The Society of the Irish Motor Industry has announced that sales of new cars amounted to 174,000 last year - an increase of nearly 30,000 on the figure for 1998. Shoppers will have noticed over the holiday that city-centre car parks were full early in the day, especially in Dublin, and that traffic congestion is getting noticeably worse. The two events are related. There are now huge numbers of new cars for which there are insufficient parking facilities and for which the road system is quite inadequate.
And we are told that it will get worse. Car ownership in this State, at about 30 per cent, is lower than the EU average. In Northern Ireland the figure runs close to 36 per cent; in Germany it is nearly 50 per cent. It is essential for economic activity that the State provides an efficient road system which will allow goods and people to travel without delay. However, there are practical limits, financial and environmental, to the resources that can be applied to improving the road system.
In Dublin, the emphasis for far too long, has been on more and wider streets. Dual carriageways were imposed, buildings demolished and communities divided. The inevitable consequence has been that more traffic was sucked into the city.
The emphasis now is on improving the flow of traffic through the existing road system, principally by enforcing the parking restrictions. Dublin Corporation has announced that 25,000 cars were clamped last year and another 7,000 were towed away. But the high numbers of clamped cars do not indicate an indifference to the cost and inconvenience of clamping. What they indicate is that many drivers find they have no option but to park in a location where their car may be clamped. The construction of more multi-storey car parks which will attract even greater levels of traffic onto the roads, is not the answer. What is needed are better alternatives to constant use of the car.
The car cannot be legislated into submission. But the government and local authorities can prioritise public transport and make it an attractive alternative to driving. This will entail heavy investment and a radical reshaping of transport infrastructure. In Dublin, there is still insufficient emphasis on park-and-ride facilities for DART travellers. Will it be the same for Luas? Will the bus routes continue to ignore the fact that rapid transit exists in Dublin or will they be dovetailed to encourage its use?
Throughout the developed world, transport is moving centre stage in political debate. The motor car, which was twelve years old when the 20th century commenced, raised expectations of a permanent improvement in lifestyle. Long before the century ended, it was clear that the car was becoming as much a nuisance as an asset to society. But just because it is here to stay, does not mean we must continue to use it the way we do.