A guiding rule of bureaucracy is that when responsibility is shared, it is avoided. The Department of the Environment makes the rules of the road. The Department of Justice is required to implement them, through the Garda S∅ochβna and the courts. But the system isn't working. And people are dying.
The near-invisibility of the Garda when it comes to enforcing the traffic laws practically invites minor offences. And minor offences, like broken windows in a run-down neighbourhood, encourage duplication. That was the insight underpinning Zero Tolerance policing in New York. But, as John O'Donoghue found, the idea didn't take here.
Senior garda∅ make no bones about it. They depend on the goodwill of the community in carrying out their duties. And they are unwilling to test that tolerance through the tough enforcement of certain laws that transcend social boundaries. It is a recipe for lazy, ineffectual policing. But their response finds cosy acceptance in our political culture.
Even when people are formally charged with breaches of the traffic laws, they frequently escape unpunished. This fact has been known for years. But the Government has no appetite for reform.
So, there is a double-whammy effect. The slim chance of being caught breaking the law, because of the absence of a traffic police corps, is further diluted by ineffectual administration. Why expect motorists to obey the law when they can almost certainly escape punishment?
Last March, the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Purcell, reported that two-thirds of all traffic case summonses were never dealt with in court. The summonses were either not served on the offender or they were struck out. Where fines were imposed, about 40 per cent never paid them. And, Mr Purcell commented, where judges ordered people to be disqualified from driving or endorsed their licences, there was no evidence the penalties were enforced any more effectively than fines.
It is yet another scandal that has been conveniently ignored. Mr Purcell, who is not given to exaggeration, noted there was "almost no overall management or co-ordination" of the system. He called for clear responsibility and accountability to be established between the Garda and the Courts Service. And with reference to proposed changes in on-the-spot fines and the introduction of a penalty points system, he said unless they were properly planned and managed, the system would become increasingly inefficient.
So. The existing system isn't working. And Noel Dempsey's attempts to get to grips with the carnage on our roads will make it worse because John O'Donoghue isn't doing the business through policing or enforcement. But fault doesn't lie only with the Department of Justice. The Department of the Environment has contributed in a major way through the inadequacies of the provisional licensing system and long delays in the production of necessary reforms.
More than three years ago, Bertie Ahern joined Mr Dempsey in announcing a major Government initiative to reduce the number of deaths on Irish roads. There would be random breath-testing to discourage drink-driving, more speed cameras and the introduction of a penalty points system.
The promised legislation - somewhat watered down - reached the Dβil only last month. And there is little chance of it being enacted or implemented in the lifetime of this Government.
Once again, the necessary infrastructure is not in place. The Department of Justice has not upgraded its computer system to allow for the processing of new offences. And the Garda cannot, by law, use PRSI numbers to identify motorists for the purpose of prosecution.
The Department of the Environment, which registers cars and drivers, apparently does not have a sufficiently unified and accurate database to allow for the introduction of the system. Garda sources estimate it could take years to deliver on what are now stale political promises.
Within the last few years, a number of anti-speeding and anti-drink campaigns have been undertaken by the Garda. They have been of short duration, limited to bank holidays or Christmas.
The number of on-the-spot fines soared. And, last August, there was a rise of 75 per cent in the number of motorists charged with drink-driving.
The Garda National Traffic Bureau called for a national debate on the "drinking culture" in the State - its way of saying the situation is slipping out of control - but nothing happened. And it won't.
The political power of the licensed vintners is awesome. Apart from extending pub opening hours, this Government has all but ignored the extraordinary rise in alcohol consumption in recent years and the consequential deterioration in public order.
Nobody likes to confront unpalatable realities. Or powerful vested interests. So when ministers read that alcohol consumption has risen by 41 per cent in the past 10 years, they don't relate it to the longer opening hours they have sanctioned. Rather it has to do with the increasing affluence of our society.
Almost 50 per cent of all District Court business is taken up with drink-related offences. But the Garda appears reluctant to pursue publicans who sell alcohol to already inebriated people.
There are, however, welcome signs that the sale of drink to under-aged persons is finally being taken seriously and pubs forced to close.
Our drinking habits are dangerously anti-social. And the comfortable belief that large numbers of persons no longer drink and drive has been exposed as a disastrous lie.
The sporadic Garda presence on our roads - with due notice given to all motorists - has shown just how deep-seated the problem is and the changes we have to embrace as a society.
When drink is combined with speed, the mix is lethal. The available evidence suggests that half of all motorists regularly ignore speed limits. And young males are the greatest offenders. Fewer than 60 per cent wear seat belts. And the overall situation is, apparently, getting worse.
Three years ago, the Government announced it would install fixed speed cameras on busy roads out of Dublin. Some 22 sites were chosen. But only three or four cameras are actually in use, being moved from site to site. It is low farce.
Back in 1978, a total of 628 people - pedestrians, cyclists and motorists - were killed on our roads. That scarifying figure led to a number of government initiatives and the number dropped rapidly to 437 in 1995. By last year, the figure had reached 415, an increase of 2 on 1999. And it is likely to rise again this year.
Death on the roads has come to motorists in particular. Last year, 260 car users died. They made up 63 per cent of the total, compared to 44 per cent in 1995. Of the 55 young car drivers who died, 50 were male.
The latest spate of road deaths should not surprise. Given the range of political, administrative and enforcement failures, those who break traffic laws have little to fear. And the result is apparent in a death rate that is double that of Britain.
Tomorrow: Elaine Edwards examines the accident black spot of Louth.