This week has witnessed an appalling carnage on our roads and by the time you read this, at least one more person will probably have been added to the death list. That is the statistical reality. Between 1998 and last year, an average of 428 people were killed each year in road accidents. That is more than one person every day of every week. Up to Monday of this week, 85 drivers had been killed this year, together with 47 passengers, 44 pedestrians, 28 motorcyclists, two pillion passengers, and six cyclists. The past few days have nudged that dreadful total up to 219.
One of the more disturbing statistics available from the garda∅ is the one which shows that of 192 fatal traffic accidents this year up to last Monday, 62 involved one vehicle only. That suggests either a catastrophic mechanical failure beyond the driver's control or (more likely) that the drivers themselves were not maintaining appropriate control over their vehicles.
The root causes - excessive speed, a lack of concentration, or alcohol (or a combination of all three) - are well enough known but not, apparently, sufficiently appreciated by many drivers who continue to act with reckless disregard towards themselves and others.
The relevant authorities are tackling the problem, but not with sufficient vigour. As the Labour Party TD, Mr Eamon Gilmore, pointed out yesterday, it is almost three years since the Government announced the introduction of the points penalty system. It took until March for the Bill to be published but the system is still not on the statute books. Contrast this lethargy with the enthusiasm with which the Government (with not a little help from Fine Gael) sought to rush through legislation to ban opinion polls. No one has ever died from answering which way they intended to vote but by the time a penalty points system is actually introduced, graveyards will be filled with perhaps another year's road fatalities.
In the meantime, the Garda have to make do with the tools at their disposal. But the laws as they stand are not being enforced with sufficient rigour. Most drivers speed with impunity, slowing down only when they notice traps on low danger stretches of dual carriageway and the like. More emphasis needs to be placed on catching rogue drivers on lesser roads and at known accident black spots.
However, most responsibility rests with individual citizens themselves. If more of us do not slow down and act with greater responsibility, the carnage will continue. On the far side of the coming bank holiday weekend, statistics suggest more people will have died. Will the numbers include you?