The Gathering
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Are road deaths rising and is the Road Safety Authority doing enough?
Now it is time for our Friday gathering and this week I'm joined by John Clendenin, Fine Gael TD for Offaly, Ciarán O'Hearn, Labour TD for Dublin South West, Jennifer Bray, Sunday Times political editor and Caroline O'Doherty, science and climate correspondent with the Irish Times. Good morning, you're all very welcome. Thanks a million for joining us. We've heard a lot, John, about road safety this week and the Road Safety Authority appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee. We know there was a number of tragic road deaths last weekend. Over the last few years, we've seen road deaths, the trend in upwards. Do you think the RSA in particular is doing enough to reverse that trend?
Look, I don't think we should start any conversation around road safety without acknowledging the deaths and the passing of people and the horrific consequences for families. And my condolences to everyone. And as someone who has seen firsthand the loss of a family member from road deaths, it's horrific, tragic and life changing for all the wrong ways. But, you know, I think this is a holistic approach. It needs to be multifaceted. It needs to be the road safety authority. It needs to be on Garda Síochána and it needs to be to be government. And I think when you see the investment in recent times in relation to not just enforcement, but technology and education and awareness, we need to continue with that and reinforce the point.
And that is hugely important from a perspective of giving all road users the respect that they deserve. And that applies to whether you're a pedestrian, cyclist, scooter user, motorbike user or motorist. So we need to ensure that our roads are safer and need to continue to work towards our vision zero by 2050.
OK, Ciarán, one of the issues the committee has consistently raised is the decline in numbers in the Garda roads policing units.
Yeah, I mean, we were about 400 Gardaí down or traffic Gardaí down specifically from the height of numbers back in 2009. We were promised 150 new road traffic Gardaí a couple of years ago. I think we've got about half of that. So this, as John said, we're talking about tragedies in people's lives, but they are preventable. There are things we can do, measures we can and should be taking to do that. Enforcement is huge and is lacking on our roads at the moment. The Gardaí play a role there. Traffic cameras, red light cameras, average speed cameras all play a role. We have very few static fixed cameras in the country, less than 10. And engineering and design of our roads and our junctions is really important.
And that's where I'd like to see government, both TDs and councillors, speaking up when local councils are proposing new redesigned roundabouts or junctions in their area and supporting it because these are measures that do save lives.
Okay. Jennifer, that issue about the RSA, Sean Canney, the Minister of State for Road Transport, wrote to the RSA saying he's not happy with their visibility in terms of awareness campaigns.
Yeah, so this has been kind of actually a long running issue between various different ministers on the Road Safety Authority down through the years. There have been kind of multiple proposals or talk of reform of the Road Safety Authority. And this particular issue, which arose this week, was revealed in a story by Jack Organ Jones. in the Irish Times. And basically what the story revealed was that there was correspondence between the minister, Seán Canny, who has responsibility for roads and senior officials in the URSA, where he was complaining that, in his opinion, the authority wasn't visible enough during high profile incidents late last year. in terms of being out in the media, in terms of explaining policy, in terms of explaining what the public should or shouldn't be doing or what they should or shouldn't be taking from particular trends.
And there would seem to be a bit of pushback in the RSA, although they did eventually seem to concede that they would need to be out more often.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Are road deaths rising and is the Road Safety Authority doing enough?
0:00–6:59
2
What multifaceted solutions did guests propose to reduce road fatalities?
6:59–8:32
3
Why is Garda roads policing decline linked to enforcement gaps?
8:32–11:56
4
Should the Road Safety Authority be reformed or split and why?
11:56–27:44