‘Not acceptable that deaths are price of mobility’ SPC told

A road safety action plan for Westmeath is under preparation, in line with the requirements of the National Road Safety Strategy, Vision 2050, published this year.

Details of the requirements that have to be met and the progress made to date were shared with the members of Westmeath County Council’s Planning and Transportation SPC, by Colm Smith, council road safety officer.

Mr Smith explained that the road safety action plan is intended to reduce collisions and casualties on the roads to make them safer for all users.

The target, he continued, is to see a 50 per cent reduction in deaths by 2030.

Mr Smith said there will be a heightened focus on better infrastructure, improved road user behaviour and better enforcement.

He said the policy recognises that human beings are fallible, but responsibility for reducing fatalities and serious injuries was being placed not solely placed on the road user, but shared by all those involved in road safety – “for example, vehicle producers or infrastructure managers”.

“The basic ethical assumption is it is not acceptable to pay a price in deaths for the mobility that society needs,” Mr Smith said, going on to explain that while the trend in the figures for road traffic fatalities has been falling, there were still 136 deaths recorded last year.

“And it’s not just about fatalities: serious injuries have a major impact on the victims and their families,” he stated.

Base figure

Mr Smith said that working off a base figure derived from the average of the 2017 to 2019 figures for fatalities and serious injuries, the goal is to reduce deaths from 144 to 122 or lower; by 2024, and by 2030 to reduce deaths to 72 or lower. The targeted reduction in serious injury is 10%, to bring the figure down from 1,259 to 1,133 or lower by 2024, and down to 630 or lower by 2030.

He stated that in Westmeath, the council will examine the national strategy and action plan, and from those, select the actions that are appropriate for the county. Mr Smith said that the next stage in the process would involve a meeting with gardaí to receive their input, and to agree actions. The plan would then go to the council’s road safety working group for approval.

Website

SPC chairperson, Cllr Hazel Smyth, asked if, like Wicklow, Westmeath County Council could have a ‘road safety’ section on their website.

“I think it would be useful to have all the information related to road safety in Westmeath somewhere centralised on our website,” she said, suggesting also that there be a means through the site of reporting roads issues.

Cllr Smyth also wondered if the strategy could contain a requirement that people with convictions for offences repeat their driving tests.

A final issue raised by Cllr Smyth was that of scooters, and how they would be dealt with in the strategy.

Responding, Mr Smyth said he understood the council’s IT department is looking at a redesign of the website.

Wrong direction

Cllr Denis Leonard was of the view that the statistics are heading in the wrong direction: “This day last year, we had 102 deaths on Irish roads. As of today we have 112, so we’re on target for probably 170 or 180 deaths, which is the highest in a few years.”

He felt much of the problem was down to speed: “Sure, you can do traffic calming and rumble strips. But at the end of the day, people will even speed in between them, as has been proved,” he said, as he issued a call for greater enforcement.

Cllr Leonard also called for increased provision of demarcated cycleways, especially in rural areas.

By way of response, director of services, Barry Kehoe, responded that the speed limits are reviewed on an ongoing basis, and he believed it was not the speed limits that are the issue.

“It’s important that speed limits are appropriate to the road conditions that the motorist is experiencing as they traverse the county. And by and large, I think the speed limits are reasonable,” he said.

“The difficulty is that speed limits are not being adhered to, especially in the urban areas.” That was why, he said, appropriate traffic calming measures are required in those settings.

Schools

Cllr Aoife Davitt raised the subject of safety at schools, mentioning in particular Taughmon and Coralstown.

“Could we maybe write to the Department of Education and ask if there is a means or a method of upping the funding for safety at our school,” she said.

“I do think that the department have a responsibility; that they should be actually sending funding to councils in order to help with this issue.”

Mr Kehoe, by way of response, informed Cllr Davitt that the National Transport Authority is engaged in “a fairly significant scheme”, called Safe Routes to School.

“A number of schools are nominated and dealt with under this programme every year, and in time I would hope we’d get to most of the primary schools in the county and see what can be done,” he stated, adding that funding comes with that scheme.

“So if there are particular issues at particular schools, let us know,” he said and the council would see whether these qualified for consideration under that scheme.