The fact that five of the 63 pedestrians killed on our roads in 2003 were drunk and lying in the middle of the highway when struck by a vehicle confirms that something is seriously wrong. It underlines the presence of endemic alcohol abuse. And it reflects badly on publicans.
It is an offence for licensed vintners to sell alcohol to a customer if he or she is intoxicated. And these figures would suggest that some publicans have not lived up to their responsibilities in that regard.
Publicans cannot be expected to act as the moral conscience of motorists who put themselves and others in danger by driving after two or three drinks. But when a customer is obviously intoxicated, they have a responsibility to ensure he or she does not come to harm. To be fair, many of them discharge that obligation. But road death statistics would suggest that much more needs to be done.
The president of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland Paul Stevenson told an Oireachtas committee on transport last week that his organisation was considering a pilot project whereby customers would be offered reflective bibs if they were planning on walking home from the pub. That soundbite generated positive publicity. And the idea is constructive. But offering reflective bibs is of little use if customers are hardly able to remain upright.
In the first five weeks of this year, 15 pedestrians died on our roads, half of them being men over 50 years of age and many of them living in rural Ireland. These are dreadful statistics. They reflect not just the scale of alcohol abuse but poor quality lighting in rural districts and high traffic speeds. The days of near-empty country roads are long gone. Today, rural roads are fast, crowded and the most dangerous of all.
The chief executive of the Road Safety Authority Noel Brett has emphasised there is no safe alcohol limit for motorists. And he confirmed that alcohol has been a factor in the relatively high number of pedestrian deaths so far this year.
In 2003, more than one-third of all road fatalities involved the consumption of alcohol. And nearly one-in-five of those killed were pedestrians. That rate of attrition cannot be allowed to continue. We have a serious alcohol problem in this society. Consumption grew by 50 per cent between 1989 and 2001. Since then, the Government has addressed the medical and social issues by raising excise duties. And consumption has begun to fall. It may be a harsh thing to say, but public wellbeing and the preservation of the life is more important than vintners' profits.