24 September 1998 Edition
Mind how you go
by Meadbh Gallagher
It is a chilling statistic but it is true to say that one thousand people have died for each of the 26 Counties since the beginning of the century for the cause of motor transport.
The numbers injured in road accidents have doubled in the last decade, while the numbers killed have dramatically increased. North and south of the border, the figures show that the toll has risen in line with the number of cars on the road and the number of new drivers coming on stream.
In the whole of 1988, a total of 463 people were killed on roads in the 26 Counties. So far this year, the figure is 324 - and counting.
It could be worse, but better cars and better roads have stunted the increase, not better driving, not safer driving. In fact, better roads have brought higher speeds, not safer driving.
And it is car users who pay the highest price - they make up the vast majority of road casualties, with pedestrians, cyclists, bikers, truckers and other road users a long way behind. And car users means car users, not just car drivers.
In terms of money, every year the insurance industry south of the border pays out one third more on motor insurance claims than the entire combined investment of local authorities and the so-called National Roads Authority on the state's roads, large and small.
Meanwhile, figures showed the rush by some to catch up with the rest of Europe in terms of visible prosperity was continuing to boost car sales. New private cars licensed in the first quarter of 1998 increased by over 16% on the same period last year to over 64,000, up from just over 40,000 three years ago.
Two months ago, the Dublin government finally caught up with these trends with the publication of the first ever road safety strategy produced in the south. The five year strategy for road safety was launched with a blitz of glossy paper and the promise of the introduction of the penalty points system already in operation in the Six Counties.
It aims to reduce excessive speeding by 50% and to reduce fatalities by at least 20% in the space of five years.
To do that it says it has to tackle the country's biggest road killers: speed and alcohol. But the same government makes a lot of money from both. Bigger and better cars and the increased sales that go with them bring more and more money into tax coffers. So do increased travel distances and the increased demand for petrol that goes with it. Bigger and better cars also need better and (in the 26 Counties) more expensive petrol and the taxes that go with it.
And alcohol? Well, since when is a rural TD going to insist that pubs close on time, that drivers don't drive to their local watering hole, or that they're prevented from driving home when they're over the limit. Since when is any 26 County administration going to take on the brewers, or more particularly, The Brew? Since when are they going to turn their backs on beer tax for the sake of a few hundred lives, lost without much attention paid to them?
But Irish political double standards on driving are nothing to those of the Irish public, which themselves are only comparable to those of the rest of their European neighbours. Road traffic accident figures in Germany are much of a muchness to the figures here, as are the French, Spanish, Danish and Italian figures.
French drivers, for example, no more than ourselves, don't take kindly to their precious rights being questioned. A national `Day without Cars' on Tuesday was a dedicated flop, with fuming drivers taking long circuitous routes to avoid closed off areas of the 35 cities involved in the experiment.
Weaning the world off quick, accessible and comfortable transport is just not going to work. Car dealers can take comfort, they'll be around for a long time, until someone is smart enough to come up with a better idea and some political parties are wise enough up to push it in the face of the huge lobbies of opposition.
It is a chilling statistic but it is true to say that one thousand people have died for each of the 26 Counties since the beginning of the century for the cause of motor transport.
The numbers injured in road accidents have doubled in the last decade, while the numbers killed have dramatically increased. North and south of the border, the figures show that the toll has risen in line with the number of cars on the road and the number of new drivers coming on stream.
In the whole of 1988, a total of 463 people were killed on roads in the 26 Counties. So far this year, the figure is 324 - and counting.
It could be worse, but better cars and better roads have stunted the increase, not better driving, not safer driving. In fact, better roads have brought higher speeds, not safer driving.
And it is car users who pay the highest price - they make up the vast majority of road casualties, with pedestrians, cyclists, bikers, truckers and other road users a long way behind. And car users means car users, not just car drivers.
In terms of money, every year the insurance industry south of the border pays out one third more on motor insurance claims than the entire combined investment of local authorities and the so-called National Roads Authority on the state's roads, large and small.
Meanwhile, figures showed the rush by some to catch up with the rest of Europe in terms of visible prosperity was continuing to boost car sales. New private cars licensed in the first quarter of 1998 increased by over 16% on the same period last year to over 64,000, up from just over 40,000 three years ago.
Two months ago, the Dublin government finally caught up with these trends with the publication of the first ever road safety strategy produced in the south. The five year strategy for road safety was launched with a blitz of glossy paper and the promise of the introduction of the penalty points system already in operation in the Six Counties.
It aims to reduce excessive speeding by 50% and to reduce fatalities by at least 20% in the space of five years.
To do that it says it has to tackle the country's biggest road killers: speed and alcohol. But the same government makes a lot of money from both. Bigger and better cars and the increased sales that go with them bring more and more money into tax coffers. So do increased travel distances and the increased demand for petrol that goes with it. Bigger and better cars also need better and (in the 26 Counties) more expensive petrol and the taxes that go with it.
And alcohol? Well, since when is a rural TD going to insist that pubs close on time, that drivers don't drive to their local watering hole, or that they're prevented from driving home when they're over the limit. Since when is any 26 County administration going to take on the brewers, or more particularly, The Brew? Since when are they going to turn their backs on beer tax for the sake of a few hundred lives, lost without much attention paid to them?
But Irish political double standards on driving are nothing to those of the Irish public, which themselves are only comparable to those of the rest of their European neighbours. Road traffic accident figures in Germany are much of a muchness to the figures here, as are the French, Spanish, Danish and Italian figures.
French drivers, for example, no more than ourselves, don't take kindly to their precious rights being questioned. A national `Day without Cars' on Tuesday was a dedicated flop, with fuming drivers taking long circuitous routes to avoid closed off areas of the 35 cities involved in the experiment.
Weaning the world off quick, accessible and comfortable transport is just not going to work. Car dealers can take comfort, they'll be around for a long time, until someone is smart enough to come up with a better idea and some political parties are wise enough up to push it in the face of the huge lobbies of opposition.