Road Safety Strategy 2007-2012 (PDF) - Road Safety Authority

822_RSA_Strategy_2012:INSIDE 25/10/2007 11:20 Page 7Fatality numbers fell as a result of increased enforcement, improvement in the safety engineering of vehiclesand roads, together with improvements in medical interventions. Road safety developed as a research topicwith increasing focus on the avoidable social and economic costs.1997 was the most recent peak year in road fatalities, averaging 39 deaths per month. This led to theintroduction of the first Road Safety Strategy in 1998. Actions based on the Strategy brought deaths down to anaverage of 35 per month by December 2000. The introduction of penalty points in November 2002 helpedachieve the primary target of a 20% reduction in fatalities by December 2002.Figure 2Monthly Fatalities, (3 month moving average), January 1997 - April 200750403020Jan 97Jul 97Jan 98Jul 98Jan 99Jul 99Jan 00Jul 00Jan 01Jul 01Jan 02Jul 02Jan 03Jul 03Jan 04Jul 04Jan 05Jul 05Jan 06Jul 06Jan 07Source: NRA Road Accident Facts 1997-2004 / RSA Road Collision Facts 2005, 2006 / Garda Síochána GNTB, Road Fatality Data 2007Looking at the year-on-year impact of policy on road deaths (figure 2), it’s evident that the most successful yearswere 2002 and 2003 following the introduction of penalty points in November 2002. The years 2004 to mid 2006were disappointing as fatalities increased and the gains of the previous years were lost. This trend changed inJuly 2006 with the introduction of Mandatory Alcohol Testing (MAT) supported by the visible and consistentenforcement programme of the Garda Traffic Corps.333 people died on the roads in the twelve months from the end of June 2006 to June 2007 (the lowest twelvemonth number in 4 years since 335 fatalities in 2003). That is an average of 28 fatalities per month or 80fatalities per million of population. This is a reduction of 19% when compared with 412 fatalities in the twelvemonth period from the end of June 2005 to June 2006 – an average of 34 deaths per month or 98 fatalities permillion of population.Throughout this document calculations are based on a population in Ireland of 4.2 million.Road Safety Strategy 2007-20127