When the Minister for Transport Martin Cullen admitted in the Dail weeks ago that information on road accidents was "somewhat scattered" he was revealing the awkward legacy of a hasty decision. David Labanyi reports.
At present, responsibility for collating, analysing and publishing information on accidents rests with the National Roads Authority, an infrastructure-focused body that never wanted this research role.
Soon this responsibility will be transferred to the Road Safety Authority which is due to advertise for statisticians and researchers to work with accident reports generated by gardai attending the scene of a crash. Legislation to establish this new body is before the Dáil.
This reliance on garda reports is only one of the weaknesses of the system of collating data on crashes on Irish roads, according to experts working in vehicle collision analysis.
The information collated is primarily for use in the event of a legal case following the crash. As a result, as the Minister noted in the Dáil, details, such as licence status of a driver in a crash, are not kept.
Dr Denis Woods, a forensic engineer who investigates collision scenes for insurance companies, says a system where all information on crashes comes from garda reports relies too heavily on the judgment of the individual officer. This is not just a problem with the gardai, he notes, but a problem with most of the police-based collection systems worldwide.
Information collated by such a system is good for broad statistics, such as speeding, and seat-belt wearing, but less effective for more specific detail.
And without specifics, Dr Woods says, policy makers will struggle to make informed decisions on road safety.
"I don't think we can say we have the way to reduce the number of accidents unless we know exactly what's happening on the roads. If you take countries like England which are culturally quite similar, but have lower road fatalities, they know a lot more about their accidents than we know about ours. They are investing in transport research," Dr Woods said.
He said while there was no doubt that inexperienced drivers, excessive speed and substance abuse were factors in many crashes, Dr Woods points out there are likely to be other, more complex factors, including road engineering, weather conditions, and lighting contributing to crashes.
"Instead of everyone being opinionated about why crashes happen, they should do some in-depth investigation of crashes. And an important place to start would be with single-vehicle fatal accidents," he said.
"To reconstruct a crash you need to visit the scene, examine the vehicle, determine the causative factors. Check for contamination of the road or signage. Then get information on the drivers, including driving history, toxicology reports, and start to piece the accident together. I believe you will come up with some surprising results."
Dr Woods, who examined the site of the crash near Quigley's Point where five young people died in car crashes three weeks ago, said people automatically make the connection between late night crashes, alcohol and speed even though "that may, or may not, be the case".
A lecturer in automobile engineering and technology, and chair of the Irish Institute of Automotive Engineers and Assessors, Mr John O'Connor, said consideration should also be given to establishing a Serious Accident Bureau to investigate non-fatal crashes. Crashes that leave one or more people seriously injured are far more common than fatal crashes and create a huge impact on families and the economy, he said.
Mr O'Connor said Ireland should follow the lead of the UK and appoint a team of dedicated crash investigators to visit crash sites in the same way as the Garda Technical Bureau investigates crime scenes.
An Garda Síochana is currently sending officers to Britain for training in forensic investigation of traffic collisions with the aim of having one of these officers attached to each Garda division.
Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock, who is in charge of the Garda Traffic Corps, has indicated that these officers will concentrate on fatal crashes.
At a recent appearance before the Oireachtas Committee, Assistant Commissioner Rock admitted that while there are clear instructions regarding investigatory standards "in an organisation of 12,000 there will be some slippage. That happens in any organisation in which human beings are involved."
Another weakness in the current crash investigation system was revealed at the committee hearing. When the Assistant Commissioner made reference to the role of alcohol in at least 25 per cent of all crashes and 33 per cent of fatal ones, he was using 2002 data, the most recent available. He was also quoting an international study, because no equivalent national study of the role of alcohol in crashes in Ireland has been completed.
Dr Declan Bedford, a public health doctor, carried out a study of the role of alcohol in three counties. He looked at coroners' reports in counties Roscommon, Louth and Cavan and found that in 40 per cent of crashes, drink was a factor.
At that hearing Mr Denis Naughton, Fine Gael's former spokesperson on transport, queried the focus on fatal crashes.
Using the example of a junction at Hudson Bay on the N61 near Athlone, Deputy Naughton said he made a series of representations to the NRA for remedial road works, via the local authority, after a litany of minor accidents. These went unheeded because there was no garda reporting on these accidents because they were minor.
"So it wasn't until a young man was unfortunately killed in a crash there that a garda report was generated and the road was then upgraded by the NRA. We need to find a way to identify and address these problems before fatal accidents occur."
Deputy Naughten said one of the biggest sources of information on crashes in the State were crash records held by the insurance companies. But these were not available to independent organisations like the NRA.
"To date, the Irish Insurance Federation and the insurance companies haven't been prepared to furnish that data to a third party. If someone had access to it, they would see a series of material damage crashes and judge whether there was a potential problem."
Brian Farrell, spokesman for the National Safety Council (NSC), said the influence of alcohol on crashes in Ireland has "almost certainly been underestimated. We have been using international examples and it is one area where we definitely need more in-depth research."
The NSC, which has long sought a research remit from the Government, is also concerned that the role of fatigue in crashes remains undocumented in Ireland.
He said that if Ireland showed similar trends to the UK, then fatigue could have a role in up to 20 per cent of crashes. "At the moment we have no idea how big a problem driver fatigue is."
Aside from the NRA's work, there is no other state-sponsored national research into crashes.
A number of academics and medical professionals have conducted small pieces of research but almost all rely on the original garda reports.
Some road safety researchers are also using coroners' reports, primarily for an analysis of the role of drugs or alcohol in the blood stream of crash victims, but this is usually done just for one county.