Death toll rises again as policy on road safety stalls

Today marks the start of road safety events worldwide but there is no formal strategy here, writes Tim O'Brien

On August 17th, 1896, a woman of Irish-sounding descent, Ms Bridget Driscoll, a 44-year-old mother of two, achieved a certain notoriety. On crossing a London street on her way to the city's Crystal Palace she became the first person ever to be killed by a motor vehicle. At her inquest the coroner is recorded as having remarked: "This must never happen again."

Now, almost 108 years later, about 1.2 million are killed each year in traffic accidents around world. This year the World Health Organisation, concerned that road fatalities are now outnumbering deaths by many medical maladies, has dedicated World Health Day today to road safety issues. Today marks the start of a year of road safety events worldwide.

Again, this country is to the fore. The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, as president of the EU Council of Transport Ministers, yesterday unveiled the European contribution to the year's events: the First European Charter on Road Safety which was signed by the transport ministers of all 25 EU and accession states.

On April 14th next, Mr Brennan will take matters a step further and address the General Assembly of the United Nations on road safety issues.

Heady times indeed for the Minister. But it will be a difficult task to lecture the world on road safety when the numbers being killed in traffic "accidents" at home - 96 in the first three months of this year as opposed to 74 in the same period last year - are rising alarmingly.

Making Mr Brennan's position more difficult, the chairman of the National Safety Council, Mr Eddie Shaw, pointed out that the State has no central budget for road safety and is still awaiting Government funding and implementation of many aspects of its previous 1998-2003 strategy, The Road to Safety.

There is in fact no formal, current road safety strategy.

Mr Brennan has pointed to a reduction in numbers killed as a result of the manually-applied penalty points system. He defends the Government with announcements of a "continued roll-out" of penalty points with the introduction from June next, of five penalty points for those convicted of careless driving.

But in reality, Mr Shaw's assertion that the Government is not meeting its safety commitments is demonstrably the case.

If penalty points or disqualification change driver behaviour, why is the weekend toll of the dead not reducing? Why are young men - and it is largely young men - being killed in such alarming numbers predominantly in the hours between 9.30 p.m. and 3 a.m, on Fridays or Saturdays, many in single vehicle accidents?

Speed, alcohol and the non-wearing of seat belts remain the most frequent causes of death on the Republic's roads, yet these offences already carry either penalty points or even more severe, a mandatory disqualification.

The connection between testosterone, speed and alcohol is hard to avoid. But why do individuals continue to offend in the face of severe penalties?

The answer, unfortunately, is the same as it was when the Taoiseach introduced the last road safety strategy in 1998.

Drivers, need to believe that if they drive home drunk tonight they will be caught.

The unfortunate truth is that drivers in this State have reason to believe that they will not be caught.

This is not just conjecture. Almost seven years since the Republic's strategy was formulated, random breath testing is still to be introduced.

Those who drive are rarely stopped and have no reason to believe that if they are over the limit they are anymore likely to meet a road block.

We have about 21 speed cameras, mostly in the Dublin Meath/Louth area, about one third of which may be working at any one time. State-wide deployment of speed cameras was initially planned for 2002. The Garda computer will be ready to handle the penalty points system this summer but will require about six months training before going live.

It was due to be operational four years ago. Random breath testing was initially promised for 1999, it might be introduced, subject to legislation, late this year.

When the strategy was introduced in 1988 it was modelled on that being put in place in Melbourne, Victoria. That state had roughly the same problem as the Republic: not dissimilar levels of road deaths per thousand, a population of 4.5 million people and a markedly similar attitude to alcohol and driving.

But in Victoria enforcement was non-compromising. The government ensured the police had the resources for frequent, random breath testing for all drivers, not just those weaving about the road.

A police back-up squad, similar to the Minister's proposed - and deposed - traffic corps was used.

Effective "community ownership" was encouraged in deciding where the speed cameras should go. Cameras were rolled out state-wide and a computerised penalty points system installed.

Frequent offenders simply got a note in the post telling them where to surrender their driving licence.

Last week Mr Ray Shuey, a former Melbourne police assistant commissioner and now a road safety consultant, revealed the success of the Victorian strategy: after record highs in the late 1980s, there were 330 fatalities recorded in a population of 4.5 million in 2003. This compared with our 397 for 2002 - a drop of 17 per cent - and a drop of 26 per cent on the 2001 figure of 444. Early figures for this year suggested a reduction of about 15 per cent.

We know what needs to be done. In making his criticisms, Mr Shaw must be aware that his predecessor at the safety council, Mr Cartan Finegan, commissioned Dr Peter Bacon to show that each death cost the State about €1 million in costs and State-supports for dependants. That cost to the State is currently running at about €350 million per year. And, of course, yet more in human terms.