Minister for Transport Martin Cullen promised much at this week's conference on road safety. The trouble is, we've heard these promises before, writes Tim O'Brien
Road safety experts from Britain, Sweden, the US and Australia were flown to Dublin this week for a road safety conference organised by the National Roads Authority.
This was not the first time State agencies have brought experts from around the world to Dublin. In October 1998 road safety personnel from as far away as Australia attended the launch by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and then minister for the environment, Noel Dempsey, of the Republic's five-year strategy, The Road to Safety 1998-2002, at a conference in Kilmainham.
The targets of the strategy were clear: State-wide deployment of speed cameras; a decision on and the introduction of random breath testing; a comprehensive system of penalty points and a reduction by 20 per cent in the fatality rate over the five years of the strategy.
Addressing the conference, Geoff Cliffe of the Melbourne Police said that in order to change a chronically bad attitude to road safety, drivers needed to believe they would be caught if they transgressed. They also needed to believe that the punishment would be severe.
But that strategy was never fully implemented and target dates for many of the recommendations were continually put back in annual reports.
Documents obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that as early as 1999, the then chairman of the National Safety Council, Cartan Finegan, campaigned unsuccessfully to have the Government commit even €1.3 million (£1 million) in part funding to local authorities for road safety officers. He then commissioned the economist, Dr Peter Bacon, to produce a cost/benefit analysis which showed that for every €1.30 (£1) spent on road safety, there was a saving to the State of €10.79 (£8.30). But ultimately road safety costs are incurred by departments such as Environment, Justice and now Transport, while savings are recouped by departments such as Health and Social Welfare. This requires joined-up Government, and Mr Finegan was not reappointed when his term of office expired.
Among the targets on which the Government failed to deliver on time was the penalty points system which was to have been prepared in 1998 and introduced in 1999. It was introduced on October 31st, 2002, but just for speeding offences.
Nevertheless, the measure had a startling effect on road safety and road deaths fell dramatically the following month, from 40 in November 2001 to 23 in November 2002, a reduction of almost 43 per cent. The figure for December fell further, to 21 deaths. The effect was so dramatic that by the end of 2002, the number killed on the roads had fallen by nearly 20 per cent below 1998 levels.
However, instead of using this as evidence that it should continue to pursue the planned road safety measures, the Government simply declared its 20 per cent target achieved.
As the numbers being killed rose again, the new safety council chairman, Eddie Shaw, appeared even more exasperated than his predecessor. He told the Government that half the 374 deaths in 2004 were "entirely preventable" and resulted from policy failure at "the highest levels" of Government.
In December last Mr Shaw resigned, disillusioned with the State's support for efforts to halt the carnage.
Mr Finegan's and Mr Shaw's concerns were echoed this week by Finbarr Crowley, former head of road safety at the National Roads Authority, when he told the Citywest conference that he believed the Government was either unwilling or unable to tackle the problem of deaths and injuries on Irish roads.
While Mr Crowley wished the Road Safety Authority proposed by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen well, he echoed Geoff Cliffe when he said: "People ultimately respond to the likelihood of being caught."
He described the current legal and enforcement system as "unfit for the purpose". The Garda has also expressed frustration.
Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock, while not criticising Government policy, has spoken of frustration at how the legislation is frequently challenged in the courts, and procedural wrangling ensures many Garda hours are wasted.
There is also the continuing problem of chronic delays for motorists seeking driving tests. A better and more efficient testing system has been promised by Mr Cullen. But under his stewardship a new Driver Testing Bill became instead a Road Safety Authority Bill.
An additional Road Safety Bill was then proposed, to which was added a measure to ban the use of handheld mobile phones . . . just in time for this week's conference.
Much has been promised over eight years, but little has been delivered. Since 1998, 3,202 people have been killed and more than 80,000 injured. The numbers of those injured is conservative and probably under-reported, according to the National Safety Council.
Why should delegates at last week's conference believe that, this time, the levels of implementation or enforcement will be any different?