Authority warns of more road deaths due to lax safety

THE NUMBER of people killed on the Republic’s roads may start to rise again this year, as cash-starved motorists postpone changing their cars, delay essential servicing and put off replacing worn tyres. After a year which saw the lowest number of road deaths on record, Road Safety Authority (RSA) chief executive Noel Brett said the danger in 2009 was that “people would think the job was done”.

Mr Brett said the recession and rising number of poorer quality vehicles, combined with potential cuts in budgets for road repairs, could be a lethal combination. He warned that road death figures had levelled off in 2003 after the introduction of penalty points, but rose sharply again in 2004.

Addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Transport yesterday, Mr Brett said he believed €10 million in funding for privatised speed cameras would be provided by Government, but warned it was “the only major initiative we have for implementation this year”.

Mr Brett said if other initiatives – such as the reduction in drivers’ blood alcohol levels – were to be suddenly approved by Government, there would not be time to implement them in 2009.

While the RSA had a reduced budget for 2009 – largely because money had been included in the past for additional driver testers – Mr Brett said it would manage. He said overall road safety was dependent on budgets of a wide range of State agencies, including the Health Service Executive, the Garda and local authorities.

The RSA, he said, was trying to persuade the HSE to maintain a national trauma register “as other countries do”, so a problem of under-reporting could be addressed. He said the cost of each road death had been estimated by Goodbody Economic Consultants at €3 million, while serious injuries,which were more numerous, cost €386,000.

Mr Brett said much still needed to be done, and he referred to the tragic death of three teenage boys in Co Tipperary on New Year’s Eve last. Mr Brett claimed none of the boys was old enough “to even own a learner’s permit”.

He said the issue of underage driving was exacerbated by the ease with which cars could be bought illicitly from unscrupulous dealers, and called for “a death certificate” for cars which had been written-off by insurance firms.

Committee chairman Frank Fahey said he believed information on the probable causes and circumstances surrounding the Tipperary crash should be publicised quickly, as they would have a deterrent effect. He called for criminal, civil and coroners’ courts to treat road crashes as a priority.