South Meath Driving School

It was a strange kind of Christmas and New Year, not much in the mould of Bing Crosby’s White one, rather it was in the Old Testament genre of Noah’s Ark sailing rudderless and failing to find Mount Ararat. Gloomy enough then for those who watched from the inside the endless droplets streaming down the window panes, or umbrellas whipping up a storm on the way to tinsel town. How much worse though for the unfortunates who laboured to protect their homes and businesses from unending streets and lanes of rivers that only a long month before, soaked up the Indian summer sunshine.

Daffodils bloomed in November, but when they reached the shop shelves they became like Kavanagh’s dandelions, ‘showing their unloved hearts to everyone.’ Few were tempted. Let us have out frost and snow back, Lord!

There was a chink of light coming the way of road accident statistics. It was a 12% reduction in road traffic fatalities compared to 2014. It spelled 165 deaths, 28 fewer than in ’14.

This favourable decline reverses the upward trend of ’13 and ’14 which saw 188 and 193 deaths respectively. The safest year was 2012 when 162 people were lost. Records have been kept since 1959.

Looking closer at those figures, 32 pedestrians and 9 cyclists were killed; the others were drivers, passengers and motorcyclists. One figure in all these is glaring and unacceptable – of the 75 drivers killed, 20 were not wearing seat belts, that was 11 drivers and 9 passengers. After all the publicity, all the warnings from the RSA, all the instruction, that is indeed damn’able. It could have been up to 20 more lives saved. They are own goals.

Better news comes in the pedestrian scene at 32, being a reduction of 9. Cyclists are down 4 to 9. It’s noteworthy that the cyclists killed were all aged over 35 and up to 75. Is this a sign of greater awareness and schools programmes paying off for the younger folk.

The key danger time of day was between 4pm and 6pm – the peak time for getting home from work and school. The months of July and December saw the higher fatality rates. Indeed, in the last two weeks of December, 15 people died on our roads, which is the worst since 2007. Damn’able.

The RSA will focus on driver distraction in the coming year, particularly mobile phones, drug and drink driving and seat belts. Play your part once you enter the public arena as a pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist, passenger or driver. Reduce that awful figure of 165 by 20%. Start at home; talk about it, think about it. Together we will. Imagine the consequences. Happy New Year.