Report showing appalling road safety record confirms need for road safety audits – McEntee

Responding to a new report showing that Ireland’s roads are among the most dangerous in Europe, Fine Gael Road Safety Spokesman Shane McEntee TD said it proves the need for an annual safety audit of all the roads in the country.

“The RAC Foundation has produced a very disturbing report showing that Ireland ranks alongside Austria as the fourth most dangerous place to drive in Europe. The survey examined the risk of having a fatal accident in the EU, and found that only Greece, Portugal and Spain were more dangerous than Ireland.

“Given the appalling safety record on the roads in Ireland, this survey is unfortunately no surprise. But its findings are still shocking, and they reinforce the argument for a radical re-think of road safety.

“Fine Gael has produced a six step plan to improve driving conditions and driving performance on the roads. If we have better roads and better driving conditions, there will be fewer accidents and fewer deaths on the roads. Although the NRA conducts annual safety audits of all the major roads, this amounts to only 6% of the total road network. Anyone who has driven on the rural roads will know that some of them are in an appalling condition, yet there is no mechanism to ensure that the most dangerous roads are brought up to standard.

“The Fine Gael policy of Six Steps To Safer Roads would set about addressing this problem, at an estimated cost of only €10 million. This is a small price to pay for the hundreds of lives being lost on the roads every year. The plan would:

• Expand the Road Condition Audits to cover all national public roads, footways, kerbs and verges. The results of these audits will be published each year and will set out where the road sits in terms of the standards.
• Double the €3 million budget allocated to local authorities to overhaul and update our road signage around the country to ensure they are more visible and more easily understood by motorists.
• Establish Road Accident Investigation Units to determine the root cause of all major road accidents.
• Conduct an immediate review of our speed limits to eradicate unmarked & illogical limits.
• Establish five Regional Off-Road Training Facilities, initially developed on a pilot basis.
• Launch a new publicity campaign to highlight to all motorists the importance of safe tyres, run by the new Road Safety Authority.

“While all measures to reduce speeding and drink driving should be supported, we cannot lose sight of the other environmental issues. Safer roads, clearer signage, and more information on why accidents happen could all be introduced now, at relatively little cost.”