2009 set to be safest year on State's roads as fatalities fall

THIS YEAR is set to be the safest year on the State’s roads since records began with a significant drop in deaths, including a halving of the number of cyclists killed.

There were 39 fewer road deaths so far this year as 240 people were killed up to yesterday compared with 279 last year, according to Garda National Traffic Bureau statistics.

This is nearly 100 fewer deaths than in 2007, when 339 people died on Irish roads.

The most significant drop in fatal crashes was among pedal cyclists of whom seven were killed this year compared with 14 in 2008. Pedestrian deaths also fell by a quarter this year while the number of deaths among car and motorbike passengers fell by almost a third.

However, drivers remained the largest category of road user to lose their lives with 128 drivers killed in the last year, a drop of less than 5 per cent on 2008.

February saw the biggest month-on-month decline with 17 fewer road fatalities than 2008. June had the largest number of road deaths at 29, an increase of 10 on 2008.

Brian Farrell, communications manager with the Road Safety Authority, said it was “a remarkable achievement” that 2009 looked like it would be the safest year on record. However, he said that one death was one too many and he warned that “we aren’t over the line yet” for 2009.

Gardaí yesterday warned motorists to reduce their speed and beware of deteriorating road conditions over the new year period.

Three Nenagh teenagers were killed in a crash in Co Tipperary on New Year’s Eve 2008. Yesterday a 21-year-old driver was killed in a Dublin crash.

The decline in road deaths was primarily due to changing attitudes and behaviour by individual road users, “simple things like slowing down and wearing a seatbelt” or walkers wearing high-visibility vests, Mr Farrell said. A “road safety culture is creeping in more seriously” but the greatest risk is complacency, he added.

The improvements in road quality by local authorities and the National Roads Authority had made a “significant contribution” to the decline in road deaths. He noted that the first continuous motorway linking one major city to another had probably eliminated many blackspots.

Earlier this month the 194km M4/M6 route from Dublin to Galway was opened, bringing Dublin’s M50 within two hours of the outskirts of Galway city, when travelling at 100km/h.

Mr Farrell also praised efforts by gardaí to tackle “dangerous and irresponsible driving”. Next year he hoped the safety authority could continue to reduce further the number of people killed by concentrating on the “old chestnuts” such as speed, impaired driving and seatbelts. Seatbelt wearing in back seats could be improved “significantly”, he said.

Another priority area would be to reduce the number seriously injured as a result of a crash. For every death, an estimated eight to 10 people sustain serious injuries such as spinal cord damage.

Urging extra care for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists would also be important, he said.

The safety authority launched a campaign yesterday urging motorists to use dipped lights in daylight hours and to wear seatbelts. Awareness-raising posters will be displayed in visible locations and at the entrances and exits of Park Rite car parks.

The aim is to deliver an important message to drivers and passengers “at a key point of intervention, the start of their journey”, said Noel Brett, Road Safety Authority chief executive.