Is the Road Safety Authority on the road to nowhere?

[HanleyS]

I haven't posted on Road Safety in a while but two news items this week have resonated with numerous posts I've made here before.

The first is on the ineffectiveness of RSA advertising in modifying the behaviour of drivers. Gay Byrne, as usual, decides to isolate young drivers for criticism but I think this is equally true for any class of driver. I don't believe that pumping millions of euro into ineffective advertising helps anybody but the advertising industry.
Road safety ads lost on boy racers - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie

The second concerns the new fleet of speed cameras being deployed around the country. An AA survey has found that the majority of drivers believe that these will be used for revenue generation rather than improving road safety. I'd have to agree with that sentiment and question why so much focus is put on a single aspect of road safety to the detriment of others.
AA says most drivers suspect speed cameras will raise funds, not standards - The Irish Times - Sat, Jan 03, 2009

In my opinion the most effective deployment of resources to improve road safety would be to get Gardai out on the road enforcing the law. You can travel for days in Ireland without seeing any evidence of enforcement. I've been home in Ireland for three weeks now and have covered a few thousand miles in that time. I have not seen one single vehicle stopped by Gardai in that time. It's unheard of in other countries.

Let's face it, the chances of being involved in a serious RTA are actually quite low. Death or Serious Injury should not be the only deterrent to bad behaviour on our roads. People should feel that they will get caught.

When these people are caught (an unreasonable number of times) they should be put off the road. They shouldn't be allowed back on the road until they've undertaken re-education and examination.

[DaveM]

I would have said that the RSA has been one of the better performing state agencies in recent years. The nmumber of deaths on the roads in 2008 was the lowest in over 40 years. Granted the upgrading of many national roads has helped a lot but I think Noel Brett has done a good job and Gay Byrne has used his public profile to good effect - whenever he speaks on an issue it gets widespread media coverage. On his comments regarding young drivers... he's right! Young men are the most dangerous on the roads. The figures tell us this and my own personal experience certainly supports the assertion.

I do between 30,000 and 40,000 miles a year and I accept enforcement is not what it should be. However the new speed cameras are by far and away the most cost effective way to implement this on a widespread scale and let people know that if you speed you can expect to be caught. Remember the improvement in driver behaviour when points first came in - the fear of being caught and getting points was paramount in improving driver behaviours but this receded when the lack of enforcement seeped into the driver psyche. Also the locations of many cameras will be widely publicised - that's not consistent with an underhand attempt to drum up a few quid.

As for the AA survey, I think this reflects more cynicism on the part of those surveyed rather than the reality of what is being implemented.

[HanleyS]

Young male drivers may well be marginally more likely to cause serious RTAs. The RSA has not provided statistics to prove this to any satisfactory degree. Even if we accept this though it doesn't excuse demonising this class of driver. People who fall outside of this category are seldom given pause for thought about their own bad behaviour on the roads. Every single driver should be regularly reminded of their personal responsibilities as a motorist.

Speeding is only one class of bad behaviour and a minority cause of serious road traffic accidents. Drink driving is an almost equally prevalent cause of serious accidents but receives much less focus than speeding. This alone is inexplicable even before you consider the multitude of other types of bad behaviour that seem to receive no attention.

I have to mention though the thing I find most stressful and dangerous driving in Ireland is the complete lack of courtesy.

[BluntGuy]

Driver cynicism will only be alleviated once the locations of the cameras are revealed.

If cameras are placed on roads with "accident black spots", at tight corners, or in strictly no overtaking areas then I hope the majority of people will see that they are for our benefit.

Obviously though, if speed cameras are predominantly placed at the bottom of hills where people are likely to be going a little bit faster, or worse still on new stretches of high-quality dual carriageway or motorway, then we'll know this is simply a little fund-raising exercise for the private sector.

[HanleyS]

There's a slightly random and bizarre article in today's Irish Times on Road Safety. It started off well talking about collective responsibility to improve road safety. It even mentioned the responsibility of councils to clean up work site signage once work is completed. Then it descended into lazy cliches about drink drivers and boy racers. Disappointing really.

Road safety - The Irish Times - Tue, Jan 13, 2009

[SPN]

Speeding is only one class of bad behaviour and a minority cause of serious road traffic accidents. Drink driving is an almost equally prevalent cause of serious accidents but receives much less focus than speeding.

Exceeding the posted speed limit is about 8%-10% of accidents.

Alcohol is 45%-50% of accidents.

Unsafe speed for the conditions - aka, not being able to stop safely when the sh.it hits the fan is 80%-85%

The Garda report which recommended Speed Cameras specifically mentioned targetting roads where the speed limit was set too low.


Don't get me started on the lack of courtesy

People driving blindly into situations that they can't get out of - causing gridlock events - is bad enough, but what really gets my goat is when someone sits back from a gridlock situation to leave room for it to unwind, but the guy behind them goes around them and straight into the gridlock - often making it worse.

Almost as bad as that other favourite Irish passtime of rear ending cars that are stopped waiting to turn right at high speed.

[HanleyS]

The particular example of lack of courtesy I was thinking of was encountered numerously when I was home for three weeks at christmas. Drivers either failing to leave a gap for you to merge/change lanes or actually accelerating to close off your gap. Scary stuff.

[FrankSpeaks]

In general our speed limits on the National Primary Routes, Dual Carriageways and Motorways are too low. The speed limit on improved that is wide NPR's should be set to 120kph, DC's to 135kph and motorways to 150kph.

[FrankSpeaks]

I think An Bord Snip should take a close look at the RSA. The RSA does nothing that cannot be done by the DOT and/or the DOE. All we will miss is the press conferences, the soundbites and the window dressing. Its primary function is to reassure the public that the govt. cares about road safety.
To uniquely credit the RSA with saving lives, at a time when there was a huge increase in spending on infrastructure, is stretching credibility.

Agreed and Gaybo is the one pushing the stupid cameras.

[odie1kanobe]

In general our speed limits on the National Primary Routes, Dual Carriageways and Motorways are too low. The speed limit on improved that is wide NPR's should be set to 120kph, DC's to 135kph and motorways to 150kph.

Setting a speed limit at 150kph encourages the view that you can do minimum of 10% higher before you will get prosecuted.

As someone who has lots of motorway driving experience (lot in excess of speed limit) I believe this level would be too high.