Road deaths set for 15-year low this year

The number of annual road deaths in Ireland is set to fall to below 400 for the first time in some 15 years.

The huge reduction in road fatalities is being attributed to the introduction of penalty points for speeding by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, in October.

Meanwhile, it has been learned that Mr Brennan is to bring the non-wearing of safety belts under the penalty points system from early in the new year.

In addition, at least five new items for which drivers can collect penalty points are to be added each month on average next year, making 2003 "the year the holding of a driving licence becomes a privilege, not a right," according to the Minister.

The decision to bring the non-wearing of seatbelts next on the list of more than 60 demerit items on the penalty points system is in keeping with the hierarchy of serious threats to life laid down by the Minister. The last time that figures for road deaths dipped below 400 was in 1986, when 387 people were killed.

The number of deaths was in the 500s for the decade before that.

If fewer than 39 people are killed between now and New Year's Eve, 2002 will have been only the second year in a quarter of a century that the number of road deaths fell below 400.

While the five-year road safety strategy targets for road deaths are still unlikely to achieve their target of a 20 per cent reduction on the 1987 level of 462, there has been a dramatic turnaround late this year, largely coinciding with the introduction of the penalty points system for drivers.

Speed, the non-wearing of seatbelts, drunken driving and pedestrian behaviour have been identified as the major factors in road deaths by AXA Insurance, which has sponsored dramatic television advertising around the themes.

The Minister has also targeted provisional drivers driving unaccompanied for on-the-spot fines from next month, and drivers will from January next be required to carry a licence with them at all times when driving.

However, a spokesman rejected press reports that the failure to carry a driving licence would mean one penalty point. "It is non-wearing of seatbelts next, in line with serious threats to life," the spokesman confirmed.

The spokesman also said Mr Brennan was keen not have the majority of penalty points offences "rushed out towards the end of the year" because he believed that "too many all at once" would be less effective.

However with more than 60 items remaining to be included, the Minister has set a timetable which will require at least five additions to the penalty tariff each month.

The introduction of penalty points for drivers was first promised by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in 1998 at the launch of the five-year strategy 1998-2002, The Road to Safety. Legislation was to be prepared in 1998, with the scheme in operation by 1999.

It was one of a number of aspects of the strategy which were either introduced well behind schedule, or are not as yet introduced. These included the State-wide deployment of speed cameras and random breath testing.

In subsequent progress reports these targets were moved, apparently without explanation but in July 2001 the progress report was predicting that the penalty points would be finally introduced that year.

Also predicted for that year were the regulations on the carrying of a driving licence, random breath testing and the upgrading of the Information Technology to support the penalty points.

The penalty points system was ultimately introduced for one of the 62 proposed items, without the benefit of the IT system, on October 31st this year and became instantly successful.