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If Ireland is serious about road safety this is what must happen - and I know our biggest problem

Life is just so precious at times. One minute people are there and the next minute they are gone

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Newsopinion

John Kierans

05:00, 18 Aug 2026Updated 11:00, 18 Aug 2026

[Gardai at the scene on the M9 northbound at Junction 3 in Co Kildare, where a number of people have died and others have been seriously injured after a head-on collision between two cars]

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Gardai at the scene on the M9 northbound at Junction 3 in Co Kildare, where a number of people have died and others have been seriously injured after a head-on collision between two cars(Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire)

It seems a day does not go by without someone being killed on our roads. Every time you take your car out you are taking your life in your hands because you don't know what lunatic behind the wheel is coming around the corner.

The collision on the M9 which left five teenagers dead and three women and a 7 year old child fighting for their lives should never have happened. The youngsters on a crime spree paid a heavy price for their actions but they were totally irresponsible and reckless. No parent deserves to lose their child.

But my heart goes out to the innocent family in the other car, minding their own business until they collide with these joyriders.

I drove along the particular stretch of motorway last Saturday morning and it is as safe as houses so long as another vehicle is not coming up the wrong side of the road against you.

Life is just so precious. One minute people are there and the next minute they are gone. Every other day someone dies needlessly on our roads.

The Gardai are doing their best but there is only so much they can do if they don't have the manpower and the resources. Leaving aside the teenage joyrider tearaways, in all my years driving I have never seen so many maniac drivers on our roads.

I don't know what is going on but far too many are speeding, tailgating, not paying attention, and seem totally distracted behind the wheel.

We are only a small country and it only takes a couple of hours to drive from one end to the other and yet we always seem to be in a hurry

In Europe and America people can drive for hours on end at a steady pace without causing needless accidents. They pay attention to the speed limits because they know if they don't they are more than likely to be caught and prosecuted.

I can't explain why anyone would go the wrong way up a motorway unless they are intoxicated with drink or drugs or for a stupid thrill.

A thrill is the only reason why eight children in a tiny stolen car went down the wrong way of the M50 , before causing a collision with another vehicle.

It was a miracle that none of them were killed and that the majority of them escaped without serious injury. What was going through their heads I will never know?

Last year 190 people lost their lives on Irish roads. Here we are near the end of summer and we had 121 by Sunday morning. It is a shocking number and you have to question how many of these tragic incidents could have been avoided.

I have no doubt that one of the biggest problems we have on the roads is the lack of visibility of the Gardai. It is not their fault because there aren't enough of them to do an adequate roads policing job.

It is very rare that we see the traffic corp or roads policing unit shooting up and down our motorways and with roaming checkpoints day and night across every county.

It only happens on bank holiday weekends when in all honesty it should be happening every day of the week.

Fifteen years ago there were over 1,000 members in the national roads policing unit and drivers were fearful of the traffic corp as we called them.But as of last March their numbers were down to 600 to 700, a colossal drop and the truth is it is just not good enough.

If we as a country are serious about road safety we need to see the Gardai all over our roads.

We need to see enforcement of the traffic laws, we need to see violations punished, and there has to be a whole national crackdown on speeding.

The incidents of tailgating - basically driving up to your car rear - to try and force you out of the fast lane when you are driving at the maximum speed of 120 per kilometre is criminal.

The worst offenders in my mind are on the M1 and the M50 and there is hardly ever a Garda around to put manners on the drivers responsible.

Another issue we have is our speed limits signs are far too small compared to other countries. In the UK the speed limit signs are nearly double the size of what we have.

We seem to want to keep our speed signs a secret so you will be caught speeding and pay more fines. I am not joking! They are often hidden in places that you would not notice them.

We can not blame our roads for the carnage and madness any longer. The roads of this island have improved to no end and the problem clearly is the people behind the wheel.

Maybe we need to improve how our driving instructors teach road safety and for the courts to take a stronger stance against those who are regularly breaking the traffic laws.

One way or the other following the events of recent weeks and last Sunday urgent action needs to be taken to improve road safety and save lives on the roads in this country.

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