It Occurs To Me: Ireland's heart-breaking road carnage goes on

As I write, news is breaking about a serious accident in Gormanston, County Meath, with at least two fatalities.

I was actually putting pen to paper about last week’s horrific crash near Dundalk and my last sentence was eerily prophetic – “After all the grief and eulogies, all the stark headlines, and all the political handwringing, I have a dreadful feeling that the next tragedy is just around the corner.”

How I wish I was wrong, but then we’ve been here before and will be again. Notwithstanding how raw and emotional it is for loved ones – and not intruding on their grief is understandable – but we can’t keep kicking this can down the road. Poor roads, speed vans, TV campaigns, empty political promises etc. are only token attempts to tackle the ongoing carnage.

This is the RSA blurb: “The aim of the Road Safety Authority is to save lives and prevent injuries by reducing the number and severity of collisions on the road. This is reflected in our maxim, Working to Save Lives. The Road Safety Authority (RSA) came into being on Friday, September 1, 2006 as a statutory organisation created by the Road Safety Authority Act, 2006. We are principally funded by, and responsible to, the Department of Transport.

Following the 2006 Act, functions previously undertaken by the Department of Transport, the National Roads Authority and the National Safety Council were transferred to the RSA. This is the first time in Ireland that key activities related to road safety have been handed to a single statutory body. This means we can co-ordinate and implement road safety initiatives in a way that was not possible until now.

”Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) President Ger Hyland is not impressed with one aspect of the RSA: “To have 394,128 inexperienced drivers on our roads is a testament to the failure of the Road Safety Authority and their mismanagement of our driver testing system.

"It is a mess and not getting any better, despite all the creative accounting that the RSA are doing with driver testing figures.”

New figures released from the RSA reveal that there are 394,128 learner permit holders on our roads at the end of Tuesday, September 30, 2025.

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Some 9,949 of them are in Donegal alone. He said that the IRHA no longer has confidence in the data provided by the RSA:

“Over thirty organisations representing road safety, cycling, and pedestrian advocacy groups across Ireland issued a joint statement last year expressing a lack of confidence in the Irish Road Safety Authority.

”Despite criticism of the RSA, let’s remind ourselves that in 2006 road fatalities were 365 – one for every day of the year. By 2018, it was 137, but since then it has crept up annually. In 2024, it was 154 and so far this year, it is 143.

Damned by statistics

One life lost is always one life too many, but back in 1972 there were some 640 fatalities. The compulsory wearing of seatbelts was a definite factor in subsequent reductions.

Statistics show that young males remain the group most likely to be involved in a fatal collision.Nearly 80% of the people between the ages of 16 and 25 who died on the roads in 2023 were male.

I watched a Prime Time special last year which showed that we are bucking the statistical trend in Europe. In March 2024, the European Commission published a country-by-country analysis comparing road deaths per million inhabitants in 2023 against the average of three pre-pandemic years.

While Ireland's road deaths per million inhabitants are below the EU average, we had by far the worst percentage increase of any country – up 29%. In fact, only Ireland and Norway (14%) saw double-figure percentage increases.

Experts who contributed to Prime Time said intoxicated driving, speeding, not enough legal enforcement and policing, driver distraction, and road layout are all contributing factors.The latest available data on the impact of drink-driving on road fatalities covers 2015 to 2019.

It indicates 37% of all driver fatalities in those years included a positive toxicology result for alcohol. Of the fatalities where alcohol was detected, the dead were typically male and under the age of 45. These deaths generally occurred in the late evening or early hours of the morning, and at the weekend.

The MBRS, where Professor Cusack has worked since 1997, is the national body responsible for testing samples taken by gardaí for the presence of drugs or alcohol. He believes the prevalence of drink-driving has “at best, stayed the same’’ in the decades he has been working there.

“Out of the 188 road deaths last year, statistically, about 56 of them had alcohol as a contributory factor and probably about half that number may have had drugs as a contributory factor,” he told Prime Time.Dr Michael Gormley, assistant professor of psychology at Trinity College Dublin, focuses on driver behaviour, particularly in young males.

He told the programme: “They don’t think they’re invulnerable. They know about the risks. What they do have is an optimistic bias. They think ‘I’m not going to get involved in the collision’.

They participate in speeding more. They wear their seat belts less and they drive while intoxicated.”Notwithstanding the tragic circumstances in Gormanston, I repeat: “After all the grief and eulogies, all the stark headlines, and all the political handwringing, I have a dreadful feeling that the next tragedy is just around the corner.”

The Letterkenny impasse

The accompanying photo shows the late councillor Jim Lynch with his nephew, Councillor Donal ‘Mandy’ Kelly. Jim was a very loyal Letterkenny man and cared deeply about every aspect of the town. He’d be proud of his nephew’s tireless campaign to sort out the dreadful and worsening traffic mess.

I’ve written here in the past about the atrocious delays between Sligo–Donegal–Derry on Expressway – sometimes two hours late – and how the journey between the Dry Arch and Letterkenny bus station can account for 30 minutes of that. As Charles Ward TD told our editor in September: Letterkenny “is being choked” and Donegal County Council must act “before it is too late”.

“The Polestar cannot take the traffic, nor can the Tinney’s Roundabout, and businesses are suffering… It takes 40 minutes to get to Tesco. That wasn’t the case 20 years ago. We’re going back in time. Millions were spent on a road that doesn’t work. There will be some sort of tragedy now when an ambulance cannot get in. Everyone will be stuck in traffic. Letterkenny is not thriving. The character is gone from Letterkenny.

Right now, as we are speaking, Main Street is choked to death. It was the heartbeat of the town, where people came from all over. Traffic is trying to come in but they can’t and they will go into the North for Christmas. The roads are a complete disaster zone. When you talk about kids going to school, it’s chaos and anarchy. This has been going on for years. We have to be realistic.

”I met an old Letterkenny friend in Asda in Strabane recently, and while it is no surprise to meet Donegal people there, he made the point that – as he lives east of Letterkenny – it’s not only good value to come to Asda, but quicker to drive to Strabane than tackle Letterkenny traffic.

Donal Kelly has pointed out: “I’m very nervous about the traffic going forward. The hospital roundabout will be reduced to one lane. During previous works, islands were taken away and barricaded off. Every single road was backed up, buses were late to school and people were late for work. I can’t help but wonder did we learn anything from the Four Lane project. I don’t know how emergency services are going to get through Christmas. It’s the busiest period for the town.

”Meanwhile, Chamber of Commerce President Jimmy Stafford said: “While we recognise the long-term benefits of improved infrastructure and sustainable transport, we are deeply concerned about the short-term disruption these works are causing, particularly to local businesses, customers, and daily life in the town.”

Thousands more agree, but is it getting through?Councillor Gerry McMonagle argued that “active travel is the right way to go” and deferring the works until after Christmas would not make any substantial difference. “We have the same problems every day of the week,” he said. “This town is busy every single day of the year. Around 40,000 people come into this town every day.”

Sorry Gerry, that should read: “40,000 people attempt to come into this town every day!”Charles and Donal are right… Letterkenny is choked.

Remembering Seoirse

I was really saddened to hear of the death of Seoirse O’Dochartaigh. I interviewed him on a number of occasions and vividly remember his musical contribution to the launch of North West Words in Café Blend (much missed!) some 15 years ago.

Seoirse was a musician, painter, genealogist, researcher, writer and a great Gaeilgóir. He loved his Inishowen with a passion, was supremely creative and a gentle human being. Between recordings and books, he amassed an output of some 30 original works. He will be dearly missed by his beloved Kathryn and family in Inishowen and greater Donegal.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh suaimhneas síoraí ar a anam fileata.