THE GOVERNMENT has been accused of “diverting money” from efforts to eliminate accident blackspots on existing roads by continuing to invest in new motorways
PllanBetter – a joint initiative of An Taisce, Friends of the Earth, Feasta and Friends of the Irish Environment – said international data showed investment in dedicated road safety measures saved more lives for each euro spent.
With nearly half of Ireland’s road network having the lowest safety rating under European standards, the group urged the Government to focus on eliminating blackspots, arguing that safety must come before building more motorways.
The Republic’s low rating for close to 50 per cent of its roads, mainly county and regional, compares with 5 per cent of Northern Ireland’s network that scores at the lowest grade and just 2 per cent of British roads.
“Removing dangerous bends and realigning hazardous junctions save far more lives . . . than building four-lane roads, yet the Government fund to tackle high-accident locations is not only paltry, it has been cut by 14 per cent,” PlanBetter said.
It said the amount spent to build a single kilometre of new motorway was €10 million – “far more than the total of €6 million a year committed to date for the removal of high-accident locations [which] wouldn’t even build a kilometre of motorway”.
The Low Cost Safety Improvement Programme had already been reduced from €7 million a year to €6 million, with no commitment to tackle high-accident locations in 2011, but millions were still being allocated to the National Roads Authority, the lobby group said.
Examples include proposals for a new 28km four-lane road in Co Wexford between Oilgate and Rosslare – much of it to replace a recent bypass – “even though traffic on the route is 75 per cent short of the volume required to justify building a four-lane road”.
PlanBetter said other examples where the Government was “still allocating millions for new motorways at the expense of remediating existing routes” include Clontibret to Aughnacloy (N2), Blarney to Patrickswell (N20) and Adare to Abbeyfeale (N21).
The call from PlanBetter came as a number of events were held across the country yesterday to mark World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims.
The Garda said yesterday’s events may have been one of the reasons no traffic fatalities were recorded between Friday and yesterday evening. Another reason cited by the force was the introduction of State-wide speed cameras.
Since records began in 1959 some 22,882 people have been killed on Irish roads. Noel Brett of the Road Safety Authority said more were being killed each year than lost their lives in the Troubles.