County sees rise in number of traffic fatalities

CONCERNS
have been raised about a significant increase in the number of road fatalities
and injuries in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown.

Cllr
Richard Humphreys (Lab) said provisional figures that were presented to
councillors at a recent meeting of the Strategic Policy Committee on Transport
indicated that there had been five road fatalities in the county last year.

This
is a significant increase on the official 2009 figure when only one fatality
was recorded in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. Four people were killed in the county
in 2007 and one person lost their life as a result of a road traffic accident
in 2008.

Road
fatalities across the country reached their lowest level ever in 2009 when
recorded deaths fell to 239.

This
was the least number of people killed on the roads since records began over 50
years ago and a 14 per cent decrease on road fatalities in 2008 when 279 people
died on Irish roads. Official national figures for last year have yet to be
published.

Cllr
Humphreys said the statistics presented by the council also showed that the
number of injuries arising from road traffic accidents in the county rose from
150 in 2007 to 308 in 2009 – an increase of over 100 per cent in just two
years.

They
also showed that in 2007, 14 cyclists were injured compared to 31 in 2009,
which is a 221 per cent increase over a two year period.

“What
is particularly worrying is that injuries of some of the most vulnerable
categories have increased by even higher percentages,

? Cllr Humphreys said.

“I
am calling on the council and the gardai to focus their efforts on accident hot
spots and on engineering, enforcement and education measures that will have a
significant impact on reducing casualties.

?

He
added:

“We need to educate road users and enforce the law against reckless car
drivers in particular, and to heed the extensive warnings of the Road Safety
Authority.

?

Brian
Farrell, spokesman for the Road Safety Authority, said local authorities needed
to devise local road safety strategies.

“You
look at all the road crash data and develop interventions which are designed to
focus on the key problem areas,

? he said.

“Then
you implement that to target those risk areas and risk groups. That is the key
to it. There are many counties doing it and they are getting their road deaths
down.

?

A
spokesperson for the council said that due to improved reporting procedures,
there had been an increase nationally in the number of reported injury
collisions since the year 2007.

“This
includes vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists,

? she said.

In
addition, she said the council’s record on road safety compares very favourably
with all other counties in Ireland, as reported in the RSA Collision Factbook.

“In
the most recent RSA Factbook publication, it is noted that the fatality rate
per 100,000 population in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council was 0.5 per
cent, while the fatality rate per 100,000 population in Ireland was 5.34 per
cent,

? she added.

“Dún
Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is fully committed to maintaining this high
standard into the future and will continue to work closely with the gardai and
the RSA on all aspects of road safety.

?