THE topic of road safety always come to the fore at this time of year, as the weather deteriorates and end-of-year headline statistics begin to emerge. And this year, they are particularly bad. Many families do not need numbers to understand the gravity of the situation.
As I write the 172nd road death has just been confirmed, meaning that many thousands of devastated people will spend Christmas – and much more – grieving. Fatalities have jumped this year by 25 percent compared to 2022, and by 39 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Mayo has the dubious distinction of suffering the highest percentage increase. Men are now dying on roads at a ratio of five to one, compared to women. What is going on?
Understandably, headline figures will focus on fatalities, but this fails to consider the impact of serious injuries, which have trebled in the last decade. In 2022, 1442 people were seriously injured in road traffic accidents, with 50 serious injuries sustained in Mayo last year.
‘Serious injuries’ necessitate an in-patient hospital stay or include any of the following: fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushings, severe cuts and lacerations and/or severe general shock requiring medical treatment. They can be life-changing – physically, mentally and financially – and impact hugely on the families of those affected.
Bear in mind too the annual cost to the exchequer of road carnage, estimated at over €1.2 billion, and the societal cost, which is harder to quantify. To gain an understanding of this, I highly recommend a read of a four-part series published in The Irish Times back in 2014 called ‘Anatomy of a Car Crash’, which – using the example of a fatal road traffic accident near Ballina – forensically examines the seismic, far-reaching impact of fatal road accidents.
Role
IT’S hard to pinpoint a single cause but poor driving, poor roads, weather conditions, high traffic volumes, alcohol and drug influence, driver fatigue, and something I don’t feel is highlighted nearly enough – driver distraction – are factors. Minister of State in the Dept of Transport Jack Chambers has a headache on his hands. The Road Safety Authority (RSA) officials recently met with Garda Road Policing Unit officials to discuss the situation and determine a response.
Despite it being headquartered in my home town, I confess that my understanding the Road Safety Authority’s role was limited. I took to their website and looked at their 2022 annual report, which runs to 104 pages and is one of the better and easier-to-read examples of such reports I’ve encountered. I learned that the RSA delivers nearly 20 different programmes, from driver theory testing, driver testing and vehicle testing to road safety research, education and awareness programmes and specialised programmes like emergency services driving standards. It is responsible for road safety promotion and communication around same, on which in 2022 it spent a not-insubstantial total over €6.5 million.
The total cost of the RSA’s programmes ran to €44.5 million in 2022, out of an annual budget of €96.8 million.
Revenue is raised primarily through services to the public – primarily car and driver testing and licencing. I was somewhat surprised to see that an Oireachtas grant formed only €989,000 of the RSA’s 2022 revenue.
With such large amounts of money involved, and such alarming increases in injuries and fatalities, it is legitimate to ask whether the agency is delivering upon its mission, ‘to save lives and prevent injuries by reducing the number and severity of collisions on our roads’.
Is the RSA fit for purpose?
The obvious answer might appear to be a resounding ‘NO’, but it is also important to consider whether these numbers be infinitely worse without an RSA?
Spike reaction
IN 2022, Ireland’s rate of fatality per million of population was 31, versus France’s 48, Italy’s 54, Portugal’s 62 and Romania’s 86. Norway, Sweden and even the UK are among those countries with lower rates of 21, 22 and 26 respectively. Every death is one too many, but is the preventative work being done by the RSA keeping us safer than we might otherwise be?
Typically when numbers spike, there is a call for ‘authorities’ to do something. Road-safety campaigners, including PARC (Promoting Awareness Responsibility and Care on our roads), have recently called for extra garda resources, road-safety promotions and a strengthening of driving-licence enforcement.
Investment in road infrastructure – already an eye-watering drain on the exchequer – continues. Developing public transport is rarely mentioned, and in popular discourse, the car is king, while cyclists and pedestrians are demonised. The visible presence of gardaí – actual gardaí, not money-making speed vans – on the roads would surely make a considerable impact.
Driver-safety campaigns can only achieve so much, and if they are not reaching drivers behind the wheel, they are limited in their impact. Personal responsibility urgently needs to come into play. The cognitive dissonance between the behaviour we believe is right and how we might actually behave is strong.
There are no easy – or cheap - solutions. But let’s pivot dramatically, for just a moment, while we’re talking money. The latest Health Research Board drug-related deaths figures showed that in 2020, 409 people died as a result of drug poisoning – over twice the number of people that have died on our roads this year. In August, Drugs Strategy Minister, Hildegarde Naughton announced €3.5 million in funding to maintain existing drug and inclusion services across all health regions.
Makes you think, doesn’t it?
OPINION: Is the RSA fit for purpose?
5
1
07.12.2023
THE topic of road safety always come to the fore at this time of year, as the weather deteriorates and end-of-year headline statistics begin to emerge. And this year, they are particularly bad. Many families do not need numbers to understand the gravity of the situation.
As I write the 172nd road death has just been confirmed, meaning that many thousands of devastated people will spend Christmas – and much more – grieving. Fatalities have jumped this year by 25 percent compared to 2022, and by 39 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Mayo has the dubious distinction of suffering the highest percentage increase. Men are now dying on roads at a ratio of five to one, compared to women. What is going on?
Understandably, headline figures will focus on fatalities, but this fails to consider the impact of serious injuries, which have trebled in the last decade. In 2022, 1442 people were seriously injured in road traffic accidents, with 50 serious injuries sustained in Mayo last year.
‘Serious injuries’ necessitate an in-patient hospital stay or include any of the following: fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushings, severe cuts and lacerations and/or severe general shock requiring medical treatment. They can be life-changing – physically, mentally and financially – and impact hugely on the families of those affected.
Bear in mind too the annual cost to the exchequer of road carnage, estimated at........
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