OUR ROADS HAVE become more unsafe.
A person has died in a road incident every two days, on average, this year – with many more serious injuries taking place.
Evidence is mounting that driver behaviour in a range of areas – alcohol, drugs, running red lights, mobile phone use and, of course, speeding – has deteriorated since the pandemic.
We asked you what you’re seeing on the roads. We were inundated with hundreds of responses expressing serious concern about the standards of driver behaviour – with cyclists and pedestrians coming in for some criticism too.
Our sincere thanks to everyone who got in touch. Here’s a snapshot of what you told us.
Again and again, readers from across Ireland told us that mobile phone use at the wheel is “constantly” apparent, from farmers in tractors on rural roads, to drivers on Dublin’s busy M50 motorway.
Readers said they’ve seen everyone from mothers with children in the back seat to delivery van drivers – and even those driving heavy good vehicles – texting or looking at their phones while at the wheel.
It’s a problem people believe has significantly worsened.
“I came across a lad recently who was drifting onto my side of the road,” said one reader who mostly drives on country roads.
“Looked like he was texting on his phone. Mobile phone use while driving has to be a factor in accidents.”
Another reader who mostly drives in Limerick, Galway and south Dublin said: “The biggest thing I see every single day, whether on that day I might be a driver, a pedestrian or a cyclist is mobile phone use.”
“I nearly had someone hit me on the M50 earlier today because they swerved across into my lane and they had the phone up in their face.
“On the way home on the N7 at peak time another road user just drove in the middle of the two lanes as they checked their phone, oblivious to all other road users. It’s crazy. There’s no excuse when 99% of cars have bluetooth.”
Another reader said they see people on their phones “at almost every stop light…literally looking into their lap”.
“Every single car journey I see people on their phones,” said another.
One reader who walks his dogs in the evenings said: “The amount of drivers I see coming towards us with their heads down is scary.”
“You see nothing but the forehead coming at you. We would have no chance at all. If their windows are down I shout at them.”
It’s not just drivers’ attention being sapped by phones, however. Several readers noted that pedestrians can be seen stepping out into the road without looking, often because their eyes are on their phones, while the headphones they are wearing are blocking the noise of traffic.
“I would sometimes have a trailer on with a heavy load, not so easy to stop in a short distance,” said one Wexford reader who highlighted this problem.
Some readers also noticed that screen-based distractions are built into some high-end cars now.
“[I] often see people distracted looking at or playing with the large-screen entertainment systems that some cars have these days,” one reader said.
Many, many readers said the driving they see day-to-day is more reckless and unsafe than it was, often pointing to a change over the past two years or since the pandemic.
Some readers characterised it as a change of attitude, some as an increase in selfishishness.
Many said red light running was now utterly commonplace on their regular routes, and many more highlighted dangerous overtaking, tailgating and other poor etiquette towards fellow road users.
One older female driver, who is also a pedestrian, said: “Whether it’s my Skoda car or my grey hair others regularly drive out in front of me. Driver behaviour has seriously changed for the worse.”
Another reader said: “Any time there’s a red light another three or four cars scamper through regardless of pedestrians. Driver etiquette and skill is severely lacking in this country.”
A third said: “The most dangerous driving I see every day is the crazy overtaking on rural and national roads. Overtaking a line of several cars on blind bends is a common occurrence.”
Like many drivers, she said she is constantly tailgated while at the speed limit.
Readers who use the roads as equestrians or cyclists expressed serious concern for their own safety.
“I regularly am beeped off the road with cars passing too close to the bike,” said one woman who drives, cycles and rides horses.
A driver who also rides a motorbike said the deterioration in safe behaviour on the roads meant he was getting to the stage where he was considering ditching the bike for good.
A Dubliner who has recently given up regular cycling for public transport said the feeling of threat from drivers had become “overwhelming after Covid”. He quit cycling after being hit by a van that veered into a cycle lane at speed.
Another reader who said she regularly drives across the country said she constantly sees drivers overtaking multiple cars at a time, “often having to quickly force their way back into the line because of oncoming traffic, endangering everyone else on the road”.
“I keep asking ‘where are the police?’ I rarely see them,” that reader continued.
“As for drink driving checks – I’ve never seen them.
“It feels like the roads are getting wilder every day.”
A large number of readers highlighted a perceived lack of enforcement. They said they rarely or almost never saw gardaí on the roads enforcing the law. They believed a greater garda presence would go a long way to changing driver behaviour.
“I’m a bus driver and in my opinion there isn’t enough police presence on our roads,” said one man.
“Put plenty of police on the M50 just driving up and down – see what would happen,” he suggested.
A Cork reader said there was no deterrent in her area for people speeding or drunk driving.
“There’s just no Garda presence on the roads,” she said.
A father of teens living in a rural area said it “scared the hell” out of him that his kids could get into a car with another young person under the influence. He said he wanted to see more targeted enforcement in relation to young drivers, adding that kids driving uninsured or unaccompanied while still learning was a well-known problem in his area.
“Look at the number of teen deaths in the last year alone of cars full of boys and girls being killed in accidents whilst ‘just having fun’ with their mates. Why do the guards not act on this?” he said.
Some readers expressed frustration at a perceived lack of accountability for road safety due to fragmented responsibilities across several national institutions including the Road Safety Authority, gardaí and transport infrastructure quangos.
“There are too many groups responsible for all things road-related, making it easy to pass the buck,” one said.
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