ROAD SAFETY REVIEW

PROMOTING ROAD SAFETY

Road Safety remains a crucial message as fatality and crash figures rise again.

Irish Road Safety Week 2019 took place from Monday, 7 October to Sunday, 13 October, with the campaign including a range of awareness-raising events and activities across the country. The campaign was once again jointly run by the Road Safety Authority (RSA), the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and An Garda Síochána, with contributions from other organisations such as the Irish Tyre Industry Association (ITIA). As well as a nationwide media campaign, the National Road Safety Education Service travelled the length and breadth of the country, delivering road safety education programmes to crèches, schools, universities, workplaces and communities, while other events also took place across the week.

While 2018 saw road fatalities decrease to the lowest on record, the provisional figures for 2019 suggest that, with 124 deaths by 5 November, compared with a year total of 136 fatal collisions resulting in 142 fatalities in 2018, those numbers were on the rise again.

THE CAMPAIGN The campaign kicked off on Monday, 7 October, with the Annual Academic Lecture in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the theme being Drug Impaired Driving: prevalence, risks and detection. This year’s event heard from international and national experts

on drug driving, including Professor Denis A. Cusack, Director, Medical Bureau of Road Safety, who discussed drug impaired driving in Ireland; Dr Vigdis Vindenes, Head of Research, Dep. of Forensic Sciences, Oslo University Hospital who presented on impairment based legislative limits which have been imposed in Norway; and Assistant Commissioner, David Sheahan of An Garda Síochána, who discussed enforcement of drug driving in Ireland.

Figures unveiled at the lecture show that drug driving is a major problem on Ireland’s roads, with 68% of drivers with a positive roadside drug test between April 2017 and July 2019 showing a positive test for cannabis. Some 37% of roadside tests revealed a positive test for cocaine. The Medical Bureau of

Road Safety (MBRS) findings also demonstrate that cannabis is now not far behind alcohol in blood and urine samples it examined.

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr. Shane Ross said: “Driving under the influence of drugs has been a statutory offence since 1961 but it wasn’t until 2017, with the introduction of Preliminary Drug Testing, that we had a drug testing device capable of testing for the presence of drugs in drivers at the roadside and in the Garda station. It’s clear that its introduction has resulted in an increase in drug driving detections, but the results presented today show that a continued enforcement and education effort is required to tackle this killer behaviour.”

Moyagh Murdock, Chief Executive of the RSA said: “The analysis of blood and urine samples sent to the MBRS by the Gardaí and presented today, and the analysis of toxicology reports of driver and motorcyclist fatalities, are starting to give us a clearer understanding of the prevalence of drug driving in Ireland. And it’s concerning, because they confirm that drug driving is a major problem on our roads. We will continue to educate drivers on the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs and work closely with the Gardai to support their enforcement activity. But we will do more to examine the factors around drug driving and examine international best practice to find interventions that can be applied here to tackle drug driving. Today is an important step in this direction.” Wednesday, 9 October, was Tyre Safety Day, with ITIA members promoting information on tyre quality and inviting all motorists to call in for a free tyre pressure check and thread depth inspection during the week.

RSA CEO Moyagh Murdock said: “Your tyres are the only point of contact between your car, van, or SUV and the road, and yet their importance to a vehicle’s safety and fuel economy is often overlooked. RSA research shows that there is no component in your vehicle that is as likely to contribute to a crash as your tyres. It was found that tyres were a contributory factor in an average of 14 road deaths per year.”

She added: “Each month 8,500 vehicles are classified as being dangerously defective for ‘Tyre Tread’ and ‘Tyre Condition’ across the NCT and CVRT testing systems. Driving on dangerous or under-inflated tyres puts your life and the lives of other road users at risk so don’t wait until your NCT comes around to check the health of your tyres, get to an ITIA dealer this week.”

The same day, a free seminar for employers on Driving for Work was hosted by the HSA, RSA and An Garda Síochána in the Clayton Hotel Galway and then the next day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Blanchardstown.

CHILD SAFETY Child Safety Day took place on Friday, 11 October, incorporating the Beep Beep Day and Check It Fits campaigns. The Day focused on educating our most vulnerable road users on the importance of their safety on the roads, whether walking, cycling or as passengers in cars or buses. Beep Beep Day took place in creches and Montessori schools nationwide, with the RSA distributing high-vis vests to pre-school services and provider sin advance of the day.

Ms Murdock said of the campaign: “It is imperative that we do everything we can to protect our children on the roads. Irish Road Safety Week aims to involve and educate everyone, young and old. We encourage parents and teachers to educate their children on the importance of being vigilant and being seen on our roads. Initiatives like Beep Beep Day and StreetSmart help our pre-primary and primary school children to learn safe behaviour when out walking and cycling. Our Seatbelt Sheriff and Hi Glo Silver poster competitions, as well as the Safe Cross Code dance competition, assist our educators in making the learning of the rules of the road and the safety required on the road fun for our youngsters.”

The 16th annual ‘Seatbelt Sheriff’ and ‘Hi-Glo Silver’ competitions also opened for entries, for children in first and second class in primary school. The competition encouraged children to get involved in saving lives on the road by teaching them the importance of buckling up and wearing high visibility clothing. Check It Fits - the RSA’s Free child car seat checking service – celebrated child safety day with parents and guardians having their child car seats checked and fitted in Toyota, Long Mile Road, Dublin 12 from 10am-5.30pm.

ONGOING WORK While the week-long campaign brings road safety to the forefront of the public’s mind, the work of the RSA

continues throughout the year to ensure Irish road safety improves year on year. The rise in fatalities again this year is therefore a concern, which Ms Murdock spoke about in the lead up to Road Safety Week.

“Clearly, the progress we have made in road safety over the last two years is at risk of stalling,” she said. “The vast majority of deaths and injuries on our roads are preventable. If we want to prevent any more tragedies on our roads, we need to focus our attention on where the greatest risk is. We want to see more targeted enforcement by An Garda Síochána at weekends if we are to reverse this worrying increase in 2019. The RSA are going to be focusing on enforcement activities in the commercial vehicle sector. We have also reduced Driving Test waiting times to their lowest ever, so there is no excuse for people to be relying long term on a learner permit. I am calling on these drivers to take professional lessons, which will prepare them for the test and make them better drivers.”

TYRE SAFETY As mentioned by Ms Murdock of the RSA, a vehicle’s tyres are an essential part of road safety, and the ITIA was heavily involved in Road Safety Week, particularly when it came to Tyre Safety Day.

“We are the representative body for all aspects of the tyre industry in Ireland, including manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, retailers, recyclers and equipment suppliers to the industry, so it covers the whole gamut,” says CEO Sue O’Neill. “We raise the profile of the industry and actively promote the members we have to be committed to be best in industry standards. We also promote to the public the importance of tyre safety and the value of dealing with industry experts. We also act as the body for prioritising industry concerns to Government and the relevant stakeholders – the RSA, HSA, An Garda Siochana – and provide any expertise we can

to those organisations with a view towards improving tyre and therefore road safety.”

The organisation underlines the need to have good quality tyres on every vehicle, with CEO O’Neill saying: “When you are buying tyres, you have to make sure that you are dealing with a proper, licensed premises and a proper expert. When you are buying tyres, you have to have the right ones for your car, because there are different tyres for different types of car or vehicle, and they need to be suitable. You have also got to make sure that you are buying tyres with the proper EU label on it telling you about fuel efficiency and grip, etc. If the tyre is not correctly marked with this, it is not legal. You also need to know about thread depth, and make sure you have the right thread depth on your tyres. The minimum legal thread depth is 1.6 millimetres.” Apart from the importance of having the right tyres fitted by an expert, buying good quality tyres also makes sound financial sense, which is something Sue is keen to emphasise. “People tend to buy second hand cars and look at buying second hand tyres, but you can get a false economy doing that,” she says. “For example, if you buy a second hand tyre that costs you €30 and it has a thread depth of 3.6mm, it only has 2 mms of thread before it gets to the legal limit. That works out at about €15 per mm of thread, whereas a new tyre will have 8mm, which leaves you with 6.4mm of use before they go down to the minimum depth. So that works out at €12.50 per mm. So, it’s an economical reason to choose new tyres, as well as a safety one.

TYRE PRESSURE “You must also make sure that your tyres are at the right pressure, that they are inflated properly, and again you need an expert to be doing that,” she adds. “The same goes for wheel alignment, you’ve got to be balanced, and that will mean that your tyres will last longer.” In order to ensure there are enough tyre experts available to meet the demand the tyre industry wants, the ITIA provide training to its members so that they are all trained as tyre technicians. “Our training programme is the first of its kind, because it is dedicated to creating a career path within our industry, giving the skills of a tyre technician, ensuring that they are competent. With the advancements of new technologies, it is really critical that those people are experts – you’ve got tyre pressure monitoring systems in cars, wheel alignment. Look at electric vehicles – people need to know how to fit tyres to these vehicles because there are new technologies that might sit in the way of the tyre. Again, what we are all about is making sure that the people fitting tyres are highly trained.”

TYRE CHECKS Involvement throughout Road Safety Week was important for the ITIA. “Although Tyre Safety Day was just one day, we really had a campaign running throughout the week in which we partnered with the RSA and An Garda Síochána to carry out roadside checks specifically for tyres,” Sue tells me. “Gardaí were pulling people over and checking for tyres, but also giving them awareness of what they need to do to check their tyres are safe, with RSA experts and our experts handing out information leaflets, so it was an educational piece. We backed that up with some media appearances, getting home that important message of checking your tyres.

“It was very successful – we actually saw a 30% increase that week in people calling us looking for their nearest ITIA member, and how they can get their tyres checked. We had a social media campaign running as well, and received more than 300 likes on our Facebook page. We ran a competition offering €150 towards a driver’s next set of tyres, and we got more than 2000 engagements on that. We really got the message out and between ourselves, the RSA and An Garda Síochána, it had a great effect.” That solid work during Road Safety Week, and throughout the year, is starting to have a positive effect, according to Sue.

“I think people are becoming more and more aware of the importance of tyre safety,” she says. “Unfortunately, defective tyres are a contributory factor to approximately 14 deaths per year, and that is a huge number, and it is something that is so easy to check. It’s an important message that we really need to get out there, and I must say An Garda Síochána are great at getting that message out there as well. They have started to take photos of tyres they are pulling people over for, and there is nothing more powerful than an image like that.

“We don’t just do a campaign for one week, we do it all year round, and we have a very good relationship with the RSA and An Garda Síochána. All of us have safety at the forefront in our minds, and I think we have been able to get the message across.”

That year-round initiative includes all ITIA members offering free tyre checks. “Anybody can pop in and our members will do a free tyre check for them, any time,” says Sue. “An expert will also show you how to check your tyres properly. Everybody should be checking their tyres once a month, and these experts can show you how to do it yourself to make sure they are safe. Checking your thread depth, pressure, etc. It doesn’t take long to do it, once somebody shows you. You can check your thread depth with a €1 coin, but until someone shows you how to do it, it is not easy. So, a visit to one of our members will help you know how to make sure your tyres are safe, and that will help you to stay safe on the roads.”