Reducing speed limits won't reduce fatalities

It is probably not an Irish thing but we are good at it. I’m talking about our penchant for adopting and adhering to good ideas for a while and then slowly but steadily wavering and then completely ignoring the good idea. 

Sure, some good ideas have stuck and people stand by them. The no smoking in pubs is a good example. Since it was introduced the public have become used to the idea. There were, of course, renegades, at the start, who complained about the nanny state interfering in people’s God-given right to smoke and who sought to light up but the rebellion was short lived. 

The fact that smoking was, and is, so damaging to health, was a help in establishing the ban in pubs and while we Irish don’t like bans (except in the GAA - God be with the good old days!) we went along with the smoking ban. Nowadays, as long as you can hold your breath for the few seconds it takes to pass the outdoor smokers you can be assured of a smoke-free atmosphere inside to enjoy your pint or, increasingly, your gin and tonic.

But, on the other hand, take, for instance, the drink driving campaign. Drink driving can be a killer and with the introduction of new laws, new detection methods, increased penalties, etc, etc, etc, there was a general acceptance by the motoring public that taking a drink and getting behind the wheel was out of the question. People walked to the pub or took a taxi. I’m talking about rural Ireland where no public transport exists in late evening or at night. For a number of years the people of the country were models. The number of drink driving cases went down as did the number of fatalities on our roads. Things were looking up.

Then, in the past number of years and more so recently, the good intention of becoming a drink driving free country went up in smoke. The courts are now filled with drink driving cases, people are being put off the roads and, in many cases, not once or twice but on multiple occasions, and the situation is now as bad, if not worse, than ever it was. 

Whither our good intention? It must be that we, as a nation, are weak-willed. We have gone back to where we started. True, the population has increased and that might be used to excuse the increase in road deaths but the reality is that people are now back to those days when they felt it was OK to take a chance after one or two, and perhaps more, pints/GnTs. We have no reason to feel proud.

And what has happened to the hi-viz vests. It is not so long ago that the country was awash with hi-viz pieces of apparel. Children, teens, mums and dads would not leave the house without their precious piece of self-protection. In the past ten years or more, there has been a revolution in terms of the number of people out walking, running, jogging, cycling, pole-walking, courting or just passing the time. Young people still play and can be out after dark.

True, there has been an abundance of places provided where it is safe to walk, run or jog. But, often it is necessary to walk or cycle or drive to get to these safe places and equally often nowadays these people don’t have their hi-viz vests. They can have a multitude of bright, neutral or dark well branded sporting gear but not a hi-viz vest. 

As in everything, there are people who do the right thing and dress appropriately for their daily/nightly exercise. But there is an increasing number who don’t. They put themselves at risk and they also put innocent drivers of motor vehicles at risk. There’s more than one victim in an accident.

When I was a gasúr, and that’s not today nor yesterday, I was very clear about walking on the road. Needless to say there were no hi-viz vests in those days. I walked on the right hand side and faced the oncoming traffic. In that way, I was in control and could step in on the grass, if I had a concern about an oncoming vehicle. It was a sensible way of walking out, day or night. 

From my observations, walkers nowadays - and I’m not just taking about young people but adults who should know better - have never heard of the “walk on the right and face the traffic” instruction. And, don’t get me going on cyclists. Very few of those who use the greenway that I’m acquainted with have a clue. I accept that very often they are out for a bit of craic, a fun day out and maybe unused to a bike, but that is not an excuse for not knowing how to cycle responsibly and how to observe the rules of the road, the greenway being their road.

It is the same with the speed on our roads. Following a spate of road safety campaigns pointing to the fact that speed kills, the introduction of reduced limits on our roads, the speed cameras and the dreaded Go Safe speed vans, not to mention the collection of penalty points, there was, for a while, a slow down on the roads. But it was short lived. Today, speeding is a factor in far too many road deaths.

I recall the late great Joe Leneghan, TD and councillor, giving a lecture to the then County Engineer, Joseph A Egan (also late and great), on the construction of safe roads in the county. His advice was that rather than straightening corners on the roads he should add more bends and twists such that the motoring traffic would be slowed down. He quoted, as his source for the advice, the US Highway Authorities who, at that time (and we are talking 50 years ago) were embarking on an experimental campaign of including bumps at regular intervals on straight roads so that motorists would not fall asleep staring into the monotony of mile after mile of straight and featureless roads in front of them. Needless to say Joseph A did not pay much heed.

I don’t know where Joe Leneghan would find a straight road between Belmullet and Castlebar (the road has not improved much since his time!) but now we have a few roads in the county which are an enticement to adventurous drivers to put the foot down. And they are doing so. It is hard to blame them. With much-improved cars and dual lane carriageways (I’m talking the road to Westport) for many drivers it is an invitation to rev up. Under-pressure van delivery drivers are serial speed limit breakers, but they are not alone. Fellows and ladies who would not necessarily be law breakers, feel the road hog breaking out when they have a good road in front of them.

Jack Chambers, before he was elevated to Minister for Finance, was talking about reducing the speed limit on all roads. It is not a good idea. Apart from the fact that it would be damaging to an economy that depends largely on good, fast road transport it simply will not stop speeding. The way to stop speeding is to enforce the law as it applies on the existing road network.

Thought for the Day 

I’ve a grand memory for forgetting

-R L Stephenson ( Kidnapped)