PRESENT TENSE:IT SEEMS as if the country has left the decade behind in a grumpy fashion. Judging by the reviews of the noughties we're like people who've really enjoyed most of the party, only to lose our wallets at the end of it, writes SHANE HEGARTY
There seems to be a widespread belief that we did little that was any good during the past decade; that most of the achievements were phantom ones, indulgences or delusions.
The mood of the moment is used to sum up 10 years. So, we’ve kind of trudged out of there, heads down and scowling, the hangover kicking in with a vengeance. And with it comes an inevitable sense that we’re facing a really, really miserable couple of years as a result; that we might as well crawl up under the duvet for the next while and just wait it out. It has been the season to be melancholy.
It’s interesting to see, then, that a significant national achievement of the decade has been largely overlooked. Especially given how much coverage it has traditionally received in the press when the story has been far less positive. It is the story of road safety. That is not, perhaps, the most glamorous story, nor one that everyone is that engaged with, despite it being something that affects them every time they go out onto a road. And there is no doubt that the continuing flow of casualties tends to be noticed more than the decline in their numbers. But in just two years road deaths are down by almost 100. It is an impressive change.
There are moments when you realise that it could yet be better. Yesterday morning, gingerly driving towards Dublin on a treacherous motorway, it was baffling as to why a prolonged cold spell and persistently pessimistic weather forecasts somehow weren’t enough to have had the road gritters trundling into action.
Yet, on a broader level, the roads have become safer in the past decade. This year’s number of deaths (240) will be almost half what it was towards the end of the previous decade. If this is a lasting trend – and there is little reason why it should not be – then it deserves noting, because such a decline may not be so dramatic in the future.
The trend was not consistent throughout the noughties, with a significant upswing in deaths in 2004 and 2005. And when things were improving, it was only matching the improvements in other EU countries, where there has also been a general decline in deaths. The EU had aimed to halve road deaths over the course of the decade, but didn’t quite achieve it. But during that time Ireland has gone from being an underperformer to being the sixth safest EU country in which to drive.
For much of the decade, the Republic’s road death rate remained a consistent 70 per cent higher than the UK equivalent. In 2007, if we had had the UK’s rate then 140 people would have died on our roads (in fact 337 people died). However, the Sociological Association of Ireland has also pointed out that if we had continued with the rate that we had in 1980, then there would have been 1,460 deaths in 2007.
It’s a flurry of statistics, but they tell of a time, and country, that we have thankfully left behind.
Much of the recent improvements, of course, cannot simply be put down to a great national effort. The improvement in car safety has been industry-wide, and global. However, from a position of stasis in the 1990s, a national focus has been rewarded. The improved roads – in some of the country at least – had the byproduct of safer driving conditions. But penalty points (even if there were inconcistencies in their enforcement) and random breath testing had measurable impacts on safety.
Road deaths do not tell the whole story about road safety, however, and there is no doubt that more effective medical intervention, either at the scene or in hospitals, has had a steady influence too.
Among this week’s figures were those telling us that an estimated eight to 10 people sustain serious injuries such as spinal cord damage and each of these is a person whose fate has not been given any press coverage.
Yet, the broader achievement cannot be overlooked. A Road Safety Authority spokesman this week uttered the mantra that “one death is one too many”, and we can hardly doubt that. There may be another family grieving this morning.
The sad reality is, though, that there will always be road deaths. It is an inevitability that every society already lives with. But we leave the past decade knowing that lives are being saved, and can be saved, and at a time when we have focussed so much on things that have gone into decline, it is one measurable sign of progress.
Ross O’Carroll Kelly is resting