The 15 most dangerous traffic junctions in Dublin are to be redesigned as part of a co-ordinated strategy to reduce the level of road deaths and injuries in the city.
However, Dublin Corporation, which announced its five-year road safety plan yesterday, was not prepared to identify these black spots because of fears it could be sued for compensation for alleged negligence.
Over the period 1991-1996 an average of 38 people were killed and 2,480 injured annually in the corporation area. The overall objective of the new safety plan, called Changing the Agenda, is to reduce the number of accidents by 20 per cent.
Mr Owen Keegan, the director of traffic, said the corporation was focusing its efforts on improving road safety in the areas for which it has direct responsibility such as road design and the enforcement of traffic regulations.
He said the aim was to improve the road safety environment throughout the city by examining the geometric design of junctions to overcome conflict between vehicles and pedestrians, in particular, and by introducing more "traffic-calming".
"In the past, it would not be unfair to say that the primary concern was the movement of traffic, but now we're trying to `engineer out' speeding by making it impossible for motorists to drive fast, which is the primary cause of accidents."
A new signalling policy would result in more frequent stops at junctions for shorter periods, rather than having a "green wave" which enabled motorists to accelerate. This would also help pedestrians wishing to cross busy thoroughfares.
"What we are doing is putting road safety at the top of our agenda. We are also committed to auditing all our interventions for safety, so that their impact on road-users will be taken into account in the design process rather than as an afterthought."
The plan, billed as the first of its kind in Ireland, also aims to influence the behaviour of road-users through education and encouragement. Mr Keegan cited the new layout of Talbot Street in the city centre as an example of what could be achieved by clearly delineating different functions. This type of "environmental traffic cell" approach is being extended to other areas of the city.
Other measures to be implemented under the general transport plan include quality bus corridors, a strategic cycle network and more traffic-calming, all of which should contribute to improving road safety, according to Mr Keegan.
