Six people were killed in traffic accidents in recent days. And more than double that number of road users suffered serious injuries. In a small, closely-knit society like this one, few people can be untouched by the carnage that has become a feature of motoring in recent years.
Yet the deaths and injuries continue to mount up. And the Government appears to be incapable of getting to grips with the situation in a coherent and comprehensive way.
In general, motorists are themselves to blame for the great majority of accidents. The most common reason involves driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. And one-in-five crashes results from excessive speed. Of course, the quality of our roads and road surfaces also play a part. But motorists are expected to take these shortcomings into account when driving their cars.
Recently, National Safety Council chairman Eddie Shaw accused the Government of failing to take the issue of road safety seriously enough. After five years in the job, during which he attempted to sweet-talk various Ministers into investing in road safety, his frustration at the lack of progress finally boiled over. A collective will was lacking in Government, Mr Shaw said, to give road safety the priority it deserved. And he traced the path of administrative malaise from the Taoiseach's Office to the Department of Finance and onwards to the Departments of Transport, the Environment and Justice. The key to it all was a shortage of funding.
Everybody knows about the shambles that has persisted for decades in our driver-testing system. But little has been done. There is still no compulsory training scheme for motorcyclists, in spite of the horrendous death rates. Sixty-nine offences were notified under the 2002 penalty points system. But members of the Garda are only acting on three of them because of a lack of primary legislation. And random breath-testing legislation has been delayed for four years.
After years of procrastination, Ministers have sanctioned the introduction of a privatised speed camera system. But legislation will be required. In the meantime, the scourge of drunk driving continues to thrive in a climate of political ambivalence. And too few gardaí are expected to cope with growing public demands relating to crime and a rapidly growing population. Because of that, road safety is unlikely to top the Garda's must-do list.
In the absence of an urgent determination by the Taoiseach and his Government to break this unhealthy cycle through investment, the incidence of death and injuries on our roads will remain unacceptably high.