Rising road deaths ‘not where we want it to be’ ahead of bank holiday - RSA

The May bank holiday last year was a “deeply tragic and devastating” time for road fatalities, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has said, adding that the trend of increasing deaths this year is “not where we want it to be”.

Speaking on the Navan Road on Thursday morning, Sarah O’Connor, director of partnerships and external affairs, called on road users to be mindful and responsible over the long weekend.

“Over the last five years, we have seen seven people lose their lives on the May bank holiday weekend and 83 people seriously injured. It is in all of our power, collectively as a community, to decide that it is a thing of the past,” she told reporters.

“For the St Patrick’s Day weekend we had no fatalities. We really want to see that as the outcome. We are asking people to think through every decision in their cars.”

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According to provisional figures from gardaí, there have been 56 fatalities on Irish roads this year to date, up from 52 during the same period last year, and up from 47 during that time in 2021. Last year, road deaths were 13 per cent higher than the preceding year.

“We’ve been speaking to international colleagues in the space trying to understand what’s happening. We are not alone having seen increases post-pandemic last year and into this year. Everybody wants to leave their home and come back to it safely that night and everybody is entitled to that,” she said.

“The trend is not where we want it to be and what we’re trying to do is to dig into that and to understand it and to learn more. That’s not an instantaneous press of the button thing. We have to look at the statistics, we have to follow the coroner’s reports when they come through and that process is a slower process than any police investigation.”

According to gardaí, five people died on the road over the last bank holiday weekend in April, while there were 14 serious injury collisions that led to life-changing injuries for 16 people.

A total of 110 people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, while a further 78 people were arrested for driving under the influence of drugs over the three-day period.

Fixed penalty notices were also issued over the period, for offences such as using a mobile phone while driving (339 notices), speeding (923) and being an unaccompanied learner driver (147).

Chief Superintendent Jane Humphries of the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau said there is an increased risk of a collision on the road on bank holiday weekends.

“My appeal to you is to drive within the speed limits, wear your seatbelt, don’t drive if you’ve taken drugs or alcohol and these are all very important messages that will reduce the likelihood of you having a collision on the road,” she said.

There will be higher visibility of policing, as well as checkpoints for intoxication over the weekend, she added.

Asked if drug driving has increased, the chief superintendent said there has been a “slight increase”, but gardaí are now “testing more frequently”.

“With Covid, we now are more used to using Covid tests. We have a very similar test for detecting drug driving and we are using those drug sticks, and we have increased use of those since they were reissued towards the end of last year,” she added.

Meanwhile, for those using public transport, Bus Éireann said it will be operating a Sunday schedule across its services on both Sunday and Monday.

Irish Rail is set to carry out a series of engineering works on the main line between Dublin, Cork, and Kerry, which could cause disruption for passengers. Some of disruptions include Cork services operating every two hours in each direction with altered timings, as well as Limerick services operating every two hours, connecting to and from all Cork services at Limerick Junction.

• Limerick services will operate every two hours, connecting to and from all Cork services at Limerick Junction;