The thinning out of adequate Garda resources on Irish roads has played a role in the increase in traffic collisions, an AA Ireland spokesman has said.
Speaking following the deaths of four young women in Co Kildare on Tuesday night, Conor Faughnan, director of consumer affairs for AA Ireland, said the reduction in numbers of gardaí patrolling Irish roads had led to the worsening road safety situation.
“When you stand back, on the one hand, we have made enormous progress in halving road deaths since 2004,” he said. “However, in the last two years we have stopped making positive progress and are slipping backwards.”
Three young women from Co Carlow and a woman from Co Kildare died on Tuesday night after their car collided with a van at about 9.45pm at Burtown, Co Kildare.
There were five women travelling in the car. Gardaí says three of the dead were aged 19 and one was aged 20. The driver of the car was not seriously injured.
The two men in the van were Polish and are believed to have been living and working in the Republic. They were not seriously injured in the collision.
The four deaths bring to six the number of road deaths so far in 2015.
Figures from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) show 196 people died on the roads in 2014 - an increase of six on the number of people killed in 2013. It was the second consecutive rise since a record low of 162 deaths was recorded in 2012.
Mr Faughnan says the AA acknowledges the measures the Government has taken to improve Irish road safety over the last decade, which include the introduction of penalty points, the introduction of random breath testing and improving the learner driver testing system.
He says the AA also recognises road activity has picked up in recent years in conjunction with the economic recovery.
“If you go back to the mid/late 1990s, the Irish road safety record was embarrassing. We had a shambolic road safety situation.
“Our per capita death rate was double that of Britain’s and we had a rate of road death which compared us to countries like Portugal, Greece and [those in] Eastern Europe.”
However, Mr Faughnan warns that if the numbers of gardaí on Irish roads continue to dwindle, road death numbers are going to rise.
Brian Farrell from the RSA says Tuesday's collision mirrors the same position Irish road safety was in this time last year.
“We want to renew our appeal to please take extra care when using the roads,” he said. “It’s the most dangerous thing we do every day. We get lulled into a false sense of security. We see the car as an extension of the home and become immune to the risks.”
Vulnerable road users
Mr Farrell says the RSA safety message is two-fold; it applies to both drivers and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Last year there was a 24 per cent increase in the number of vulnerable road user deaths, with four out of ten of those killed either a pedestrian, a cyclist or a motorcyclist.
Mr Farrell says these road users must take extra precautions to make themselves visible during hours of darkness by wearing high-vis jackets and carrying a torch.
Meanwhile, almost half of those killed in vehicles on the Republic’s roads last year weren’t wearing seat belts, according to the RSA.
Figures show 26 per cent of passengers killed were not wearing a seat belt, while 16 per cent of drivers were driving without a seat belt.
“It should be automatic; it shouldn’t be a conscious thought,” said Mr Farrell. “A seat belt could save a life. Road safety doesn’t happen by accident, it’s a choice.”
Susan Gray, chairperson of the Parc road safety group, says the majority of road deaths and injuries could be prevented by improving driver education and promoting driver responsibility.
“We need a robust legal and judicial system where drivers charged with traffic offences cannot easily avoid the penalties we’re seeing now, either before or after being summoned to court,” said Ms Gray.
“We need Garda enforcement and a strong penalty points system that is fit for purpose.”
Bishop Denis Nulty called on the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin to pray for the deceased, the injured, the bereaved, the emergency services and all others affected by Tuesday night’s collision near Athy.
“It is a dark day for the people of Carlow, Rathcoole and Athy and there is very little any of us can say at this time to comfort those bereaved by this tragedy,” he said.
“I pray that the families will receive all the support they need at this time and that they will be given privacy to mourn their loved ones.”
