carries the bulk of the traffic in this country.

Remember how many fatal accidents there used to be on the old N1, for example? With the new motorway, these simply disappeared.

fricatus: I agree that's a huge factor in *improvement* of our rank - what I mean is how could it be the main factor in our high rank overall compared to other countries? There are a lot more than 9 countries with as extensive motorway networks as ours was until a year or so ago (prior to recent openings - which would only skew the statistics since 2005 a small bit as they haven't been open long at all, months in some cases).

EDIT: sorry, just noticed that there is also a ranking of 5th for most improved safety - this of course is indeed explainable by the new roads. But I am referring to the "10th safest in the world" rank.

serfboard

Slice wrote: »

Well it's not just better roads, it's also introduction of penalty points, introduction of the NCT, reduced speed limits in built up areas, introduction of speed traps, reduced alcohol limits, introduction of the car scrapping scheme, road safety campaign, etc.

People are also more safety conscious - I don't think I know anyone comfortable driving without a seatbelt on in either the front or the rear passenger seat anymore. That says a lot. Also, and maybe this has less to do with it, but the fact that cycling is on the up means there are more drivers who are also cyclists which in turn means there are more drivers who are aware and conscious of cyclists.

While I do think think it's mainly roads, there is validity to what you say. I'd also add one more thing to your list - safer cars. More cars now are going for 5 stars on NCAP, and it is used more as a selling point.

Roryhy

serfboard wrote: »

While I do think think it's mainly roads, there is validity to what you say. I'd also add one more thing to your list - safer cars. More cars now are going for 5 stars on NCAP, and it is used more as a selling point.

While i accept that point, it's also the case that every other country in Europe has the same selection of cars keeping their citizens alive too!

L1011

Roryhy wrote: »

While i accept that point, it's also the case that every other country in Europe has the same selection of cars keeping their citizens alive too!

The car stock in many European countries is older on average than here. The UK and Holland come to mind.

The main reason you can have relatively bad, relatively safe roads is that many of the older "good" road types are very dangerous - fast, straight single carriageway roads have a huge number of head-ons; old dual carriageways have serious right-turn accidents (and we only have a tiny amount of this left in the entire country) and so on.

Jumpy

serfboard wrote: »

While I do think think it's mainly roads, there is validity to what you say. I'd also add one more thing to your list - safer cars. More cars now are going for 5 stars on NCAP, and it is used more as a selling point.

No way man, you crash in one of these and there will be sponge and cream everywhere.

Bill G

Slice wrote: »

Well it's not just better roads, it's also introduction of penalty points, introduction of the NCT, reduced speed limits in built up areas, introduction of speed traps, reduced alcohol limits, introduction of the car scrapping scheme, road safety campaign, etc.

People are also more safety conscious - I don't think I know anyone comfortable driving without a seatbelt on in either the front or the rear passenger seat anymore. That says a lot. Also, and maybe this has less to do with it, but the fact that cycling is on the up means there are more drivers who are also cyclists which in turn means there are more drivers who are aware and conscious of cyclists.

It's cute you think the NCT (aNother Car Tax) does anything to reduce the fatality rate in accidents....

murphaph

Bill G wrote: »

It's cute you think the NCT (aNother Car Tax) does anything to reduce the fatality rate in accidents....

Properly implemented, the NCT would without any doubt reduce fatalities. The only question is whether or not it's properly implemented when the original rules about a requirement for a valid NCT cert to be presented in order to tax the car seem to have fallen by the wayside, which is a shame.

the NCT catches (or should catch in theory) things like leaking and cracked brake hoses, brake imbalances, worn shocks etc. which absolutely contribute to safety of the vehicle.

Zubeneschamali

I don't rate Garda enforcement of speed or drink driving as a contributor at all. People still speed all over the place, and the odds of being caught are small. Less than one person per pub per year is convicted of drink driving, and we all know there's a lot more of it going on than that. Road safety campaigns are a joke.

The big one is safer roads, which eliminates a lot of truck-takes-out-entire-family accidents. Seatbelts, NCAP testing and airbags really help with the single-vehicle-into-pole accidents.

If we could make drink-driving and SUV-driving socially unacceptable, that would really help too.

ardmacha

and people lived in towns and cities like they're supposed to,

People aren't supposed to live in any particular place, except in dictatorships where they are concentrated so that they can be better controlled.

Properly implemented, the NCT would without any doubt reduce fatalities. The only question is whether or not it's properly implemented when the original rules about a requirement for a valid NCT cert to be presented in order to tax the car seem to have fallen by the wayside, which is a shame.

Absolutely. In this day and age of databases there should be no need for sending around bits of paper, the motor tax should simply check the NCT database.

And drink driving has become less acceptable, the stats show this.

KevR

The opening of the M6 Galway-Ballinasloe (December) has taken most traffic of the old N6 (the narrow, sharp bending, poorly surfaced section at Cappataggle springs immediately to mind) and other extremely poor roads such as the R347, R348, R349 and R339 (fine from Galway City to Carnmore Cross, but not great after that). The old N6 between Athlone and Ballinasloe wasn't great either and was bypassed by the M6 in July.

The M18 Gort-Crusheen, when it opens later this year, will take traffic of the the very poor existing N18 between the two towns.

Hopefully we'll see a further reduction in the number of lives lost this coming year with the opening of more sections of safe, high quality roads.

KevR

Zoney wrote: »

Well, as good as the rank is, just imagine what it would be if one of the biggest issues in the country was tackled - drink. There are still far too many reports of single car collisions in the wee hours of the morning, although presumably some are just the hazards of driving at night on country roads.

Some of these are also caused by driver fatigue. At least there are some MSAs finally being built and some more planned - they should help to reduce accidents related to driver fatigue.

Bill G

murphaph wrote: »

Properly implemented, the NCT would without any doubt reduce fatalities. The only question is whether or not it's properly implemented when the original rules about a requirement for a valid NCT cert to be presented in order to tax the car seem to have fallen by the wayside, which is a shame.

the NCT catches (or should catch in theory) things like leaking and cracked brake hoses, brake imbalances, worn shocks etc. which absolutely contribute to safety of the vehicle.

I just wonder why the majority of those brake hoses fail between 1am - 4am
causing all those needless deaths?

L1011

Bill G wrote: »

I just wonder why the majority of those brake hoses fail between 1am - 4am
causing all those needless deaths?

Congratulations on failing to deflect to a pointless side argument - the NCT has had a noticeable impact on the quality and age of cars on Ireland's roads, which has had a noticeable impact on how many accidents now result in injury (or no injury) rather than death.

Before the NCT came in, there were many ancient death-traps on the roads - now there aren't. Thats undeniable.

Bill G

MYOB wrote: »

Before the NCT came in, there were many ancient death-traps on the roads - now there aren't. Thats undeniable.

Driver error accounts for over 80% of all fatal and injury crashes in Ireland. So, yes, before NCT came in, there were many ancient cars on the road. Now they are not there, very true.

But it's not the brake hoses, etc that makes the car a death-trap, it is the driver, specifically speeding and drink driving.

Zubeneschamali

Bill G wrote: »

Driver error accounts for over 80% of all fatal and injury crashes in Ireland.

But in a modern car with airbags, crumple zones and a passenger safety cell, the accident will be more survivable. With working brakes, real tyres, ABS and stability control, drivers may avoid a crash even after making an error.

L1011

Bill G wrote: »

Driver error accounts for over 80% of all fatal and injury crashes in Ireland. So, yes, before NCT came in, there were many ancient cars on the road. Now they are not there, very true.

But it's not the brake hoses, etc that makes the car a death-trap, it is the driver, specifically speeding and drink driving.

You're not getting the point - or more specifically I'd suspect you're ignoring it.

If you come in to a potential incident in a 1989 Corrolla with dodgy brakes and bald tyres, you're far less likely to escape the incident than someone in a new car. When you then crash said heap, you're far more likely to be injured or killed than someone in a new car.

Let me guess, your "perfectly good otherwise" car failed the NCT on one of these issues and you're extremely bitter about it?

Bill G

MYOB wrote: »

You're not getting the point - or more specifically I'd suspect you're ignoring it.

If you come in to a potential incident in a 1989 Corrolla with dodgy brakes and bald tyres, you're far less likely to escape the incident than someone in a new car. When you then crash said heap, you're far more likely to be injured or killed than someone in a new car.

Let me guess, your "perfectly good otherwise" car failed the NCT on one of these issues and you're extremely bitter about it?

No, you're not getting the point. Using your example above, my 89 Corrolla with perfect brakes, new tyres and with its shiny new NCT cert in the windscreen is just as survivable in an accident as one with dodgy brakes and tyres. You don't fail the NCT if your car is not equiped with ABS, airbags or stability control. What is does do is check that the *existing* safety items are working. While of course this is useful, my original point is that an extremely small amount of fatal accidents are caused by someone's brakes failing, or a light missing, or the reg plate not displaying the county in Irish, etc. It's almost always the driver doing something wrong.

And no, i didn't fail the NCT, I just don't bother getting my car tested anymore. I'm able to maintain it to my standards, and I don't need to pay someone 76 euros to tell me the emissions are not factory perfect or the brake lights are different colours. And since the Garda enforce the NCT compliance just about as well as they enforce all the other existing traffic laws, I don't worry a stich about it....

ForiegnNational

Zoney wrote: »

It would be interesting to hear the comments of any non-Irish contributors as to what they think contributes to this rank?

Well as said non-Irish contributors, I have seen four major contributory factors to the decrease in deaths in Ireland over the past 7 years of living here. Most of the items have been touched elsewhere:

1. Driving Licenses - No longer an optional item. When I got there the sheer number of drivers who had absolutely no concept of good/safe driving was astronomical (I would say in 2003, about 20-30% of drivers were brutal). This has fallen to a much lower level (in line with UK / France / Germany) since the enforcement licenses (although I still see far to many obviously unaccompanied Learner drivers for my liking).

2. Drink - If the number of anecdotal stories of people driving home blind-drunk is a barometer of how things have changed, Ireland had a fundamental attitude change in the last five years alone. So many friends tell stories of how they used to drive quite happily after 3 or more pints. Those stories have now ceased. The only anecdotes I now here are unfortunately in the older late 40-50's, who are the same in the UK and seem determined on not changing their ways. (This is a purely personal opinion based on stories and anecdotes I have heard directly, please do not flame me for ageism)

3. New Roads - I laughed out loud about three + years ago when the Garda in charge of the N1/M1 came on to crow about how road deaths had fallen by about 90% because of the opening of the new motorway! It seemed to be a surprise to him that good quality roads could have such an impact!

4. The "Celtic Tiger" affect - Lets face it, how many of you yourselves, or people you know of, have bought new shiny premium cars over the past 7 years? I worked near Cork Airport and during the boom we used to take a lunch time stroll around the roads doing a "luxury" car count (Range Rover, Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes, Audi's, Saabs and BMW's). All of these have superior safety features, thereby reducing fatalities. Even non-luxury brands of car over the past 5 years have safety features that only Volvo would have had 10 years ago. To an outsider, itt seemed as though everybody in Ireland bought a new car in 2003-2006, possibly every year!

Personally I cannot say the change that the NCT has made as it was always present during my time here, so I don't know what death traps were driving on the road before it's implementation.

Bards

Bill G wrote: »

No, you're not getting the point. Using your example above, my 89 Corrolla with perfect brakes, new tyres and with its shiny new NCT cert in the windscreen is just as survivable in an accident as one with dodgy brakes and tyres. You don't fail the NCT if your car is not equiped with ABS, airbags or stability control. What is does do is check that the *existing* safety items are working. While of course this is useful, my original point is that an extremely small amount of fatal accidents are caused by someone's brakes failing, or a light missing, or the reg plate not displaying the county in Irish, etc. It's almost always the driver doing something wrong.

And no, i didn't fail the NCT, I just don't bother getting my car tested anymore. I'm able to maintain it to my standards, and I don't need to pay someone 76 euros to tell me the emissions are not factory perfect or the brake lights are different colours. And since the Garda enforce the NCT compliance just about as well as they enforce all the other existing traffic laws, I don't worry a stich about it....

Does anyone know if your insurance is still valid if you don't have a NCT cert?

Zubeneschamali

Bill G wrote: »

And no, i didn't fail the NCT, I just don't bother getting my car tested anymore.

It's true that the NCT is not enforced by the guards, but it hardly matters. The NCT is mostly enforced because no-one will pay more than scrap value for a car without an NCT cert.

So, if it's not worth fixing up so that it passes an NCT, it gets scrapped. That gets the worst cars off the road without the guards doing anything, bar the few people who run a banger right into the ground.

L1011

Bill G wrote: »

No, you're not getting the point. Using your example above, my 89 Corrolla with perfect brakes, new tyres and with its shiny new NCT cert in the windscreen is just as survivable in an accident as one with dodgy brakes and tyres. You don't fail the NCT if your car is not equiped with ABS, airbags or stability control. What is does do is check that the *existing* safety items are working. While of course this is useful, my original point is that an extremely small amount of fatal accidents are caused by someone's brakes failing, or a light missing, or the reg plate not displaying the county in Irish, etc. It's almost always the driver doing something wrong.

And no, i didn't fail the NCT, I just don't bother getting my car tested anymore. I'm able to maintain it to my standards, and I don't need to pay someone 76 euros to tell me the emissions are not factory perfect or the brake lights are different colours. And since the Garda enforce the NCT compliance just about as well as they enforce all the other existing traffic laws, I don't worry a stich about it....

So you refuse to accept the NCT has had an impact on road safety because you refuse to get one then - you could have just admitted that at the start and saved us a lot of time.

I wouldn't at all be surprised if your "standards" of maintenance fall far short of actual safety.

BluntGuy

Bill G wrote: »

And no, i didn't fail the NCT, I just don't bother getting my car tested anymore. I'm able to maintain it to my standards, and I don't need to pay someone 76 euros to tell me the emissions are not factory perfect or the brake lights are different colours. And since the Garda enforce the NCT compliance just about as well as they enforce all the other existing traffic laws, I don't worry a stich about it....

And what are these standards? How do you rigourously check to see your car is in suitable nick? What makes your standards comparable to the people with knowledge and experience in the field who work for NCT?

Sure anyone could say they can maintain it to "their" standards. Your standards might be excellent, but the next person who doesn't bother with NCT might consider "excellent" standards to be simply that the car doesn't explode on a trip to Tesco.

Victor

There are lots of factors at play

* 10 years of 4 and 5 star cars.
* Improved roads.
* Formation of RSA and expansion of Garda Traffic Corp.
* People eventually starting to behave themselves on drink driving.
* The move from pub drinking to home drinking.
* Recreational drugs are relatively more expensive.
* With the recession, less traffic (especially HGVs) on the road. Fewer people in a mad rush.
* More people have actually done a driving test.
* Older people actually wearing their seatbelts.
* NCT and the old scrapage scheme removed quite a few bangers and generally improved brakes and the like.

fricatus wrote: »

since it's the national road network that carries the bulk of the traffic in this country.

While it carries a disproportionate percentage, its still only about 40% of traffic and 40% of deaths. Therefore, making all or national roads motorways would only affect about 40% of deaths.

Remember how many fatal accidents there used to be on the old N1, for example? With the new motorway, these simply disappeared.

Oddly there are still quite a few on the R132.

L1011

The drugs being "more expensive" is one thing on that list I have to disagree with Victor, they definitely aren't! Ecstacy tablets or what was sold as them in the 1990s cost up to £20, they're now under €5, and so on.

Taxi deregulation has probably had some part - not that you could calculate a weight for it - in reducing drink/drug driving deaths. Its far easier to get a taxi now, reducing the chances of people deciding to drive.

Victor

MYOB wrote: »

The drugs being "more expensive" is one thing on that list I have to disagree with Victor, they definitely aren't! Ecstacy tablets or what was sold as them in the 1990s cost up to £20, they're now under €5, and so on.

I'm comparing 2006 and 2010. While drugs may have become cheaper, incomes have also dropped. Now sure, its a supply and demand situation, but eventually its a matter for a drub smuggler "Do I supply to Ireland at €X or to the UK at €X+Y?".

ForiegnNational wrote: »

Personally I cannot say the change that the NCT has made as it was always present during my time here, so I don't know what death traps were driving on the road before it's implementation.

Imagine a disproportionate number of 15 year old Toyota saloons where holes have rusted through the body work, belch smoke screens that the army would be proud over and can be heard 200m away on a city street.

rameire

March 'safest month ever' on Irish roads

The Department of Transport said there were 11 fatalities during the month, bringing the total number of road deaths this year to 40, down 17 on this time last year.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/march-safest-month-ever-on-irish-roads-452321.html

KevR

Exceptionally dry weather must have helped along with the extra sections of new roads which have opened since this time last year.

L1011

Victor wrote: »

I'm comparing 2006 and 2010. While drugs may have become cheaper, incomes have also dropped. Now sure, its a supply and demand situation, but eventually its a matter for a drub smuggler "Do I supply to Ireland at €X or to the UK at €X+Y?".

The drug of choice for most for about a year now hasn't required smuggling (yet).

KevR

KevR wrote: »

Exceptionally dry weather must have helped along with the extra sections of new roads which have opened since this time last year.

Add to that the effects of the recession, fewer commuters and fewer nights out!