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Government 'knew' of road cuts danger
Report cites the main causes of road accidents |
A report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office on Road Safety has shown the government knew several years ago that budget cutbacks would result in more deaths and injuries.
It is just one of a series of disclosures about the high casualty rate on roads in the province highlighted by the report.
The admission by the Department of the Environment (DoE) was made when they decided to cut back the number of Road Safety Education officers.
Causes of accidents revealed |
The Auditors' report says that road deaths and injuries amongst children are the highest they have ever been.
The report also questions the value of the "R" plates displayed by newly qualified Northern Ireland drivers for a year after passing the driving test.
Instead of making the roads safer, the Auditors suggest the plates, which stop R drivers from driving over 45 miles per hour, may prevent learner drivers experiencing safe driving at speed, unlike their counterparts in England and Wales.
'Blackspot'
The report says that Northern Ireland has some of the worst road death statistics in Europe and is the top UK accident blackspot.
Speed and alcohol were noted as the main causes of the high level of deaths and serious injuries on the roads.
The report said that almost half of those killed in cars were not wearing seatbelts. However, the offence is not included in the penalty points scheme.
BBC NI Environment Correspondent Mike McKimm said the most "worrying statistic" is the increase in deaths and injuries amongst children.
"This comes at a time when the government cut back on road safety education," he said.
"Ironically the increase was mainly amongst car passengers - reflecting perhaps the greater dependence on the car rather than walking or cycling to school."
Northern Ireland's courts come under specific criticism in the report which claims weak sentences and a soft approach is not working.
It quotes one case where a driver with 18 life bans got his licence back after just five years and is immediately disqualified again for drink driving.
Road schemes
The DoE's effective use of money in carrying out the road remediation schemes is also challenged.
 The DoE do not use the police accident report database because they cannot understand it  |
| BBC NI's Mike McKimm |
"In one case they claimed there had been 88 in four years on one stretch of road - in fact the auditors say there were only 20 and accuse the DoE of counting accidents more than once on several occasions."
The Road Safety Council is also singled out for not always representing good value for money in the past.
The report also claims that the DoE and others are not always sure of their facts.
More than 63,000 cars go untaxed and probably escape the MOT because they do not appear on any list, it says.
Mr McKimm added: "The DoE do not use the police accident report database because they cannot understand it.
"In 4000 cases police were unable to serve summons because the DoE couldn't trace the car and although the insurance industry recorded 20,000 injury claims in 1998, the RUC records only showed 14,000."
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08 Nov 99 | Northern Ireland |
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Road upgrade call after death crash |
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