THE ROAD SAFETY Authority’s chairperson Liz O’Donnell has said that it is “unacceptable” that road deaths have increased in three out of the last four years.
A total of 187 people lost their lives on Irish roads last year, 25 more people than who died in crashes in 2015.
The 187 people who lost their lives died in 175 separate fatal crashes and the RSA points out that fatal crashes have become both more frequent and more fatal.
O’Donnell says the increase in people dying on Ireland’s road meant that 2016 was a “very bad year for road safety”.
“I am very concerned that the increase in deaths is part of a broader trend which has seen road deaths rise in three out of the last four years,” she said.
This is unacceptable and we must all redouble our efforts to prevent more needless loss of life.
Reacting to the road death statistics, which are based on preliminary crash investigations by An Garda Síochana, Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn has said that there are four clear behaviours which continue to contribute to road deaths.
“These behaviours are speeding, drink driving, non-seatbelt wearing and using a mobile phone while driving,” Finn said.
We will also be factoring the findings from the 2016 road collisions analysis report into our enforcement activity.
Frequently, fatal crashes are caused by a combination of two or more of these factors and recent arrest figures have shown that anti-drink-driving messages are failing to get through.
More than 500 motorists were arrested for drink driving in the first three weeks of December, an increase on previous years. The RSA’s chief executive Moyagh Murdock says this is particularly concerning.
“Arrest figures for the last six weeks of the garda Christmas and New Year crackdown show that the attitudes and behaviour of a small number in our society hasn’t changed significantly,” she says, adding that everyone must do more.
We simply must take greater personal responsibility and this extends not only to those thinking of drink-driving, but also to those who knowingly turn a blind eye to it happening in our community.
Transport Minister Shane Ross has also expressed sadness at the loss of life on the roads last year, saying that he is “acutely aware that these are more than just numbers”.
The minister has pointed to the Road Traffic Act 2016 signed into law this week that he says, among its provisions, creates tougher rules against uninsured drivers and those under the influence of drugs.
Obviously Go safe speed camera system hiding on 60 km zones doing nothing to reduce road deaths.
Once more the observations are totally lost in the media outcry.. of the 2 billion road journeys taken in Ireland these outcomes are infinitesimal.. after my father was killed in an accident I wondered what the real risk analysis was. A statistician told me as the figures were so miniscule, the rises and falls were moreover the mathematical variables played out on the Fibonachi scale. Meaning whatever the Rsa or Garda did wouldn’t make a jot of difference.. as we’ve seen we’ve spent more money in enforcement and campaigns than ever – yet the figures still rise.. Maybe we should spend that RSA budget some place else like mental health..
I have often wondered how many of those car accidents were sucide.
Funky town single occupant early morning are the ones to look out for ok
The recession is over… More people travelling on the roads again. Simple. During the recession there were less cars on the road, so less crashes.
I’m a 46 year old female driver, full clean license for 16 years, bar 2/3 points on my license for driving 72 in 60 zone from hideout to Balieboro at 12.02am coming back from my grannies buriel house, it was the first stretch of road with any fooking lights and maybe I just thought, jaysus I’m still in the land of the living!, That was over 5 years ago. Anyway, living in Virginia, not a great night driver admittedly however I’ve noticed over the years that road markings have deteriorated significantly and the lack of cats eyes on minor roads can seriously affect driving ability. I personally feel that this could be a major cause of accidents country wide. Virginia to Balieboro road for example!
Where can I find the full stats of road crashes, not just the ones resulting in fatalities? I’d like to know the number of crashes Gardaí were required to attend, how many hospitalisations occurred, age/gender/nationality profile of those involved and the class of vehicle involved. And are any of these stats available for previous years. In short I’d like to see if the roads have been getting more dangerous?
@Revolting Peasant: yes… RSS reports
On average 125 fatalities, 220 incidents, 4,500 minor tips. As against a probable 2 billion road journeys.. The negative outcomes are microscopic..
Yeah well unfortunately that is what happens when you slash public spending on prevention which is what has happened……
Presence, Garda presence.
There where two Road deaths in my town one hit a wall and the other a tree both where suicide which was not reported,
It not always down to bad driveing like Shane mother they where saying it was a heart attack,
Road deaths may have gone down but there alot more alive on tubes and life changing injurys if they showed this people would change their habits much quicker.
NCT? NCT? anyone from NC(Tax) care to comment???
Over the past 5 years was only stopped twice for tax and insurance check !
It would help if the judiciary didn’t suspend sentencing on condition the offender “find himself a good woman”??! Scrap penalty points too. Bring in a stiffer financial penalty i.e. €50 fine per km over limit. Increase to €250 for second offence if committed within 6 months. 3rd offence = driving ban. And….make it possible for victims of rtas to sue judges if they fail to punish offender. A rapid change would happen if the above happened. But it won’t.
What if your Speedo calibration was off where your clock read 60kmh yet the speed camera clocked you at 61kmh. Do you think it fair for you to get a €50. That could easily happen three times within 6 months and you would accept getting a ban? Personally I think that is plain nonsense.
€80 here in Balieboro district, maybe that’s another thing that the whistle blower was trying to bring attention to! ;)
@Shawn Rahoon: that won’t happen. Speedo’s are deliberately designed to over-read, so that can’t happen to you. So if your speedo says 60, your probably really doing 56.
If the AGS camera pulls you at 61kph, not only are you unlucky, but I bet your speedo actually said something more like 66………….
@Fred Coloe: your logic is flawed as it’s based on nonsense.
How about the ail paddy on the road just slows down and they don’t drink and drive, that should solve a lot of the problem.
…what about the spiralling non-use of seatbelts ? Even if you lower the number of accidents, but the asshol4s don’t wear seatbelts, you’re going to get worse outcomes, simples.
As as for ““These behaviours are speeding, drink driving, non-seatbelt wearing and using a mobile phone while driving,” Finn said.” don’t get me started.
Speeding is not the biggest factor, : see the RSA’s own link, page 6, here; http://www.rsa.ie/Documents/Road%20Safety/Crash%20Stats/Seven%20month%20review%20of%20fatalities%202016%20.pdf
Another page on that says “Speed limit: The majority of fatalities occurred on higher speed roads; 15 fatalities
occurred on 80km/h roads, 20 were on 100km/h roads, two on 120km/h roads, five on
50km/h roads, and one on 60km/h roads. ” It is deliberately written to be obtuse. The highest speed road there, motorways, has the 2nd lowest figure (2).
Page 4 here: http://www.rsa.ie/Documents/Road%20Safety/Crash%20Stats/Fatal%20Collisions%202008-2012%20excessive%20speed%20as%20a%20factor.pdf
States ‘excessive speed’. This does not mean speeding in excess of the legally posted limit – and yet that’s the stick taken out to beat people with most often, and used to justify the cash camera vans in stupid locations. You could crash and be hurt at 30kph in a 100kph limit area, and be put into that statistical category. it’s complete manipulation.
Drink driving , speeding , driving under the influence of narcotics , anti social behaviour and no Garda. The garda have no resources or equipment.
All down to enforcement like preventing all crime. 44 years driving in Ireland and didn’t meet 20 checkpoints, whereas you won’t drive for an hour in Spain without seeing a police car.
Setting up checkpoints will not educate or catch bad drivers, Guarda traffic corps require training, more personnel on the roads and more vehicles. If there is to be a reduction in road deaths it will only happen by proactive policing of the roads.
Liz if more Garda cars on roads numbers would be down ( speed kills ) out of sight out of mind !
Simple answer really, their should be speed cameras in this country and on motorways average speed testing, it’s the only way forward in the long run, government spending a bit of money improving the roads in the long run too would help, but don’t hold your breath, people will always make errors it’s just life
Thankfully very few major, fatal accidents occur on our motorways, our minor roads however are substandard compared to all our European counterparts! Cats eyes save lives, relatively cheap to buy and put into force, I’d happily dig the little hole for these solar powered lifesavers to work! #lovewalkinganddigging
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Full stats on all collisions (both fatal & non-fatal) should be released, including the likely cause(s) and contributing factors, such as seat belt and phone usage, and whether the fatality is in the offending car or not. Presumably they’re already checking mobile phone records to see if texting or calling is occurring at the time of the incidents – stats on this should be publicised. Probable suicides should also be labelled as such – difficult to treat such issues unless it’s acknowledged and reported. I know people use the excuse of sensitivity to families to avoid knowing about all of this, but anonymised statistics, in a timely fashion, can help save lives.
It’s not just down to the guards, it’s down to road users to obey the speed limits and use common sense. We shouldn’t need to be hand held.
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