The deaths of eight people on the State’s roads over the Bank Holiday weekend left families shattered and cast a dark pall over communities as far apart as Cork and Dundalk. The dead included pedestrians, motorcyclists, and car drivers, and they ranged in age from the early 20s to the 70s.
Their deaths bring to 77 the number of people killed on the roads so far this year, an increase on this time last year. The Road Safety Authority has raised particular concern about the number of motorcyclists killed this year – 17, including three last weekend, compared to 21 in all of last year.
At a public appeal for safer driving at the weekend, Asssistant Garda Commissioner Paula Hilman said drink-driving had begun to increase after declining during the pandemic. Just over 110 people were arrested for driving under the influence of drink or drugs over the weekend up to Monday morning. Even a 5 per cent reduction in speed reduced by 30 per cent the likelihood of a crash being fatal, Hilman said.
In the background is a broader concern that the progress of recent years on road safety could be going into reverse, with the fatality numbers having risen by more than 30 on last year. Safer roads has been one of the key policy achievements in Ireland in the last 20 years. In 1998, 458 people lost their lives in crashes, making the Republic’s roads among the deadliest in the European Union. Last year, the figure was 133, making 2021 the safest year on record on Irish roads. Only one EU state, Sweden, has a better record.
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But the task is never completed; each year, each month and each week the work must continue and the warnings must be renewed. That work consists of ensuring roads are well-built and safe for their users. It means enforcing the laws, both by having a visible, well-resourced Garda presence where crashes are most likely to occur and making sure that those who break the law are prosecuted. And it means a continual process of public education aimed at making it socially unacceptable to break the speed limit or drink-and-drive.