Rural roads most dangerous in Northern Ireland

Sixteen people lost their lives on Fermanagh's roads in the last two years, making it the area in Northern Ireland with the highest death toll from collisions.

The deaths include six separate fatal crashes on the main A4 road out of Enniskillen which leads to the M1 motorway. There were also three fatal collisions on the A47 which runs from Kesh to Belleek.

Sixty-three people were seriously injured in crashes in the area during 2013 and 2014. This comes against a background of poor infrastructure in the area and government failure to deliver the A5 road scheme, which would have resulted in the road from Ballygawley to Derry, via Omagh and Strabane, being upgraded to a dual-carriageway.

Of the 129 fatal collisions recorded across Northern Ireland over the two-year period, 74 per cent took place on rural roads where there are speed limits of more than 40mph. There was only one fatal crash on a motorway.

Detail Data, a joint project between investigative news website the Detail in Belfast and the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, today reports on the devastating impact of road collisions in the North.

It has analysed Police Service of Northern Ireland statistics relating to 1,321 collisions in 2013 and 2014 which led to the death or serious injury of drivers, passengers, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians.

In total 136 people were killed and 1,430 were seriously injured.

Key findings

Other key findings include:

– Almost a quarter of the people killed on Northern Ireland’s roads in the last two years were young men aged between 17 and 24. Of all deaths, almost 80 per cent were male.

– The death toll includes 54 drivers, 25 pedestrians, 23 motorcyclists, 16 front-seat passengers, 10 rear-seat passengers, seven cyclists and one pillion passenger.

– Lisburn PSNI area had the highest number of crashes at 100. The lowest number was in Cookstown, Co Tyrone at 20.

– There is a strong gender imbalance. Some 106 males were killed and 938 seriously injured during 2013 and 2014, compared with 30 females killed and 492 seriously injured.

– More than a quarter (27 per cent) of people killed were aged 65 or over.

Despite the view that drivers are aware of the dangers of drink-driving, it is still a serious issue. The top three causes of fatal collisions in the last five years were drink- driving,excessive speed and inattention/attention diverted.

PSNI Inspector Rosemary Leech said "dangers lurk around every corner" on rural roads. These include farm vehicles, walkers, slower-moving vehicles and motorbikes.

‘Waste of life’

Insp Leech described the 136 deaths in the last two years as “an appalling waste of life”.

“When a death visits a family, it changes them forever and it changes their attitudes forever. It’s just a pity we couldn’t share that experience without actually having people die on our roads. If people had that news come to their door, I guarantee they would drive differently, they would think differently and they would act differently,” she said.

The Department of the Environment said its budget for road safety communications, grants and educational materials had been cut to just over £1 million for 2015/16, almost half of the 2014/15 allocation.

Minister for the Environment Mark Durkan said: "I am very concerned by the number of deaths and seriously injured on our roads. My sympathy is with all of the families affected by these tragedies. The state cannot be on every corner, the state cannot be in every vehicle. It is up to each of us to take responsibility for our own attitudes and behaviours as road users."

For more on Detail Data's findings go to thedetail.tv/data

For figures from the Republic of Ireland go to irishtimes.com/news/environment/crash-report