There are people who owe their good health this new year to Seamus Brennan, writes Tim O'Brien
And so it is over. The Government's five-year road safety strategy, The Road to Safety, officially came to an end at midnight on December 31st. And this year in the Republic fewer bereaved families sat down to Christmas dinner than have done since 1986, the last time road deaths fell below 400. This major "success" has been largely attributed to the penalty points system, and the road safety campaign which introduced it.
The National Safety Council, in a week when it "congratulated" drivers for their "positive attitude", commented that road safety was now considered by most people as "one of the most important issues facing Ireland at present".
But before we get too lost in the back-slapping, it may be appropriate to point out that The Road to Safety actually failed in its self-declared principal and primary target: a 20 per cent reduction in the number of road deaths by 2002 over 1987 levels.
And before we get to the argument that the strategy came seriously close to success and that perhaps 20 per cent was too ambitious anyway, surely the very success of the penalty points system should cause us to ask instead: what would the result have been if the penalty points had been introduced when promised, in 1998-1999?
Last week we were told that a recent survey commissioned by the National Safety Council showed that respondents felt funding for road safety should come from (a) an increase in fines, (b) an increase in alcohol prices, (c) increases in the price of petrol and (d) an increase in insurance. We were not told why the option that the State fulfil its promise to fully implement and fund the its own safety strategy was not on the list. And possibly the real shame was that, when the Government refused to fully implement and fund its own strategy, the National Safety Council did not shout the outrage from the rooftops.
So we are left to wonder, as the penalty points are introduced on the last day of the 10th month of the fifth year of the five-year strategy, how many are now dead who would be alive, had the strategy been resourced as promised?
The Irish Insurance Federation in its review of the strategy, to which it contributed significant funding, comments honestly that it was "not an unmitigated success". The truth is undoubtedly that we have much to be ashamed of in relation to The Road to Safety. For a start let us look at that idea that a 20 per cent reduction in road deaths over 1997 levels was in any case too ambitious.
In fact in 1997 road deaths peaked at 472, a seven-year high, which was obviously not an average base year. Added to this, in Melbourne, Australia, from where the Irish strategy drew its inspiration, Mr Geoff Cliffe of the Victoria Police was able to confirm that the numbers of those killed on the roads halved in a three-year period. He explained that there was a widespread implementation of the strategy leading to a firm belief among drivers that "if you transgressed you got caught".
But in the Republic where are the the speed cameras which were to be progressively extended State-wide from 2000? When are we to have the decision on random breath testing which was to be made in 1999? How can we call it a road safety strategy and leave out the targets in relation to detection of speed and drunk driving?
While the number of detections for drunk driving remains high, this is surely not a source of pride for the Garda, but rather an indication that the problem is not diminishing. The Garda made 12,864 detections for this offence in 2001, 58 per cent of which recorded alcohol levels more than twice the legal limit. Clearly people do not believe that if they transgress they will be caught.
As yet a final decision has not been made on the use of daytime running lights, although this was promised by 2000. Regulations to require the carrying of a driving licence were to have been implemented by 2001. The penalty points system itself was to have been introduced by 2000.
As the years went by the chairman at the time of the National Safety Council, Mr Cartan Finegan, was forced to commission a report from the economist, Dr Peter Bacon, to point out to Government that spending on road safety actually had a payback factor initially of five to one but ultimately of eight to one, in terms of costs to the State and loss of earnings, pensions, direct health costs and support for bereaved families.
For his pains Mr Finegan was not reappointed when his term of office ran out. The National Safety Council subsequently continued to launch its seasonal safety schemes at press conferences, notably on one occasion where the press was not afforded the opportunity to ask questions.
Undoubtedly there are people who owe their good health this new year to the new Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, who doggedly pushed the penalty points through. But the man with overall responsibility - from the strategy's launch which he personally oversaw - to the present day was the Taoiseach. Mr Ahern confirmed his approval for The Road to Safety as early as July 1998, saying it was important to implement the recommendations as soon as possible. Some day it will all come together. In the meantime we will continue to congratulate ourselves for the bits that work.