Ireland rates poorly in EU road safety league

Ireland rates only 13th out of the 25 European Union countries in terms of road safety enforcement, a survey by a lobby group has found.

The study by the Brussels-based European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) measured member states' progress in enforcing speeding, drink driving and seat belt laws from 2003 to 2004.

The group says its study is the first independent study of road safety enforcement across the expanded EU.

It showed Ireland was improving in areas of speeding and seat belt use but was lagging behind in the enforcement of drink-driving laws.

It said Ireland has the second-lowest number of drink-driving checks in the EU per road user. This poor record, which showed the number of detections actually fell between 2003 and 2004, was due to the absence of random breath testing, it said.

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said last month the Government would introduce a new Road Traffic Bill, which includes measures to introduce random or mandatory breath testing, shortly after the Dáil returns from its summer break next October.

It emerged today that fewer than one in five gardaí have basic training in the use of roadside breathalysers, and fewer still are able to operate station-based intoxilysers.

Ellen Townsend of the ETSC said this morning it was time for Ireland to "catch up with the rest of Europe" in terms of drink-driving detection. Ireland and the United Kingdom have among the highest levels of drink driving in the EU.

Despite this, Ireland is in eighth position in terms of the number of road deaths. Latvia has the most dangerous roads, the study found.

Finland was found to be leading the fight to reduce road deaths, with an "exemplary" record in tackling speeding and drink driving. Some 35 per cent of Finns were checked at least once for drink driving during 2004.

The Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Germany were next in terms of enforcement.

The worst countries for enforcement were Spain and Poland.

Less than 1 per cent of drivers in Ireland were caught not wearing seatbelts. The worst recorded offenders for not wearing seat belts were in Slovenia, where over 6 per cent of motorists were caught in 2004.

Nearly 50 per cent of residents of the Netherlands were penalised for speeding in 2004.