All change on the roads
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WHILE the rules for learner drivers in particular have grabbed the headlines, the new road safety strategy from the Road Safety Authority is likely to affect just about everyone in the country in one way or another.
The gargantuan and highly ambitious programme aspires to cram 20 years of progress into just six years.
According to the Road Safety Authority chairman, we have suffered 25 years of neglect, which have left us far behind other European countries, but the new strategy draws on the best practice developed by those countries.
The aim is to get Ireland into the top five EU countries for road safety as measured by number of road deaths.
If the 126 actions listed in the programme, which was launched yesterday, are to be delivered many new regulations will have to be efficiently enforced. On the streets last night, there was some scepticism as to whether the gardai will have sufficient time and manpower.
However, if the pride and determination in the voices of Noel Brett and Gay Byrne of the RSA ,as they spoke about their prize project yesterday, is any indication, we are about to see big changes.
Many provisional licence holders will be bewildered by the first of those changes. From Tuesday, they will all be required to be accompanied by a qualified driver of at least two years experience.
Until now, those drivers on their second provisional licence could drive alone. A person could take a driving test, fail it, and then drive away unaccompanied. But no more.
The new arrangement will upset many quite proficient drivers who hold a provisional licence only because they have not yet taken a test, or who have failed a test on some small technicality.
However, hard facts must be faced. Statistics show that young males aged between 17 and 26 are eight times more likely to have an accident than a middle aged man.
However, many from that group will be the ones most likely to thumb their noses at the new rules.
Therefore, enforcement is the key to success. The RSA tell us that each aspect of the strategy will be monitored, named individuals will be held accountable and regular progress reports will be published.
If all these are delivered, the ambitious plan will be a success and many lives will be saved.
