Cork gardaí call for a 'change in attitude' to road safety

“CHOOSE road safety over risk ” was the message from a senior Cork Garda on National Slow Down Day.

Insp Fergal O’Donovan of the Cork County Garda Roads Policing Unit was speaking as figures show that, already in 2024, 63 people have died on roads in Ireland, 14 more than this time last year.

His comments came during the 24-hour nationwide operation targeting speeding, which concluded at 7am today.

“We’re very concerned about road fatalities and road traffic collisions in the country nationally and that’s what this event is for, but it’s also a European event — road fatalities are increasing everywhere and we’ve got to try and stop it,” Insp O’Donovan told reporters at a checkpoint on the old Cork to Dublin road.

“One of the most important things we’ve got to do is change our attitude towards driving and road safety.”

His comments came as one driver was detected travelling at 194km/h in a 100km/h zone on the N25 at Loughaderry, Castlemartyr, east Cork, yesterday, during the National Slow Down Day operation.

“We’ve got to choose road safety over risk. All of us. Every driver,” said Insp O’Donovan. 

“Every road user out there has to choose road safety over risk and we can do that by slowing down, reducing your speed, not using our mobile phone while we’re driving, not being distracted while we’re driving, wearing our safety belts and not drink driving and not drug driving.

Responsibility

Speaking yesterday, Insp O’Donovan said everybody has a role to play when it comes to promoting road safety.

“Everybody has a responsibility,” he said.

“Friends have a responsibility, when they’re in the car with their male or female driver, that they tell them to slow down, not use their mobile phone while driving and for everyone in the car to wear their safety belt.

“We’ve a great opportunity when we get into a car every morning to choose road safety.

“That’s what we do, we get into the car and we choose road safety.

“And if we have a look in the rear view mirror and we say to ourselves ‘who am I leaving behind?’ ... because you are leaving someone behind if you’re involved in that fatal collision and you are the fatality and they’re devastated, families are devastated, and they’re devastated for the rest of their lives.

“I’ve been on this road many a time with a road fatality and those families are still suffering to this day.”

Checkpoints

He also implored drivers not to avoid checkpoints.

“Approach the checkpoint. It’s for your own safety,” he said.

“It’s for the people using the checkpoint’s safety and it’s for other drivers safety because if you’re doing a u-turn in the middle of traffic to avoid a checkpoint, the chances are you’re going to cause a fatality and if you try and speed away from the checkpoint chances are you’re going to cause a fatality and what I always say to people when I stop them for speeding is: ‘You’re the lucky one, I caught you because there’s a lot of people we don’t catch and they end up in a fatal road traffic collision.’ ”

National Slow Down Day was due to conclude at 7am today.