Bank Holiday Road Safety Message
Date: 15-03-2024
With the St Patrick's Bank Holiday Weekend upon us and fatalities on our roads even higher than 2023, acting Road Safety officer with Mayo County Council Gary Smyth is urging all young male drivers in particular to slow down and take care on our roads this weekend and plan your night out.
Young Male drivers between the ages of sixteen to twenty-six are one of the most vulnerable road users on our roads accounting for over 26% of fatalities last year, and overall, 79% of fatalities were male 21% female.
This statistic is worrying and on top of this almost half of these accidents took place between 8.00 pm and 8.00 am when one would expect our roads to be quietest. Weekends and Saturdays had the highest number of fatalities.
The Road Safety Mayo Office are reminding people to Never ever drink or drug drive, even one drink impairs your driving. Also, drugs can stay in your system much longer and if you are involved in an accident or stopped at a check point their presence in your system will show.
Put your Mobile phone away: You are four times more likely to have an accident if you use it while driving. Just looking at a text message while driving, will see you cover the distance of a football pitch. Don’t let your passengers distract you with their mobile phones wither. You will receive three penalty points if found to be using / holding your mobile while driving or stopped at a traffic lights etc.
Speed: The greater the speed the greater the damage. This weekend there will be Garda and Go Safe vans out patrolling especially at the vulnerable times mentioned. Speeding carries three penalty points and an €160 fine.
Seat Belts: Latest statistics show that the non wearing of seat belts is a big contributing factor in the number of road deaths in Ireland particularly when it comes to back seat passengers. This carries three penalty points or five if it goes to court if convicted. Plus up to a €2000 fine.
Cars Checks: Car checks are not just for NCT time. Make sure your car is road worthy. Check the tyres thread dept and side walls for any lumps or tears. You could get two penalty points if your tyre is bald and three for driving on a flat tyre. Make sure your lights including indicators are all working. Have you window wash and are your wipers doing the job they are supposed to do? It is important to check all these things before driving.
Learner and novice drivers have a lower number of penalty points allowance for being disqualified from driving, with seven points seeing you disqualified instead of 12 and they also have a lower alcohol level, when it comes to driving.
The choice is yours.