Government must urgently address 'carnage' on Irish roads
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The head of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has called on new Taoiseach Simon Harris to take immediate action to address the level of carnage on the roads.
With 61 lives lost on Irish roads so far this year, RSA chair Liz O'Donnell said we cannot afford to wait.
In order to tackle and deter bad driver behaviour, there needs to be a significant ramp-up in terms of visible enforcement, she said.
In the past two years since covid, the level of non-compliance has been "off the scale".
"It's the missing link. It's what we need. Enforcement, enforcement, enforcement."
A 20% increase in GoSafe speed cameras last year was welcome but another 20% is required this year, according to Ms O'Donnell.
There also needs to be significant investment in average speed cameras which track how long it takes a vehicle to travel between two set points on a road.
"We only have two in Ireland. We have 200,000km of road, 26 counties, four major cities. Two average speed cameras is just not sufficient," Ms O'Donnell told RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne.
Currently, 12 sites have been identified and approved for average speed cameras but Ms O'Donnell has warned waiting until next year for these to be installed is not an option.
The cost of the cameras — about €100,000 each — is nothing compared to the lives being lost, she said.
Cameras alone will not stop people from speeding and engaging in other bad driving behaviours and there are calls to increase the number of gardaí dedicated to roads policing.
Since 2009, the Garda numbers for road policing decreased by 40%. Just 4.5% of the Garda force is involved in road policing.
Ms O'Donnell is calling on Mr Harris as Taoiseach to meet with the RSA as a matter of urgency following his promise to "take very active interest" in the issue of road safety.
Before becoming Taoiseach, Mr Harris contacted the RSA to request a meeting and for a detailed briefing to be delivered to him.
Responding to criticism from 28 road safety advocacy bodies who declared no confidence in the RSA last week, Ms O'Donnell said: "I don't accept that."
"We're pointing out where we need help. And it's an all-of-Government strategy. It's not just one agency can deliver this," said Ms O'Donnell.
"We don't have the resources to deliver all of the things that need to be done."