Stay alert, stay alive

Stay alert, stay alive – road safety message

Áine Ryan

AS the festive season of indulgence fast approaches, Garda warnings of an increased drink-driving campaign comes as no surprise. More morning-after checkpoints and testing was the stern message from Inspector Michael Murray at yesterday’s (Monday’s) launch of ‘Stay Alert, Stay Alive’ – Mayo County Council’s Road Safety Strategy 2007-2012. Tellingly, the strategy shows that drunken driving arrests doubled, from 79 between August and December in 2005 to 153 in the same period in 2006.
The strategy, ‘Stay Alert, Stay Alive’, was launched by the Cathaoirleach of Roads and Transportation Strategic Policy Committee, Cllr Michelle Mulherin.
It documents the stark statistics caused by dangerous and/or drink driving. It reveals that the behaviour of drivers contributes to over 88 per cent of road fatalities as opposed to environmental conditions, which are less than one per cent, and road factors, at less than two per cent.
In the years between 2000 and 2004, 54 people lost their lives and 1,371 were seriously injured on County Mayo’s roads. A table showing road deaths in County Mayo between 2000 and 2005 shows a marginal increase in fatalities (eleven in 2000; 14 in 2005) and a significant drop in injuries (385 in 2000; and 250 in 2005).
“The aim of the strategy is that a number of agencies – the Gardaí, HSE West, the NRA [National Roads Authority], the RSA [Road Safety Authority] and Mayo County Council have all come together to work together and reinforce the message of the issues around road safety, ” said Mr Noel Gibbons, Road Safety Officer