Road fatalities

Assetbacked

Quite a lot of old people die on the roads (and by old I mean over 55 years of age as per the RSA stats). This age group make up about 31-33% of driver deaths on average and 18-24 year olds make up 17-21%. Obviously a smaller age bracket for young people but to me it looks like more needs to be done by families who feel their older members should not be on the road. And I don't mean to take their car off them but to encourage them to get refresher lessons.

farmchoice

Assetbacked wrote: »

Quite a lot of old people die on the roads (and by old I mean over 55 years of age as per the RSA stats). This age group make up about 31-33% of driver deaths on average and 18-24 year olds make up 17-21%. Obviously a smaller age bracket for young people but to me it looks like more needs to be done by families who feel their older members should not be on the road. And I don't mean to take their car off them but to encourage them to get refresher lessons.

the rsa are great for statistics like that, not so great for providing context, like what percentage of drivers are over 55, it is quite possible that it is between 31-33%

Salary Negotiator

farmchoice wrote: »

the rsa are great for statistics like that, not so great for providing context, like what percentage of drivers are over 55, it is quite possible that it is between 31-33%

The CSO have data from 2017 on the ages of motorists, 8% of motorists are aged between 17-24 while 40% are aged 50 and above. 23% are aged 60+, so motorists aged 55+ would probably not be too far from 31-33%.

It's not a direct comparison because of the age brackets (17-20, 21-24, 25-29, 30-39, 40-49,...,80+) but it's clear that younger motorists are over-represented in those driver death figures.

farmchoice

Salary Negotiator wrote: »

The CSO have data from 2017 on the ages of motorists, 8% of motorists are aged between 17-24 while 40% are aged 50 and above.

It's not a direct comparison because of the age brackets (17-20, 21-24, 25-29, 30-39, 40-49,...,80+) but it's clear that younger motorists are over-represented in those driver death figures.

indeed, and again its hard to get to get an exact match but it seems that older drivers are under represented if anything so in fact less likely to be involved in a fatal crash than the other age groups the exact opposite of the point made earlier.
that was not the fault of the poster it was the manner in which the rsa present statistics.
last year they rand an add about how there were x percentage of accidents early in the morning between the hours of 6 and 9 or something like that. it took about 5 minutes to work out that that would be the % of accidents you would expect at that time based on there being 24 hours in the day. indeed when you factor in how quite the roads are between say 2am and 5am it probably meant that the time frame in question has a slightly lower % of accidents then one would expect in a give 3/4 hour period.

jimgoose

I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At two o'clock our neighbours drove me home.

In the porch I met my father crying -
He had always taken funerals in his stride -
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.

The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand

And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble'.
Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.

Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
He lay in the four-foot box as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four-foot box, a foot for every year.


Seamus Heaney, "MId-Term Break"

CrabRevolution

Fan of Netflix wrote: »

They are two of the biggest killers in this country. Given OP stated there is no outrage and discussion, it is a fair comparison. I'm not sure what your point is.

Not even close. There were 31'100 deaths in Ireland in 2018, and 450 of those came from suicides and road fatalities combined. Even if you double the number of suicides to avoid undercounting (though generally the example given for an uncounted suicide is a single vehicle collision, so they're covered anyway), there's over 30'000 deaths from other causes.

amadangomor

RickBlaine wrote: »

Last week on a motorway, I saw someone with a crossword up against the steering wheel and the driver filling it in. All while doing 100kph.

There will always be complete idiots on the road but what concerns me the most if that using mobile phones to text while driving doesn't seem to concern most drivers. I could almost forgive drivers using them on straight stretches of road but I often see them being used while turning at junctions, on a roundabout, etc. Like drink driving, that attitude needs to change by the general public.

It wasn't on the N4 was it? Saw the same lad twice reading whilst driving on N4 around Leixlip couple of years ago.

Princess Calla

I live in a relatively nice area. It is not known for idiot behaviour though we definitely have our idiots.

Walking down the road and a car drives past me with a child maybe 7, head and shoulders out the window standing up waving.

Seriously???

Unfortunately I didn't get the reg.

punisher5112

Princess Calla wrote: »

I live in a relatively nice area. It is not known for idiot behaviour though we definitely have our idiots.

Walking down the road and a car drives past me with a child maybe 7, head and shoulders out the window standing up waving.

Seriously???

Unfortunately I didn't get the reg.

Natural selection or Darwin award candidate.

Princess Calla

Unfortunately you can't really blame the child. However they will one day be driving and this is what they are learning.

Came across a decapitated head of a dog on a busy enough road a few years ago. I presume by doing something similar.... It was pretty grim.

mikemac2

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Many of those single-occupant car going into a wall late at night crashes are probably in fact suicides.

Thats pure speculation.

And driving while tired can be as dangerous as driving drunk. The shift worker coming home who crashed on a straight piece of road will have locals chattering it was a probable suicide so

Hotblack Desiato

mikemac2 wrote: »

Thats pure speculation.

Hence the words "Maybe... probably"

Princess Calla

mikemac2 wrote: »

Thats pure speculation.

And driving while tired can be as dangerous as driving drunk. The shift worker coming home who crashed on a straight piece of road will have locals chattering it was a probable suicide so

Well the people that matter will know that the person was just off shift and probably knackered.

However a 9-5 worker out for a spin late at night is probably more "suspicious "...... That said I'm a 9-5 worker and there's many a night I'd be driving at that time...... Pre getting old, now getting me out of the house after 9, not very likely.