Sir, – In a recent response when asked whether the rising number of deaths on the road represented a failure on his part, Minister of State with responsibility for road safety Seán Canney said: “I don’t look at the record and say, ‘Is it a failure of me?’ It’s a failure of everybody, including every road user.”
Everyone is to blame, even the victims. This from the Minister who scuppered the speed limit reform, scrapped the reform of the Road Safety Authority, and cancelled the red-light enforcement pilot.
Speed limits of 30km/h where people live and walk would see crashes, fatalities and injuries plummet on city streets.
But other measures are needed for a reduction in speed limits to be effective. Garda traffic units remain 40 per cent lower than their peak in 2009 despite far more cars on the roads and rising numbers of deaths.
RM Block
The figures on road deaths reflect this. As of September 22nd, there have been 138 deaths on Irish roads – including 23 pedestrians and 10 cyclists. This compares to 190 for the whole of 2025 – that was the worst year for road deaths in over a decade.
Red-light cameras at dangerous junctions, school routes and roads can also help to detect speeding.
Intoxicated driving can be addressed by repeat offenders being required to use an “alcolock” breathalyser that prevents the engine running if it detects alcohol on the driver’s breath.
Mobile phone use could be dealt with by tougher rules combined with comprehensive enforcement.
Ireland is operating below par on all of these points, and the impact is playing out in spiralling injuries and deaths on roads – particularly among vulnerable road users.
The Minister has the authority to introduce legislation for these reforms – instead of blaming the road users for the highest road fatalities in two decades. It is time he got on with it. – Yours, etc,
CATHERINE CONLON,
Ballintemple,
Cork.
Sir, – Seán Canney, the Minister of State with responsibility for road safety, stated at an informal meeting of EU transport ministers in Dublin Castle on Monday that “99 per cent of the people on the roads drive with due care”.
May I ask where these roads are? Because they sound idyllic – perfect for cycling my primary-school children to school.
In contrast, on our 2km commute this morning, I counted 11 cars in the bus lane, seven drivers looking at their phones in traffic, one woman putting on her make-up and another eating her breakfast. And at least five drivers speeding at least 20km/h or more over the speed limit. – Yours, etc,
NICK ROYLE,
Blackrock,
Dublin.
Sir, – Minister of State Seán Canney says the rising death toll on our roads is “a failure of everybody involved, including road users”.
The fairer question is, what lay within his own control? Five Garda traffic officers have been recruited while deaths rose from 171 in 2024 to 190 last year, with 138 already this year.
The dashcam upload portal, committed to before an Oireachtas committee in October 2022 for a 2024 go-live, subject to funding and legislation, is still nowhere to be seen. BusConnects, which would deliver segregated active travel infrastructure and more reliable, safer bus journeys, remains largely undelivered. Meanwhile, red lights are run across the city and bus lanes occupied by private cars.
The Minister speaks of “using technologies”. Yet automated red-light and bus-lane camera enforcement is standard across comparable European states and beyond, and Ireland has effectively neither.
Signed legislation is an input; enforcement and delivery are the outcomes, and this is a tone-at-the-top failure. Where leadership treats a control as optional, it becomes optional, and the numbers follow.
The Road Safety Authority can advise but cannot compel, and nobody has been held answerable for the gap between commitment and delivery – because “everybody’s failure” is a synonym for nobody’s.
Publish Garda traffic corps strength against target, a commencement date for the upload portal, a national roll-out plan for red-light and bus-lane cameras, and delivery dates for each BusConnects corridor. Until then, the rising toll is not a trend to be monitored. It is a result. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN McGOVERN,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
