Taoiseach must outline road safety plan
- Increase in number of average speed cameras
- Sharing of road traffic images must be banned
- Collision blackspots must be made public
- Social media information campaign needed
Labour’s Transport Spokesperson Duncan Smith is today calling for the new Taoiseach to outline a plan on road safety.
Deputy Smith said:
“It is welcome to hear the new Taoiseach say that road safety will be a priority, but I would ask him to publish his plans without delay. These plans must go further than lip service and headline grabbing spin. Doubling penalty points and reducing road speeds alone is not the answer.
“We need to dramatically increase the number of speed cameras in the country. The State has a duty to do more to remind all drivers of the dangers on our roads. Anecdotally, we know that it’s people being distracted in cars that cause many accidents, like being on their phone or looking at accidents or incidents on the road instead of focusing on the path in front of them.
“The Road Safety Authority has always played a crucial role in reminding people of the hazards on our roads, with realistic advertisements on our TV screens. More must be done to roll these campaigns out on social media, particularly sites like TikTok as we know that that’s where young people are.
“This is a platform that the Taoiseach himself is very well versed in. He should use it effectively.
“An horrendous feature for too many families whose lives have been devastated through the loss of a loved one on our roads is the increased frequency in people sharing road traffic images online.
“Labour’s Protection of Accident Victims from Non-Consensual Recording of Images Bill 2022 was drafted in response to the distressing and grotesque phenomena of images of road traffic accident victims being shared online. I would urge Taoiseach Harris to fast-track this legislation, which was first introduced in July 2022, without delay.
“It is becoming increasingly common for An Garda Síochána to issue strong requests in the immediate aftermath of a serious accident for people not to share these types of images and it must stop.
“The Taoiseach must also urge the RSA to publish data on accident blackspots so people can become more attune with dangerous stretches of our roads. The RSA previously published this data but stopped doing so in 2016. As Government looks to reduce fatalities on roads, data on collisions would be invaluable to ensure an evidence based approach on this move.
“Unfortunately, there is hardly a family or a community that has not been impacted by a road fatality. I welcome Taoiseach Harris for putting a focus on this, but we need action now.”