The most depressing aspect of the high number of road deaths in Ireland, north and south, is that so many were needless tragedies, and some could easily have been avoided. If drivers on dangerous rural roads, for example, had exercised greater care, then far fewer would have died or suffered serious injuries.
A study of road crashes in Northern Ireland published this week makes this point clearly. The survey by Detail Data, in a joint project between the Belfast-based news website and the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, analysed police statistics for some 1,321 collisions over the period 2013-2014.
Three trends stand out: three quarters of fatal collisions in the North occurred on rural roads; over three times more men than women – 106 to 30 – were killed in fatal road accidents, and a quarter of those who died were young men aged between 17 and 24. The figures are stark when compared to the low level of motorway crashes. The principal causes of road fatalities were: driving while drunk; excessive speed, or a lack of due care and attention. All these factors deserve further investigation to help secure a more effective solution to pronounced road safety problems.
Road fatalities in the Republic for the first half of this year are down on last year, but there is little cause for complacency. The Road Safety Authority yesterday highlighted worrying trends that are emerging – one-third of drivers killed on the roads were not wearing seat belts, and there is some evidence of “mid-life crisis” driving where motorists aged in their 50s may be driving faster in a bid to recapture lost youth.
There is a 50:50 chance of dying in a collision without a seat belt on, no matter how minor it is, the RSA noted. Many collisions were minor in nature but because occupants were not wearing seat belts the outcome was much more serious.
In such circumstances, the RSA proposal to require drivers who are caught breaking speed limits for the first time to attend an intensive training course (instead of getting penalty points) is to be welcomed.