It’s claimed some tourists have stopped coming to Clare due to the treacherous nature of rural roads and driver behaviour.
Stakeholders in this county have been weighing in after almost 30 organisations nationwide have declared no confidence in the Road Safety Authority.
A government led review of the RSA has been underway for almost a month and now a coalition of 28 road safety advocacy groups has issued a statement to voice their discontent.
Among them is Better Ennis, which claims the RSA has failed to publish historical data relating to road traffic collisions that could better inform future policy decisions, despite having GDPR clearance to do so.
So far this year, there have been 61 fatalities on Irish roads, which is already 16 more than the number of deaths recorded here at this time last year.
Better Ennis Spokesperson Síle Guinnane believes there hasn’t been enough action on mobile phone use while driving or driving under the influence, or enough infrastructure provided to make roads safe for cyclists and pedestrians.
A North Clare resident claims that tourists are now chosing to avoid the county due to the treacherous nature of our rural roads.
The RSA’s goal is to reduce Irish road deaths by half by 2030 and to achieve vision zero or zero fatalities here by 2050.
For every one person killed though, the RSA predicts that another ten will be seriously injured, and last year almost 75% of all road traffic collisions took place on the rural network.
67 Year-Old Jerry O’Connor from Lisdoonvarna was killed when his motorcycle was struck by a vehicle on the N67, near the infamous corkscrew bend at Ballyvaughan last August.
Jerry’s Wife, Helga Himmelsbach has been campaigning for change here since, and she says legislation is urgently needed to limit traffic capacity on rural roads, and to ensure adequate punishments are dished out to drivers when required.
