Sir, – I’ve just read Sinead O’Sullivan’s opinion piece (“When will road deaths toll be named a public health crisis?” March 9th) and the five headings that she wants action taken on, which are all enforcement issues, but she failed to mention the most important one of all.
That is, road user education and understanding.
I write road user, rather than simply, driver, because everybody uses the roads and so everybody needs a good education on how to use them safely. Particularly in the areas of awareness and responsibility for your own safety and also the safety of other road users.
From the pedestrian glued to their phone, to the cyclist with headphones on and no lights, to the motorists holding their phone, despite their car having hands-free capability, or making dangerously close overtakes on cyclists when a car is coming the other way, instead of slowing down and waiting, the lack of awareness of road users of the dangers to themselves and by their actions, to others, is incredible.
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This lack of basic awareness and also the lack of responsibility for the safety of other road users is the cause of most collisions nowadays. Yet the Government fails to design and implement a far more comprehensive training programme for all road users.
Much of this training could and should be done in classroom-type settings where the causes and consequences of bad road behaviour can be impressed on people to give them a better understanding of just how fragile we all are – and how our own lives or those of others can be ended or dramatically changed by our lack of situational awareness. And that we all have a responsibility to keep both ourselves and others safe on the road.
Sinead O’Sullivan’s five points cannot be faulted in themselves, (enforcement is important), but without proper education of road users and, particularly drivers, to create a more knowledgeable and understanding road user, road crashes (I no longer will call them accidents, because most road deaths and injuries are avoidable by good behaviour) will continue to rise.
Education, then enforcement, is the key to reducing road deaths and injuries. – Yours, etc.
DAVID DORAN,
Bagenalstown,
Co Carlow.
