Every death on our roads is a tragic waste of a human life, very often a young life. It is true that road deaths in Ireland have been steadily decreasing in recent years, falling from 338 in 2007 to 161 in 2012, but the vast majority of road traffic collisions are preventable and every needless death on our roads is a tragedy too many.
I want to thank the Gardaí and the Road Safety Authority for their enormous work in helping to achieve the reduction in road traffic deaths in recent years. But we must never lose sight of our goal – to reduce to the absolute minimum possible the number of road traffic collisions in this State.
As Minister for Justice, I want to highlight the factors behind road deaths to all road users and everyone involved in road safety.
160 people have already died on our roads in 2013 (to 3rd November). I recently asked the Gardaí to conduct an analysis of the factors behind these road deaths. The results show that, as well as drink driving, excessive speed; failure to wear a seatbelt; and dangerous overtaking are all significant factors in road deaths. Sadly, already this year, 15 people died on our roads whose lives may have been saved by wearing a seat belt.
There is welcome evidence of improved compliance with drink driving laws and I want to particularly commend the Gardaí for their continued vigilance. Visible and measurable enforcement of drink driving laws, including the widespread use of Mandatory Alcohol Testing Checkpoints, is working. The number of checkpoints has increased every year since 2011, yet the rate of detections of drivers under the influence of alcohol is decreasing. This means that fewer people are drink driving. I commend the continuing work of the Gardaí in reducing this key risk factor in road fatalities
Source: Irish Independent, 07/11/13
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