The driving laws should be taken more seriously and Irish drivers have much scope for improvement, the Automobile Association has said.
Speaking yesterday at the Young Driver of the Year Competition in Dublin, Mr Conor Faughnan said there was a poor public attitude to road safety in this country. Road accidents took a hideous toll on Irish society; 456 people died last year, and every one of those deaths was in some sense avoidable.
"In 1996 there were 42 murders in the State. Dreadful, certainly, and every one of those deaths made front-page news. Yet more than 10 times as many people die on the roads, and society seems happy to accept it," he said. We must learn to take our driving laws more seriously. Our road safety record was much worse than Britain's.
The young driver competition promotes road safety awareness among young drivers across the EU, and the Irish winner will and go forward to the European final in Brussels in November.