GARDAÍ HAVE APPEALED to road users to take care on the roads today as Ireland bids to match the rest of the continent in achieving European Day without a Road Death, or Project EDWARD for short.
The initiative is being organised by Europe’s traffic police network TISPOL, in conjunction with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and the gardaí.
Under the auspices of EDWARD drivers are being encouraged to take a pledge to be a better driver online on TISPOL’s website.
At the time of writing over 102,000 people had made the pledge. You can do so here.
At present 70 people die, on average, on European roads each day. A further 370 are seriously injured.
“It is vital that we refocus our attention on the efforts needed to achieve the European 2020 fatality reduction goals,” said TISPOL President Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid.
TISPOL Organisation / Vimeo
We can only do this if we have the support of individual road-users.
If everyone commits to making small changes, then the road safety improvements will be huge and we will achieve big reductions in the number of people who are killed or seriously injured.
Over 130 people have died on Ireland’s roads so far this year.
119 people died up to the end of August, an increase of 16% on fatalities for the same period in 2015. Should that trend continue another 50 people will die before the end of this year.
“Road safety is a shared responsibility, just as our roads are a shared space,” said director of the RSA Pearse White.
None of us has the right to behave in a way that endangers others. The tragic reality is that actions such as breaking a speed limit or having a few drinks and then driving could have serious and devastating consequences for others.
There are no more excuses – we need to improve how we use the road.
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