Ministers satisfied gardaí enforcing road safety measures

Two Ministers have said they are satisfied with the level of law enforcement on the State's roads despite a rise in fatalities and Road Safety Authority chairman Gay Byrne expressing concern about the issue.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar yesterday met the Attorney General and representatives of the Garda and Road Safety Authority to discuss road deaths, and afterwards urged motorists and pedestrians to take greater care.

Garda figures show 160 people have died on the State's roads so far this year, compared to a total of 162 for all of last year. A total of 279 people were killed on the roads in 2008, and the figure had fallen steadily in each subsequent year. A recent Road Safety Authority survey found that some 76 per cent of respondents believed the level of Garda presence on the roads was down.

Offences detected
Mr Byrne has also written to Mr Varadkar to say it was "becoming increasingly clear that enforcement levels are deteriorating" after an analysis of fixed charge notices showed total offences detected fell by 36 per cent in the first four months of this year. Speaking after the meeting, Mr Shatter said Mr Byrne's logic when it came to traffic law enforcement levels was "wrong".

He did not think driver complacency was an issue, and gardaí were mounting more checkpoints than in any previous year. The number of people being seriously injured in collisions was also on the decline.

Mr Shatter said statistics were not always interpreted correctly, but that both he and Mr Byrne ultimately wanted the same thing – to ensure that the number of road fatalities fell.

Mr Byrne later said he did not want to have an argument with Mr Shatter and that “whether this is fact or not . . . the dogs on the street have a perception for the last year at least that enforcement was down”.

“When the perception is there that the possibility of you meeting a yellow jacket around the next bend is remote people start getting complacent and a bit careless about phone use, speed limits, seatbelt use and general behaviour on the road.”

Mr Byrne described the rise in road traffic fatalities as a "depressing" development given the fact he had warned about the perception that laws were being less strenuously enforced. He believed it would be "very fortunate indeed" if fewer than 200 people died on the State's roads this year, which would represent a significant rise on the 2012 figure.

'Most heartening'
However, he said it was "most heartening" that Mr Shatter had attended the meeting on road fatalities.

Mr Byrne earlier this year suggested Mr Shatter had “about as much interest in road safety as I do in snipe shooting”.

Asked if he was happy about the enforcement of driving laws, Mr Varadkar replied: “I’m satisfied with the level of enforcement by the Garda.”