Irish roads the sixth safest in the European Union, says report

mike65

on a related matter

UK road deaths drop below 2000 pa for first time (typical, just as Ireland gets its act together the UK moves the goalposts!)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/30/road-deaths-fall-record-low

The number of people killed annually on the roads in Britain has fallen below 2,000 for the first time since records began in 1926, government statistics show.

The death toll for 2010 was 1,857, as against 2,222 in 2009, a 16% drop and the seventh consecutive annual fall, the Department for Transport statistics showed. There was an 8% reduction in the broader statistic of people killed or seriously injured, which stood at 22,660 last year.

Although deaths and injuries fell significantly for motorists, pedestrians and motorcyclists, the number of cyclists killed rose for a third consecutive year. Deaths rose by 7% from 104 in 2009 to 111 last year, although the DfT says the number of cyclists rose by just 0.5%. The cycling casualty rate is, however, well down on the average annual death rate of 186 during 1994 to 1998.

Brian CivilEng

We should keep aiming for the UK standard, what they have achieved there is impressive. That's not to belittle our achievements either, we are heading in the right direction.

KevR

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Interesting point. Any theories?

I believe that driving on the left is slightly safer because of the bit in bold.

abitofacomedian wrote: »

I remember reading a report somewhere that there was no statistically significant benefit to driving on the left, but I can't find it after a quick google. Some theories put forward is that driving on the left is safer for right handed people as they use their strong hand on the wheel when they change gear. So since 83% of people are right handed then driving on the left should be safer. Also apparently people have a slightly stronger vision on one side (right eyed maybe), and more people see better on their right than on their left. However there doesn't seem to be any major studies showing that one side is safer than the other.

AugustusMinimus

In addition, there is also a tendency for right handed people to turn left instead of right in case of an emergency.

THis is why the towers on aircraft carriers are always on the right. The Japanese had them on the left in WW2 and quickly learned of their mistake.

This would of course lead to cars in right hand drive countries turning into oncoming traffic.

ardmacha

breakingnews today..

Some 90 people lost their lives on Irish roads during the first six months of the year, according to the latest figures from An Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

This represents a 9 per cent reduction on road fatalities for the same period last year when 99 people died.

The figures showed road deaths involving drivers, passengers and pedestrians were substantially down on the same period in 2010.

Driver deaths, which typically represent half of all road deaths, fell from 49 in 2010 to 45 this year, a drop of 8 per cent. The number of pedestrian deaths has also fallen from 24 to 20, a 16 per cent decrease.

However, the number of motorcyclists and cyclists killed on the roads has increased.

Eight motorcyclists were killed on the roads since the beginning of the year, one more than the same period last year and two cyclists died, compared to none last year.

April saw the lowest road deaths ever recorded in a single month with nine lives lost.

Road deaths in May, typically a high risk month because of the bank holiday weekend, were 60 per cent lower this year with 11 deaths compared to 28 in 2010.

Gardaí said two in five of all road deaths take place between Friday midnight and Sunday midnight.

Despite this reduction, both agencies said the number of young people dying on the roads remained a cause for “significant concern”.

One third (30) of road users killed to date were aged between 16 and 25 .

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said: “The Government road safety strategy 2007 to 2012 set a goal for no more than 21 lives lost on our roads per month by 2012.

“This target was achieved two years running, in 2009 and 2010, which had the lowest number of road deaths ever recorded. Now we are asking every road user to set their own personal target to keep up this life-saving behaviour and prevent needless deaths on our roads,” he said.

“It’s not impossible. If we continue the behaviour we have seen over the past six months, we could save as many as 30 lives this year.”

The RSA urged road users to “redouble their efforts to prevent further suffering and tragedy as a result of deaths on our roads”.

RSA chairman Gay Byrne said: “The people of Ireland have shown what can be achieved when road safety is prioritised. But our work is far from over. 90 lives have been lost on our roads so far this year in unnecessary, preventable tragedies. Even more tragic is the number of young people still being killed on our roads.”

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said: "Gardaí are working closely with our partner agencies to further reduce deaths and serious injury and we will continue to target our enforcement activity at areas where fatalities are more likely to occur.

NITransport

I would just like to remind ppl that our average mileage is almost double that of those in the uk yet our accident rate is only ever so slightly higher than that of the uk residents! Therefore we mustened be bad drivers!

Leonard Hofstadter

Considering the absolutely appalling standard of driving that most Irish motorists have; non existant lane discipline, especially on three lane roads, the apparent lack of indicators in most cars, people driving in the wrong lane coming up to roundabouts and junctions, people changing lane without warning and the number of morons who drive ridiculuously slowly, forcing the rest of us normal people to overtake and drive on the wrong side of the road, to have had only 90 fatalities so far this year is a stunning achievement.

Isn't it amazing what happens when we invest in decent roads?

If we built even more motorways, educated people about how to drive properly (usage of indicators, not to drive too slowly for the conditions and of course lane discipline) because Irish people quite frankly are terrible drivers, we will get the numbers down even more.

There are still roads which have an appalling level of accidents, and are national primary routes, such as Slane, the N11 bit, and of course Cork-Limerick and Limerick-Waterford are still dreadful roads for the most part, both also have accident blackspots, so if these get sorted we can bring the numbers down even more.

I don't fully agree with the new compulsory training for drivers, but something had to be done, and it is a hell of a lot better than what went before, so the RSA does deserve credit for finally doing something about making people pass a proper driving test and have proper training before they can pass the said test.

sama_kaffee

You do see some of the most awful driving in Ireland. the last ten years on the road have been pretty shocking. especially 2000 to 2008.

But there has been a huge improvement over the last 1 - 2 years, for obvious reasons,

i see a lot less appalling stuff now, less of the retarded overtaking:), and less of the retarded tail-gating.:)

so fair play to drivers on irish roads for slowly starting to get their act together, and using their brain a little bit.

KevR

There is bound to be more people cycling these days with petrol/diesel being so expensive. If cyclists now account for a bigger portion of all road users than they did before then it is likely that the number of cyclists involved in serious accidents will increase further.

Iwannahurl

KevR wrote: »

There is bound to be more people cycling these days with petrol/diesel being so expensive. If cyclists now account for a bigger portion of all road users than they did before then it is likely that the number of cyclists involved in serious accidents will increase further.

Not necessarily: http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/Campaigns/CTC_Safety_in_Numbers.pdf

KevR

Never really thought of it that way. Thanks

Iwannahurl

It's a question of proportion, I suppose.

The number of cyclists killed and injured in the Netherlands, for example, is higher than in countries with low numbers of cyclists. But that's because they have huge numbers of people cycling all the time.

Cycling is inherently safe, however, and the benefits far outweigh the risks. If everyone cycled in Ireland instead of driving, there would of course be numerically more cyclists in the road casualty stats, but the profile would be very different I reckon. Fewer deaths and disabling injuries I would imagine, and a vast increase in grazed knees and broken collar bones.

Pure fantasy of course, given the nature and extent of this nation's car dependence.

galwaycyclist

I'm cross posting this from the
cycle lanes thread on commuting and transport. apologies if it has already been raised here.

The matter of state agencies and in particular the Garda claiming credit for recent falls in road deaths is tendentious. Following such claims to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights, Cyclist.ie sent them a letter in 2009 pointing out other factors. Unfortunately its not up on the Cyclist.ie website but I found a copy so I've chopped the key section

The effect of fuel price on traffic accidents
In the US, researchers have compared the average prices of gasoline with the number of fatal traffic accidents between 1985 to 2006. They found that for each 10% increase in gas prices, fatal traffic accidents declined 2.3%. They also found that the level of fatalities decreased by over twice as much (by 6%) in the younger range of drivers who tend to drive more recklessly. Based on this observed effect of fuel prices, it was being predicted that for 2008 the US would experience the lowest traffic fatalities since 1961. The Associated Press quotes a director of the US National Safety council as stating "When the economy is in the tank and fuel prices are high, you typically see a decline in miles driven and traffic deaths". In the US, the chief executive of Mothers Against Drunk Driving has also credited high gas prices with helping to curb drunk driving. Between July 2007 and July 2008, Irish petrol prices increased by 13% percent from 117.8c to 133.5c. Diesel prices went up by 32% in the same period from 109c to 143.8c. This was against a background of fuel prices that have been rising since 2004. Given the trend seen elsewhere, it is reasonable to ask if this was something that would also be likely influence Irish driver behaviour?

Reduced economic activity
The recent drop in fuel prices might have been expected to reverse any associated downward trends in road deaths. However, Ireland has now moved into a pronounced economic downturn. In road safety research, it is a long established observation that road deaths tend to track indicators of economic activity such as employment rates.

Time series studies in the following countries are reported to have found a correlation between upward and downward trends employment rates and similar trends in road deaths: the U.S. (1948-1987), Sweden (1962-1987), West Germany (1960-1983), Finland (1965-1983), Canada (1960-1986), United Kingdom (1960-1985), Netherlands (1968-1986), Switzerland (1967-1994).

Experts on traffic safety and driver behaviour such as Prof. Gerald Wilde of Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario and Prof. Rudiger Trimpop of the German University of Jena have proposed that this effect is due to an increase in the relative costs of crashes. When money is scarce, even a small accident can be a financial burden because costs of insurance repairs etc have risen relative to real income.
Simultaneously the benefits expected from risky behaviour are reduced, because time is worth less money. There is less to be gained from behaviours like driving fast, driving through a red or amber light or breaking the rules in other ways.

In Ireland, the Live Register reportedly saw the biggest 12-month increase since records began in 1967 with an unadjusted increase of 120,987 or 71% in the year to December 2008. Again given the trends seen in other countries, it is reasonable to ask if this was something that would also be expected to affect Irish driver behaviour?

serfboard

As well as all the other reasons, younger people "who tend to drive more recklessly" and who made up a third of the deaths, are more likely to be unemployed, or to have emigrated and therefore are either not physically here or can't afford to drive now.

Iwannahurl

galwaycyclist wrote: »

I'm cross posting this from the
cycle lanes thread on commuting and transport. apologies if it has already been raised here.

The matter of state agencies and in particular the Garda claiming credit for recent falls in road deaths is tendentious. Following such claims to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights, Cyclist.ie sent them a letter in 2009 pointing out other factors. Unfortunately its not up on the Cyclist.ie website but I found a copy so I've chopped the key section

1. The secular trend in Irish road deaths has been generally downward since the 1970s.

2. In the 1970s, when there were only half the number of vehicle registrations as we have now, there were fifty people a month dying on the roads.

3. With regard to fuel price, how have those studies controlled for fuel costs as a proportion of income? Also, is it only an in-country phenomenon, or do between-country comparisons reveal anything?

galwaycyclist

Iwannahurl wrote: »

1. The secular trend in Irish road deaths has been generally downward since the 1970s.

2. In the 1970s, when there were only half the number of vehicle registrations as we have now, there were fifty people a month dying on the roads.

There is an established international pattern of road deaths eventually reducing with increasing national wealth/vehicle registrations. This is sometimes referred to as Smeeds Law.

There is a paper by Professor John Adams examining Smeeds Law here
http://john-adams.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2006/smeed's%20law.pdf

Most developed societies find ways to reduce the number of road deaths.

Iwannahurl wrote: »

3. With regard to fuel price, how have those studies controlled for fuel costs as a proportion of income? Also, is it only an in-country phenomenon, or do between-country comparisons reveal anything?

I don't have time to review the research on this point but the sources were as follows:

Effect of fuel prices on traffic accidents:
· Study: As gas prices go up, auto deaths drop By Joan Lowy, Associated Press 11th July 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-11-960390037_x.htm

· Traffic deaths fall as gas prices climb: As economy slumps, people are venturing out less, Associated Press July 22, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25801898/

Effects of economic activity on road deaths:

· Traffic calming: a promise unfulfilled· By: Gerald J.S. Wilde 9th September 1999
http://www.drivers.com/article/303/ See section entitled: Macro-economic effects upon the fatal traffic accident rate per capita

· Safe & Sustainable Transport: A Matter of Quality Assurance, European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2003
http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/europe/ecmt/pubpdf/03SafeSust.pdf

Iwannahurl

galwaycyclist wrote: »

There is an established international pattern of road deaths eventually reducing with increasing national wealth/vehicle registrations. This is sometimes referred to as Smeeds Law.

[...]

Traffic deaths fall as gas prices climb: As economy slumps, people are venturing out less, Associated Press July 22, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25801898/

Contradictory "laws", it would appear. Which is the real one?

galwaycyclist

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Contradictory "laws", it would appear. Which is the real one?

Why can't they both be "real"? They involve very different time periods.

Iwannahurl

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Why can't they both be "real"? They involve very different time periods.

So does the evidence show that road deaths decrease over long time periods as economies gradually improve, but increase during boom periods?

veryangryman

Iwannahurl wrote: »

So does the evidence show that road deaths decrease over long time periods as economies gradually improve, but increase during boom periods?

Boom periods, people tend to not care aboout cost of fuel etc so drive more, hence more cars on road, more accidents.

Bust - people do check their wallets and dont take as many journeys.

Sounds fairly straightforward to me.

galwaycyclist

veryangryman wrote: »

Boom periods, people tend to not care aboout cost of fuel etc so drive more, hence more cars on road, more accidents.

Bust - people do check their wallets and dont take as many journeys.

Sounds fairly straightforward to me.

Yep all that is required for both patterns to hold true is that with each return to economic growth road deaths should tend not to "recover" to pre-bust levels.

Iwannahurl

Iwannahurl wrote: »

So does the evidence show that road deaths decrease over long time periods as economies gradually improve, but increase during boom periods?

veryangryman wrote: »

Boom periods, people tend to not care aboout cost of fuel etc so drive more, hence more cars on road, more accidents.

Bust - people do check their wallets and dont take as many journeys.

Sounds fairly straightforward to me.

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Yep all that is required for both patterns to hold true is that with each return to economic growth road deaths should tend not to "recover" to pre-bust levels.

Looking at the annual fatality totals since the 1970s, it seems clear that the overall trend has been downwards.

Last year's total of 212 fatalities was the lowest since records began in 1959.

There may be many different factors contributing to this long-term improvement in road safety, including better cars and better roads, but the role of legislation and enforcement should not be overlooked or minimised, especially with regard to important risk factors like alcohol and excessive speed.

For example, fatalities dropped to below 400 in 2002/2003, around the time penalty points were introduced. Random breath testing for drink driving came into force in July 2006 and was immediately followed by the lowest August road death total in twenty years. The benefits of new enforcement measures can wear off as people drift back to their old ways, but there is no doubting that the cumulative effect of these various incremental advances is an overall improvement in road safety.

If boom and bust are causally associated with increasing and decreasing road deaths respectively, do these graphs illustrate such phenomenona?

Ireland's economy grew rapidly in the years 1995 to 2007/2008 (the so-called "Celtic Tiger" era, a term I personally hate), with annual growth ranging from over 9% in the earlier years to an average of over 5% per annum over the last decade.

Personally, I can't see that this is reflected in the road death statistics shown in the first graph below, in a way predicted by the "laws" referred to earlier. Maybe there is some support for the theory in the longer-term trend 1960-2010, as shown in the second graph?

ardmacha

Personally, I can't see that this is reflected in the road death statistics shown in the first graph below, in a way predicted by the "laws" referred to earlier. Maybe there is some support for the theory in the longer-term trend 1960-2010, as shown in the second graph?

In my opinion the bulge in 2005-2007 was down to particular factors, otherwise the first graph would have shown a more or less steady decline from 1990 onwards. There was a notable trend of accidents involving eastern Europeans in these years. People using to driving on the right, from places with much poorer road safety records, with older cars in many cases and semi immune from driving penalties were more prone to accidents.

Iwannahurl

ardmacha wrote: »

In my opinion the bulge in 2005-2007 was down to particular factors, otherwise the first graph would have shown a more or less steady decline from 1990 onwards. There was a notable trend of accidents involving eastern Europeans in these years. People using to driving on the right, from places with much poorer road safety records, with older cars in many cases and semi immune from driving penalties were more prone to accidents.

Do you mean 2003-2005? There was certainly a big jump in road deaths in that period, with the fatalities up by 60, an 18% increase.

I take your point about fatalities among immigrant workers during that period. Certainly the RSA was getting no praise then: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/eu-attacks-our-road-safety-as-deaths-soar-114059.html

However, is the immigration factor (especially regarding the need to acclimatise to driving on the left, as well as other transient influences) not a specific phenomenon in itself? I can't see how this would reliably explain the general boom-bust link mentioned earlier.

galwaycyclist

So what happens if we graph annual deaths by road user type?

savagecabbages

Anyone have information on deaths per km travelled per year per person?
I recall looking at such data before, and Irish people drive a LOT compared to other nations, and our fatality rate per capita is relatively high as result. While our deaths per x km traveled is lower.

Had a quick look for the data couldn't find it, will look again alter...

Tech3

I think it clearly shows that driving behaviour and road quality has improved over the last few decades. It will be interesting to see how the trend fares over the next decades as there will a small amount invested into the road network.

SeanW

I know it's been a couple of weeks, but I couldn't let this go unanswered, unfortunately I could not respond sooner.

Einhard wrote: »

It's also kind of staggering that, even in a thread on the reduction of road deaths, the RSA is singled out for vitriol and condemnation, and not for praise and commendation. What is with Irish people and their distaste for any kind of authority?

When they just look to bury drivers in red tape with no serious case for it (like the annual NCTs they helped impose on older cars, because poor people really need all the extra expense and hassle, and there are so many deadly accidents caused by cars in poor condition with 1-2 year old NCT certs (actually there are no statistics on this AFAIK) they EARN their "vitriol and condemnation."

If and when they

1. Acknowledge the poor quality of certain roads - past and present - as a significant factor in road accidents.
2. Acknowledge - fully and unreservedly - role that the construction of motorways, dual carriageways and relief roads has had in the declines in road deaths in recent years.
3. Actually do something to enhance road safety that doesn't involve drowning drivers in onerous regulations and bureaucracy. One example might be to compile a report on the nations worst "Accident Blackspots" and giving the Minister for Transport an action plan.
4. Don't look to impose new regulations on road users unless there is crystal clear, indisputable evidence that the change will actually prevent road deaths.
5. If I could really push my luck, perhaps they could recommend a rollback on some of the regulations that don't really fit the bill in Point 4 - like the annual NCTs for poor people, for a quick example.

As and when they do that, they will get my praise and commendation

ardmacha

I am not all that impressed by the RSA. But road safety is not only the outcome of direct measures, although these are clearly of great importance, but an improved general climate. This includes roadworthy vehicles, so the NCT has a role to play and older vehicles are more likely to have problems than newer ones and "poor" people might well skimp on their maintenance. It includes disciplined driving, so enforcement of traffic laws has a role even where it cannot be shown that those committing a particular offence killed someone.

Iwannahurl

SeanW wrote: »

I know it's been a couple of weeks, but I couldn't let this go unanswered, unfortunately I could not respond sooner.


When they just look to bury drivers in red tape with no serious case for it (like the annual NCTs they helped impose on older cars, because poor people really need all the extra expense and hassle, and there are so many deadly accidents caused by cars in poor condition with 1-2 year old NCT certs (actually there are no statistics on this AFAIK) they EARN their "vitriol and condemnation."

If and when they

1. Acknowledge the poor quality of certain roads - past and present - as a significant factor in road accidents.
2. Acknowledge - fully and unreservedly - role that the construction of motorways, dual carriageways and relief roads has had in the declines in road deaths in recent years.
3. Actually do something to enhance road safety that doesn't involve drowning drivers in onerous regulations and bureaucracy. One example might be to compile a report on the nations worst "Accident Blackspots" and giving the Minister for Transport an action plan.
4. Don't look to impose new regulations on road users unless there is crystal clear, indisputable evidence that the change will actually prevent road deaths.
5. If I could really push my luck, perhaps they could recommend a rollback on some of the regulations that don't really fit the bill in Point 4 - like the annual NCTs for poor people, for a quick example.

As and when they do that, they will get my praise and commendation

#2 done, I believe: see Road Safety Strategy 2007-2012.