Ireland’s road death surged in 2023 – can we make a resolution to become safer motorists & help save a life?
THERE is little argument that 2023 has seen Ireland has take a “disturbing turn for the worse” in terms of road safety, as President Michael D Higgins has said.
But, he added, it can be reversed if “the collective will is there” for change.
Road deaths in the past year have gone up by almost 25 per cent compared to last year.
And the Road Safety Authority and Gardai have said that years of road safety progress “is being undone”.
In November, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the fact there have been more road deaths thus far in 2023 than all of 2022 is a “matter of enormous concern”.
Writing in The Irish Sun today, Kildare North TD James Lawless TD, who is Chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, urges people to make a New Year’s Resolution and help save a life in 2024.
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MAKE A RESOLUTION TO BE SAFER
A NEW Year’s resolution is a tradition we are all familiar with, be it to get fitter or eat healthier or to make more of an effort to visit family or friends.
I have made and broken many, but this year will be different for me.
This year my New Year’s resolution is to look closely at my own driving behaviour and to make one positive change in that behaviour that will contribute to safer roads.
Over 170 people lost their lives in road traffic collisions on Irish roads in 2023.
That is over 30 more deaths than last year.
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We are experiencing a real problem on our roads and in many ways all drivers are responsible.
If each one of us make one simple change to improve our driving, we will all benefit in making our roads that bit safer. That is a New Year’s resolution worth making.
SIMPLE CHANGE
The Road Safety Authority also think this is the way to reduce the deaths on our roads.
They recently launched the Vision Zero campaign, with an ambitious target to achieve no road deaths in Ireland by 2050.
They state that a simple change in people’s behaviours combined with Government initiatives will make this possible. I concur.
Personal responsibility is undoubtedly one of the key factors in reducing road deaths.
I believe that a lack of effective enforcement of road traffic offences also undermines any Government initiatives to make our roads safer.
Increasing fines will be ineffective unless they are accompanied by better and more consistent enforcement by the bodies responsible.
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice that I chair recently reported on our examination of the enforcement of road traffic offences.
The Committee received written submissions and heard from witnesses from several diverse perspectives who gave evidence to us about the key areas that need most improvements relating to the enforcement of road traffic offences.
We heard that driving in bus lanes and parking on footpaths deters people from cycling and walking and can have significant impacts.
Poor enforcement of these type of traffic offences and others can cause impacts on vulnerable road users — for instance, parents with children, those with mobility issues or those who are visually impaired.
In short, each bad driving decision we make can and will have an impact on others.
The Justice Committee in its recommendations called for clearer guidelines to establish which bodies are responsible for enforcing the various road traffic offences.
Our Gardai should be sufficiently resourced to have the time to identify and prosecute all road traffic offences.
One of the most interesting recommendations of the Justice Committee is the establishment of an online portal allowing the public to upload their dashcam footage of road traffic offences.
These would be reviewed by members of the Garda roads policing section, who would then decide what offence if any had occurred and if a prosecution was necessary.
SPEED LIMITS
These portals exist in other countries, including the UK, and have been shown to work.
The Gardai also agreed this would be a useful tool for them going forward.
I would hope to see this introduced in 2024.
I would also like to see a reduction in speed limits and the Government is working on this now.
I was elected a public representative in 2014 and not a week goes by that I do not receive a representation from a road user, a parent, a resident association or a school for speed limits to be reduced.
It will happen and it needs to happen.
I agree that the speed limits should be reduced on local and rural roads from 80kmh to 60kmh, with a 30kmh limit in towns, cities and residential areas. I believe speed kills.
My New Year’s Resolution is to make one positive change in my driving behaviour.
Will you?