So. you think it's a waste of time voting on transport issues in the local elections next month. It's time to think again, writes Kieran Fagan
Local election candidates of all parties are getting an earful on the doorsteps. In the cities and the countryside and particularly in new "satellite" towns which feed Dublin's growth, motorists are telling them they are fed up and nothing the aspiring councillor can do will make any difference.
There's a sullen anger out there about what has happened on our roads. The daily grind of commuting, the early start for the crèche and school run, the weary return late in the evening with fractious children, they are all eating away at too many young families.
Will voting for Johnny This rather that Joan That make any difference? No, according to the critics, local councils have no powers, and less money.
Most of the money is spent centrally and disappears down a black hole, called variously the Glen of the Downs, Carrickmines Castle, or Pollardstown Fen, where an endangered snail moves faster than motorists. Delays in completing the M50 around Dublin will mean that we are forever playing catch up.
The improved M1-N1 means you can drive from Dundalk to the outskirts of Dublin in less than an hour. Then you take the same time to cover the last four miles. Laugh or cry?
Even when they have powers, councillors cynically abuse them. They agree traffic calming measures which undo the good work that road improvements have painfully won by giving into local pressure groups. (We all have our favourite crass instances - mine is at Victoria Park on Killiney Hill.)
The National Roads Authority (NRA) improves the N11 in Co Wicklow and Wicklow Co Council cuts the speed limit to 50 mph on the best road in the county. No wonder the Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan, is threatening to act on such cases. He might look at the 30 mph Dundrum bypass in his own Dublin South constituency, close to his own home.
Dublin City's director of traffic, Owen Keegan, rejects suggestions that traffic calming is the result of councils caving in to local pressure groups at the expense of the travelling public. His authority is not responsible for the examples above.
"We introduced aggressive traffic calming measures for one reason only - to save lives," says Keegan. "And it worked. In Dublin City we had 53 traffic fatalities in 1997, but after traffic calming it dropped to 14 in 2001.
"It went up to 16 in 2002. Those figures speak for themselves. Traffic calming was not the only factor in this, of course, but it made a very worthwhile contribution."
It's said over and over again but it's still true, says Keegan, speed kills. "In a 20mph impact a pedestrian has a 5 per cent chance of being killed. At 40 mph, the risk of death goes up to 85 per cent. Our traffic calming measures have reduced speeds at high risk areas by 25 per cent on average. And we have listened to our critics and softened the profile of many of the ramps."
Despite popular opinion councillors do have real powers. "If they start in the right place, they can make a difference," says a retired local authority engineer. "They decide on what goes into the county development plan. If it isn't in the county development plan, it doesn't get built.
"Whether it's a major national route (the N and M roads on which the NRA is currently spending either 7 billion or 9 billion, depending on who wins that battle with Mr Brennan) or the local and regional roads for which the funding comes from the Department of the Environment and the local authority's own funds, the councillors make the most important decision. The pity is that too many of them don't participate at that stage." The scale of the sums mentioned reminds us that this discussion has moved on from "we can't afford it" to "how best can we spend the considerable sums we have?"
Those sums are huge: 7 billion over five years for national routes, of which 85 million for Kilmacanogue to Glen of the Downs, and 170 million for Ashford to Rathnew, both relatively short stretches.
In broad terms, councillors have responsibility for policy issues. In addition to the development plan, councillors decide on speed limits, parking by-laws, placing of taxi ranks. The county manager - and staff - decides on operational matters, where double yellow lines go, bus lanes etc. Some critics say too much power is in the hands of unelected local authority officials.
Fianna Fáil's Bernie Lowe, who is campaigning to retain her seat on DúLaoghaire Rathdown Co Council, argues that councillors do have an input on the decisions made by local authority officials: "The officials do listen to the councillors on items such as construction of new roads, problem areas that need to be addressed, and priorities for spending. For instance, ours never put in double yellow lines or parking meters without approval of councillors."
Eamonn Ryan TD, the Green Party spokesman on transport, thinks we should be more rigorous at the planning stage. "The first question about any new road project is - what is it for? What use will it serve? Then we must consider how it will be used, and the design should follow." He also thinks the training of engineers to tackle our transport problems should be addressed.
So does the man or woman on your doorstep looking for a vote have anything to offer? Perhaps more than you think. The important question to ask - according to most people I consulted - is not what the candidate is against, but what he or she is for. The answer to that should tell you if the person is serious about tackling the problems. The guy who is just into fire-fighting the ramps near the local roundabout may not have much else to offer. Vote vision.