A CAMPAIGN to reduce collisions on Irish roads is being stalled by Government cuts in the budget for motorway service areas, writes TIM O'BRIEN
The Garda-led, multi-agency campaign to target defective commercial vehicles and operators that consistently flout regulations was cut back earlier this year after gardaí found checkpoints were themselves becoming a health and safety issue.
It was hoped that the National Roads Authority’s (NRA) proposed programme for motorway service areas would, for the first time, have provided a network of dedicated inspection areas for such checks.
This week, Superintendent Declan O’Brien of the Garda Traffic Bureau said checkpoints on main roads had to be targeted at busy times. He said they had revealed a number of repeat offenders whose names would be placed on a “risk register”.
But he said the “working environment”, the number of multi-agency personnel required and the length of time it took to process a heavy goods vehicle had resulted in safety issues.
The Garda and safety authorities targeted the commercial sector after cross-border figures from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency in the UK revealed Irish-registered lorries were among the most frequent offenders in terms of road safety.
The checkpoints were a key part of RSA measures designed to crack down on those who regularly flout regulations.
O’Brien told the conference that, following a review of the multi-agency inspections in March of this year, it was decided to reduce the number of participating agencies and the number of such checks.
O’Brien said the Garda had no dedicated inspection areas on national roads, placing considerable emphasis on the NRA’s programme for motorway services to alleviate this problem.
But, as reported recently in The Irish Times, the NRA has been forced to curtail the programme due to budget cuts.
A total of 12 locations along the motorway network had been identified for service areas and the NRA was planning to have service areas on all inter-urban motorways by 2010.
The programme has now been cut to just three areas – two on the M1 and one on the M4 – which are not now expected to open until 2011.
A spokesman for the HSA confirmed the multi-agency checks were reviewed by the Garda in March and subsequently scaled down.
An ongoing assessment of the situation is being compiled by the Garda and a report is expected to be completed by July.