South Meath Driving School

Slowing the human being is conceivably a bad idea. It’s seen by some as ancient, dead in the water stuff. ‘Life in the fast lane’ is the antithesis of all that – cool and mod, exciting and action-packed. A few years ago there was an exhibition in Montreal titled ‘Speed Limits’ which highlighted the new presence of speed in art and architecture and explored the concept in all aspects of life from construction to production, traffic and transit and used the quote ‘The world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty – the beauty of speed.’

Recently I was doing a driving lesson with a young lady who told me she had to pick up her little sister, Millie, from school and that she’d have to leave earlier than scheduled. Then we decided to collect the kid in my car. My learner driver, Robyn, was 17 and our little new passenger was 6, comfortably belted up in the back. As we carefully made our way the mile to their home there was a sudden intrusion from the back seat, “Robyn, faster, faster, go faster.” Robyn smiled and didn’t heed her sister. But, little sister was having none of this slowing down thing. She repeated her assertion bouncing up and down excitedly. I could only reflect on this obsession that we have with speed – from cot to trike to car.

Noel Brett of the RSA, A/Commissioner Phillips of the Gardai, the Minister for Transport and every other agent of no small concern are preaching  day in, day out, every long week end, the nine Fridays and what have you that Operation “Slow Down” is in vogue and to take stock. Gladly most drivers are listening, then there’s the few who don’t, those who fly close to the wind and the ones who come unstuck, unfortunately.

Last year researchers ‘Behaviour & Attitude’ conducted a survey on speed limits. Over half of those interviewed said it was unacceptable to break the speed limit. However, 1 in 10 thought it acceptable to break the speed limit by 10km/h or more while 1 in 3 thought it acceptable to break the limit by up to 10 km/h.

Such people should remember that breaking the speed limit by such margins can have devastating consequences. A pedestrian who is struck by a car travelling at 50 km/h has a 50/50 chance of survival; however a pedestrian hit by a car doing 60 km/h has only a 1/10 chance of survival. In June last year, 12 people died on our roads including 6 over the bank holiday period. This week-end past had 5 deaths, one crash claiming 3 lives in Kildare. With festivals in nearly every town, people are more on the move, weather is good and we all have the belief that ‘It won’t happen to me!’

Our enviable record of being one of the safer countries in Europe in which to drive is being lost this year with 80 deaths so far. What is it about motorcyclists? Their numbers account for less than 2% of vehicles on the road but their deaths account for over 10% of the total. The motorbike is a very vulnerable machine affording little protection in the event of a collision. Those drivers simply drive too fast and don’t believe in keeping their place in a queue.

To date, there has been no road fatality in Co. Meath this year while Kildare tops the bill with 9 deaths, which is 3 more than our capital city. All the wonderful roads, traffic calming measures and ‘Slow Down’ campaigns cannot take proper effect unless the attitude is right. The best place to capture that imagination is in the classroom and impress on little Millie the importance of the correct attitude at her tender age.