GUEST COLUMN: Mayo drivers must get behind speed limits, cameras and fines

Last Sunday was World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, commemorating those who never made it home. A ceremony was held in Knock Basilica to mark the somber occasion.
Mayo has made too many road-death headlines. In 2020 there were five fatalities, this year has already surpassed last year’s tragic tally of 12; meaning Mayo is set to be among the counties with the greatest number of road deaths in 2024. Focus, discussion and appropriate action is key to changing this. As is personal responsibility behind the wheel.
Road deaths and injuries can be prevented, those who profess that they are a tragic inevitability are part of the problem. Patrick O’Connor upon his retirement as Coroner for the District of Mayo last week echoed this sentiment. After almost four decades working as a coroner, it is notable that it was road-safety concerns that he invested much of his retirement speech to.
In recent weeks, Average Speed Cameras were installed on the N5. While speed is but one of many issues, we must be cognisant it causes 30 percent of Irish road deaths. Sceptics saying it’s merely a money-making racket might look at the results. Adherence to speed limits where average cameras are in place is close to 100 percent, which is staggering. Less speed means less deaths and injuries.
Former Minister of State and current Fine Gael TD Michael Ring waded into the fray declaring to the Irish Examiner and Newstalk last month that if the Government wanted, it could sort speeding out by mandating a device to stop any car break 100km/h – though he later changed to 120km/h. While more must be done to reduce numbers breaking the speed limit, I disagree that it’s down to controlling cars. Indeed the devices available don’t even do that, it’s simply an alert signal if one is driving above the speed limit. A driver can simply override it.
Even if a vehicle were unable to go beyond 120km/h, obviously such a speed to be hit at by a motor vehicle would contribute little hope to a pedestrian or cyclist. Of pedestrians struck by a motor vehicle travelling at 80km/h, 90 percent will die; 50 percent of pedestrians would sadly lose their lives if hit at 60km/h. This goes down to 5 percent if struck by a vehicle going at 30km/h. So, really, it is driver behaviour that counts, no matter which way we look at it.
Technology certainly has a great role to play. I’m surprised that Deputy Ring isn’t more enthused by Mayo’s new Average Speed Cameras, of which we need more. With Garda numbers so dramatically down in road policing, technological help in tackling road crime is a must. (That said, it’s important to restate the obvious: drivers not cars or vehicles need to control speed and behaviour.) Suggestions by the soon-to-retire Fine Gael TD that speed vans outside schools are only “about revenue”, is insulting. I’m seriously concerned if any parent would think obeying speed limits and driving carefully in school areas isn’t a good thing. Having them policed is a positive. Speed vans and cameras are needed to improve road conduct, plain and simple.
My own sister Donna Fox died in Dublin city in September 2016. Aged 30, Donna was killed when hit by a delivery lorry while she was cycling to work. Last year, here in Mayo, Dr Paul Carney suffered horrific injuries when he too was knocked off his bike. While my sister Donna was killed at the crash scene, Dr Carney survived; yet the aftermath of the collision was equally catastrophic for him and his loved ones. While the popular Castlebar GP survived and is being cared for, his daughter Brenda publicly outlined the extent of her father’s injuries and the prognosis. In a victim impact statement, she spoke eloquently on how she and her family ‘are grieving, but we have no grave’. That line stopped me in my tracks.
We hear too little of the huge majority of road victims who, while they survive, suffer incredibly, as do their families. For every fatality nine or ten are injured, and three are left with life-changing injuries.
We all deserve safer roads. Yes, government and local authorities need to do more, and better communication between departments – as indicated by Coroner Patrick O’ Connor – is vital. But personal responsibility comes into play.
Seeing speed limits or cameras and fines as curtailing our freedom isn’t a helpful attitude. Let’s rather see them as liberating us from the kind of catastrophic consequences that too many in Mayo and around the country have already faced.

•  After his sister's death in 2016, Neil Fox became a road-safety advocate and campaigner, especially on behalf of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.