STRONG GARDA enforcement is behind a significant reduction in the number of people killed on the Republic’s roads.
Provisional figures released yesterday put road deaths to the end of August at 163 – 35 less than the same period last year.
The figures also saw a drop in the number of crashes and positive tests for drink-driving at random roadside tests.
The reduction, which is on course to reflect a second annual record “low” in the number being killed, has also coincided with a significant increase in enforcement as measured by the number of fixed-charge fines handed out by gardaí.
Fixed-charge fines have risen from 192,000 in 2007 to more than 450,000 in 2008, and are set to exceed 400,000 again this year.
Tellingly, since the introduction of random breath testing in 2006, the number testing positive for excess levels of alcohol is down from about 2 per cent to less than half of 1 per cent detected in almost 7,000 tests from June 2009 onwards.
In the first eight months of this year, the numbers of collisions on the roads fell by 12.7 per cent over the same period last year. Numbers fell to just under 30,000 compared with almost 34,000 in the same period in 2008.
Statistics also revealed Sunday is still the worst day for road deaths, and of the 163 lives lost, 130 of them were males.
About one-third of all road deaths involve single-vehicle crashes.
The worst time of the day for road deaths so far this year is between 6pm and 8pm, the time most likely to feature commuting drivers. Some 21 people were killed in these hours in the first eight months of the year, three more than the number killed in the early morning between 6am and 8am.
Geographically, only the Garda division of Dublin Metropolitan region east recorded no traffic fatalities this year.
The divisions of Cork central and Westmeath recorded just one, while Limerick region recorded 18 and Galway 12. (The combined regions in Dublin accounted for 17 deaths, while the combined regions in Cork accounted for 14).
Garda sources yesterday said a “fear of being caught” was undoubtedly a factor in driver behaviour.
However, Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock stressed “a change in culture” had made errant driving behaviour socially unacceptable, particularly drink-driving.
The head of the Garda Traffic Bureau said “many road users have changed their behaviour, and the downward trend has come about through greater compliance with road traffic laws”.
Voluntary compliance by road users was crucial in reducing the incidence of serious and fatal collisions, and he stressed that while the figures appeared to be going in the right direction 163 families this year had already been bereaved.
“We appeal, therefore, to all drivers, to their parents, wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends and to the wider community, to remind their friends and loved ones of the need to act responsibly on our roads.”
