Even before the recent tragedies involving multiple fatalities, the rate of road deaths was the highest in six years. Proposals to cut speed limits sharply are expected to go to the Cabinet this month
The funeral of Kiea McCann in Clones, Co. Monaghan. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
Speaking generally rather than about a particular incident, Ms O’Donnell holds speed, insufficient enforcement and impaired driving as the three critical issues. The data is bleak. This year’s monthly average death rate is now 16 compared with 13 during 2022. Based on that average, according to RSA modelling, the total death rate could reach as high as 192, 70 more than a high-point target of 122. Should it do so over the coming four months, it would be the highest fatality rate since 2014.
Flowers at the scene in Portlaoise, Co Laois, where three-year-old Rosaleen McDonagh died following a collision. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire However, even in a country where roads legislation is known for stirring a political wasp’s nest, there are signs of an impetus spurred on by the experience in Tipperary and elsewhere; a feeling the issue can no longer continue to blight lives.
Michael White jnr was killed on his way to school when the bus in which he was travelling overturned just two miles from the family home. His parents and then 12-year-old sister Ciara rushed to the scene but were held back from getting too close to the wreckage. “I think: ‘Oh God, they’re just starting out on this now,’” she says. “Not that the fact that we’re further on makes it easier. But it’s a long process to even get to be able to cope.”Donna Price of the Irish Road Victims Association: 'To have lost a loved one in circumstances that could have been avoided makes it all the more unbearable.' Photograph: Alan Betson
“[It] is on the shelf as one of a number of action plans that the Government has,” he says. “To be honest, we all share a bit of responsibility for that ... we do need some cross-party energy across this.” However, gardaí struggle to sidestep the impression that there are simply not enough visible resources on the roads, particularly in an era where technology, such as point-to-point speed cameras, are offering more solutions that do not require boots on the ground.
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