"Sheer wanton carelessness and lack of respect for human life" lie at the heart of our road accident figures, the chairman of the National Safety Council has said. At a conference on road safety at the Royal Hospital Kilmain ham yesterday, Mr Cartan Finegan said there was a clear need for all parties involved to focus on speed, alcohol and seatbelt wearing to reduce road fatalities.
Members of the British and Australian traffic police forces as well as gardai, local authorities and members of the Vintners' Association attended.
Mr Finegan called for support for the Government Strategy for Road Safety 1998 - 2002, which aimed to reduce road deaths and injuries by 20 per cent over a five-year period.
He also urged the Government to ensure the necessary resources for rapid implementation of the strategy were in place.
Without doubt, the under-24 age category, "especially the young males", were the main road safety offenders, Mr Finegan said.
"Drivers are more mature after 24 and after 30 they are more responsible, but in the first years of driving they think they are indestructible.
"The risk-taking very often kills pedestrians."
Mr Finegan believes the practice of compiling accident figures by isolating the fatalities was a mistake.
He described the Australian model, where fatal accidents and serious accidents were taken together.
This was a better indication of the scale of the problem, he said.
The moves necessary to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the roads were basically education and stringent enforcement of traffic laws but the response had to come from the whole community, he said.
"Unless the whole community takes ownership of the problem and addresses social misbehaviour - speed as well as alcohol abuse - our drivers will continue to take unnecessary risks," he added.
Mr Finegan was supported by Garda Chief Supt John O'Brien of the Garda National Traffic Policy Bureau.
He described this year's Operation Lifesaver project which, he claimed, had reduced hospital admissions in the Louth-Meath area as a result of traffic accidents by up to 20 per cent.
Mr Finbarr Crowley of the National Roads Authority said the increased risk for pedestrians with excessive levels of alcohol was less than that for drivers but was still considerable.
Pedestrians had, he said, been found asleep on the roads with as much as 300 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood.
Mr Crowley added that while alcohol undoubtedly worsened the situation, the greatest danger on Irish roads came from people speeding.
Mr Crowley said the figures clearly showed that more people were killed when speed was a factor in accidents.
"For pedestrians, if the impact speed is 20 m.p.h., 5 per cent die. If the impact speed is 30 m.p.h., 45 per cent die and if the impact speed is 40 m.p.h. 85 per cent of pedestrians die," he said.