Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the death of his grandfather in a road traffic incident 20 years ago encouraged him to introduce more road safety laws as a legislator.
At a road safety event in Galway on Friday, Mr Varadkar recalled the tragedy of his grandfather Tom Howell, a passenger who was killed aged 82 in a fatal road traffic incident in Co Carlow in 2005.
“My uncle was driving from Dublin to Dungarvan where they lived. On the Carlow Road there was a loose horse. It hit the windscreen of the car. My uncle had minor injuries, but my grandfather didn’t survive,” Mr Varadkar said.
Mr Varadkar was a junior doctor in Navan at the time, but he said the incident encouraged him to introduce road safety legislation when he became minister for transport in 2011 and later taoiseach.
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He was also influenced by the reality of working in hospitals and emergency departments, where he treated victims of fatal accidents and those who suffered life-changing injuries on the roads.
“The truth is there are a huge number of families in Ireland who lost somebody on the road, or who had life-changing injuries. I know it’s not comparable but many, many more people have died on our roads in Ireland than died in the Troubles, for example,” Mr Varadkar said.
The former Dublin West TD was speaking at a road safety event at Galway Bay Hotel in Salthill on Friday.
It was organised by road safety group Parc to welcome a new law that comes into force on Monday, requiring motorists to supply their unique driver licence number to their insurer.
“It means people who are disqualified from driving won’t be able to get insurance,” explained Mr Varadkar.
“Unfortunately, what’s happening now is some people who are disqualified from driving in Ireland are back driving the next week because the insurance companies and Gardaí don’t know they’ve been disqualified from driving,” he added.
Susan Gray, who founded Parc, after her husband died in a road traffic incident in 2004, credited Mr Varadkar for progressing the new law as taoiseach.
But not all of the legislation will be enacted next Monday, due to issues with ICT systems – and Parc has called on the current Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien and Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan to set a deadline for its full implementation.
Aisling Reid, whose 28-year-old cousin Karl Robertson died in Artane, Dublin, in March 2017, after he was hit by a motorist who was disqualified from driving, said full implementation of the Act was needed.
“Karl was out jogging and was knocked down in a hit-and-run and left to die at the side of the road. A year later in court we discovered the person who killed Karl had three disqualifications at the time and a number of previous convictions for road traffic offences. That’s why we are so passionate about this new legislation and ensuring it works effectively,” Ms Reid said.
Resolving ICT issues would give gardaí access to information in real time about drivers’ disqualification information at checkpoints, she said.
“The Act has a provision that allows insurers and Gardaí to access real-time data on disqualifications but, unfortunately and frustratingly, it has not been commenced because the relevant ICT systems have not been updated. Government has had years to prepare for this new law, but they are dragging their heels,” Ms Reid said.
Mr Varadkar agreed Mr O’Brien and Mr O’Callaghan should set a deadline to resolve the ICT issues and enact the full legislation.
“Without deadlines things can be ‘in progress’, ‘ongoing’, and ‘under review’ for a long time,” said Mr Varadkar.
