Sir, – Dave Mathieson (“Protecting pedestrians and cyclists – well-tested solutions exist”, Letters, January 13th) makes many good points in his letter about road design, and good road design surely can help reduce road incidents, but to re-engineer every existing road in Ireland to make them safer is a mammoth and probably unaffordable undertaking, so let’s talk about something else which is a major cause of road incidents and perhaps more achievable.
There is an unwillingness by people to take responsibility for their own actions.
Hoping drivers will stop when a pedestrian (engrossed perhaps in a TikTok video) dashes across the road without looking, or hoping drivers will see you on your unlit bicycle while also wearing dark clothes on a rainy night, isn’t taking personal responsibility.
Equally, blaming the road when you crash your car because you were simply driving too fast or knocking people off their bicycle, the one which you did see, because you couldn’t wait a few seconds more to overtake, is also not taking responsibility.
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Not taking responsibility begins at an early age, when parents don’t teach their own children about the fact that they are indeed responsible for their own safety and for that of others, or when teaching how to walk or bicycle safely on the roads isn’t taught in homes or schools.
Training from an early age about personal responsibility can remain with a person throughout their life.
There was a very sensible suggestion by a previous minister for transport that the faster one speeds above the speed limit, the larger the fine and the greater the number of penalty points one would receive.
Minister for Transport Éamon Ryan should consider reintroducing that measure through the Dáil.
Lots of education and training, especially in schools, about a person’s personal responsibility for their own actions and safety and how not to be the cause of accidents, are affordable, and would go a long way to reducing road incidents causing serious injuries and deaths.
It’s a life skill which needs to be taught and reinforced right through the education cycle and would reap rewards right through life. – Yours, etc,
DAVID DORAN,
Bagenalstown,
Co Carlow.