Intoxicated driving costs lives – make road safety your New Year’s resolution – Buttimer

Fine Gael Senator and member of the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Jerry Buttimer, has appealed to everyone ahead of New Year’s Eve to never ever drink or take drugs before driving.

Senator Buttimer said, “Let’s make it our New Year’s resolution to prioritise road safety and keep all road users safe.

“Please remember as we approach the New Year period, intoxicated driving costs lives. Never ever drink and drive, never ever take drugs and drive.

“As a member of the Oireachtas Transport Committee, I welcome Minister Hildegarde Naughton’s  ambitious ‘Vision Zero’ strategy, which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads by 50% by 2030.

“I welcome the fact that one of the key actions of the plan is to legislate for increased sanctions for polydrug and drug and alcohol use while driving. We must get the message out there that intoxicated drinking is extremely dangerous to the driver themselves and all other road users, and it will not be tolerated.

“The Road Safety Authority has this week highlighted that the morning after is also extremely dangerous for drink driving. Their analysis of Garda Síochána Investigation Files for fatal collisions, shows that 11% of fatal collisions, in which a driver had consumed alcohol, occurred between 7am and 11am.

“Outside intoxicated driving, the other top causes of fatalities on our roads are speeding, use of mobile phones, and non-wearing of seatbelts. All drivers need to take personal responsibility for their driving behaviour and the safety of other road users.

“Nobody wants to get the dreaded call that their loved ones have died in a road accident. Unfortunately, that has happened for too many people this year there despite road deaths being down overall, and there have been a number of tragic incidents this Christmas.

“So, for 2022 and beyond, let’s prioritise road safety, drive safe, and save lives”, Senator Buttimer concluded.

Minister for State in the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, T.D., said, “At the heart of this Road Safety Strategy is change. How we use our roads is changing. So how we understand and think about road safety needs to change.

“We must adjust our attitudes and behaviours to take account of the fact that no one form of transport takes primacy over another. Each and every road user is entitled to use our roads and not have their safety or life put at risk due to others’ dangerous behaviour.

“This Road Safety Strategy sets out the steps we need to take to reduce deaths and serious injuries by half over the next decade and provides the metrics that will measure our progress. However, the core of the strategy is not about words or numbers on a page, but about saving lives and preventing injuries. It is about people. This strategy is for all those who use our roads, and who have the right to do so safely.”