The chairman of the National Road Safety Council, Mr Eddie Shaw, did some straight talking yesterday when he blamed a lack of Government funding for the upsurge in the number of deaths on our roads.
Investment in Garda manpower, in technology and in computer systems, that should have taken place five years ago, was only now being put in place, he said. As a result, motorists had lost their fear of being detected for speeding and other offences. And, instead of experiencing an average of 20 road deaths a month, the figure had now risen to 30.
All the available statistics support Mr Shaw's contention. The introduction of the penalty-points system in 2002 brought about a significant change in the behaviour of motorists, particularly in relation to speeding, with the result that the incidence of road deaths was reduced by about 30 per cent. A similar phenomenon occurred in France when President Chirac made road safety his number one priority. In Ireland, few extra resources were provided to enforce the new system and, gradually, motorists reverted to their bad old habits as their fear of being detected waned. In France, there was both strict enforcement and significant extra funding, with the result that the number of road deaths has remained low.
None of this should come as news to the Government. Three years were lost in inter-Departmental wrangling over who was going to pay for the new penalty points system before the newly-appointed Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, introduced it without the necessary funding. A vital computer system had not been provided and extra manpower was not made available to an over-stretched Garda Síochána. A similar pattern has been followed since then, with Mr Brennan announcing new road traffic offences and penalties while the enforcement agencies struggle ineffectively to catch up.
Recently, Mr Brennan asked the National Medical Bureau of Road Safety to analyse the factors contributing to road deaths in terms of time and location of accident, road and weather conditions, along with drug or alcohol levels present in the blood samples of victims. It is unlikely the study will accomplish anything, other than deflect attention from the primary causes of the upsurge in road deaths: a lack of enforcement and Government funding. We all know that speed is the greatest killer.
Just as we know that 90 per cent of drivers breathalysed last Christmas exceeded the alcohol limit. In addition, we have a shambles of a licensing system that allows untrained and inexperienced drivers free rein on the roads. What is urgently required is Government investment and strict enforcement.