As chair of the Road Safety Authority, I deal a lot with statistics. Sadly, the only way we can measure the success of our road safety initiatives is by the number of deaths per year on the roads. We benchmark ourselves by reference to these fatality figures each year and measure our performance against the numbers of deaths in other countries. I receive an email each day of road traffic fatalities; a chilling reminder of the toll of death and serious injury on our roads. This ensures that those of us charged with road safety do not become complacent.
t the time of writing, the number of deaths on the road so far this year is 129, a figure that's down on last year. While encouraging, this figure cannot be a cause of celebration.
Each individual death is a calamity to a family and a community. Every now and then, a person or a family breaks through the fog of statistics. An example was the powerful victim impact statement of the Treacy family this week at the trial of a driver whose dangerous and drunk driving caused the death of their precious child, Ciaran, last year.
The raw description by Ciaran's mother, Gillian, of the devastation of this event and the loss of her child in such circumstances has been widely circulated. Not surprisingly, it has generated much-needed consideration and debate about the scourge of drunk driving. It follows considerable public concern about the level of prosecutions for drunk driving. Figures released by way of a reply to a parliamentary question last week had served to mislead about the levels of successful prosecutions for drunk driving. A figure of 44pc had been extrapolated, which came as a shocking disappointment to many, including the Road Safety Authority. Thankfully, the Courts Service has now corrected the figures and the real statistic is close to 86pc for successful prosecutions.
Great strides have been made in reducing death by focusing on drink driving and the road crashes caused by this reckless and criminal behaviour. Mandatory alcohol testing and the lowering of the drink drive limit have been crucial to this initiative, as well as a sea change in driver behaviour. And yet, the Gardaí are telling us that the problem is as bad as ever among young male drivers. This suggests that, as a community, we need to revisit the whole area of drink and drug-impaired driving, its causes and its direct consequences.
The first thing needed is to look at this behaviour, not as an unfortunate lapse but as a serious crime. It is a crime which inevitably will end in death and injury to the driver and crucially to other road users who are totally innocent victims.
The natural and probable consequences of getting into a car when drunk is to turn a car into a murder machine, with no control over the outcome. You can kill a) yourself and b) any number of other people who happen to be in your path or in your car. Frequently, drunk drivers narrowly miss others before they end up crashing into another vehicle or pedestrian. Because the driving is erratic and uncontrolled, the unfortunate victim who randomly meets this crazed driver usually has no way of avoiding the crash. The drunk driver is often so intoxicated they are barely conscious and are often on the wrong side of the road. Alcohol is probably a factor in 15pc of fatal crashes annually. These crashes fall into a very different category to other crashes that are caused by driver error, distraction, bad road conditions, or just poor driver reaction. Drink driving happens by choice.
We also have a problem with people disqualified from driving who ignore that fact and continue to drive. The Minister for Transport, Paschal Donohoe, recently changed the law to allow for such people to be rearrested immediately if caught driving when disqualified. Over 450 people have been arrested since last July for driving when disqualified.
I imagine some of these people would have been put off the road for drunk driving. So it is easy to see the dangers they pose to our community. The families of these people should be ashamed of themselves for allowing a person disqualified for drunk driving to get behind the wheel of a car. If they were good citizens, they would report this reckless and criminal activity to the Gardaí and help save lives.
There has been a lot of public debate of late about our road traffic legislation and questions raised about how effective it is. The use of the poor box by District Court judges instead of penalty points for road traffic offences is an anomaly which must cease.
Certainly, these laws are the most rigorously challenged in the courts because the penalties of losing one's licence or being jailed are so serious. And that is true. But the consequences of dangerous driving are more serious. People die through no fault of their own, but because of the carelessness of drivers.
We see driving cars as part of our busy lives. It is our mode of transport to and from work, college and to connect with family. Over time, we can be blasé about strict compliance with the rules of the road, or in making sure everyone has a seat belt secured. We are notorious for talking on the phone when behind the wheel; research shows Irish people are much higher users of mobile phones while driving than, for instance, the UK.
We have to stop this, because distraction is very high from mobile phone use, even when not hand-held. It should be socially unacceptable to use the phone in the car. Yet despite being an offence, it is widely tolerated. This must change. Think how you would feel if you killed someone through being distracted by your phone.
It is definitely socially unacceptable to drive when drunk. Yet it is still happening. We need to shift the dial from social disapproval to abhorrence, from "tut-tut" to calling the Gardaí to stop a drunk getting behind a wheel or driving when disqualified.
Instead, people turn a blind and exasperated eye or see it as a character lapse. There are even some people who condone moderate drink driving and blame the drink driving laws for the erosion of rural Ireland and in particular rural pubs. They look back longingly for the old days of weaving home on a country road with a "few pints on board". "Sure what harm?" they say.
The raw and unrelenting anguish of Gillian and Ronan Treacy is the answer. And they are not alone. The truth is, they are part of a cohort of thousands of broken-hearted people living among us, aching and grieving for loved ones killed by dangerous driving.
