Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Treacy family, here today, have presented an object lesson in courage - the agonised courage it takes to speak so candidly about personal grief and to share memories of a beloved son. I hope the Treacy’s generosity in sharing their story, will prevent other families from experiencing the same tragedy.
The contribution of the Treacy family highlights the fundamental purpose of this year’s Christmas Campaign by the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána.
Saving lives.
169 people have died on Ireland’s road this year. That is 169 families broken and shattered, facing Christmas without their loved one.
We, as a government, and as a society, can't stand by as if this were just an inevitability. It isn't.
Ireland’s current Road Safety Strategy (2013 – 2020) aims to place Ireland consistently on the list of safest countries in the EU and beyond. We're setting out to do this in partnership. Minister Ross and I attended the Ministerial Committee on Road Safety only last week, along with the Road Safety Authority, An Garda Síochána, the Attorney General and other agencies. This Committee oversees the implementation of the Road Safety Strategy and provides a forum for high-level discussion of road safety issues.
This multi-agency approach continues into enforcement. An Garda Síochána’s Roads Policing Operations Plan 2016 incorporates a programme of high visibility road safety and enforcement operations, carried out in partnership with other state agencies. Garda operations specifically target road use behaviour known to contribute significantly to collisions, including drunk driving. By working together with the Road Safety Authority and other agencies, An Garda Síochána will continue to confront dangerous road-user behaviour.
The RSA's Fatal Collisions report shows drivers and passengers who consume alcohol are more likely to undertake other risky behaviours on the road, such as not wearing a seat belt or speeding. Of course - and this is neither ageist nor sexist - the biggest risk takers are young male drivers between 25 and 30 who drive too fast, drink and bend all the tragic statistics out of shape. We have to find a way to address this reality, and - let's be honest - we haven't found a way yet. But we will. The story of road safety is one of successfully overcoming obstacles. These drivers are just a particularly recalcitrant obstacle and we must continue to reach out to them and target messages they can hear and will respond to.
Makes sense - we know that it's not one isolated type of risky behaviour that causes the majority of collisions but a number of them. Excessive and inappropriate speed, not wearing a seat belt and using a mobile phone are all significant factors in fatal and serious injury collisions. It is essential that the necessary enforcement tools, such as the Safety Camera Network, are available to An Garda Síochána to confront this dangerous behaviour, but also, to change driver behaviour and make our roads safer. The Safety Camera Network has contributed very positively to road safety. The number of fatal collisions occurring in Safety Camera enforcement zones reduced from 30% in 2008 to 14% in 2015. The Garda Commissioner and I entered into a new safety camera contract for the provision of the service for another 6 years in August because we want the Safety Camera Network to continue to be a force for responsible driving behaviour.
Responsible driving is a shared responsibility of every road user be they a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian. Our choices and decisions can have potentially devastating consequences not just for ourselves but for our loved ones and other road users. Between 2008 and 2012, bad decisions cost 286 people their lives: 286 lives lost in fatal collisions where alcohol was a contributory factor. The RSA’s report and the testimony of the Treacy family highlight the need for all of us to stop and consider the impact of our decisions on others.
I wish you all a safe, healthy and peaceful Christmas and New Year and hope that this campaign can contribute to that.