Garda chief issues safe driving appeal in wake of 200% increase in road accident deaths in Tipperary

Tipperary’s Garda Chief has appealed to motorists to reduce their speed on roads and avoid overtaking vehicles in poor weather conditions.

His comments came in the wake of the latest statistics showing a 200% rise in fatal road collisions in the county  compared to last year.  

Chief Superintendent Colm O’Sullivan, who heads the new Clare/Tipperary Garda Division, issued the appeal for safer driving at a meeting of the County Tipperary Joint Policing Committee in Tipperary Town last Friday. 

The Garda Chief also voiced concern that more than 2,200 motorists were caught speeding on the county’s roads in the past eight months.

He also highlighted a 22% rise in seat belt offence detections while 183 driving while intoxicated offences were detected at Mandatory Intoxicant Testing checkpoints in the county during the same period.

Chief Supt. O’Sullivan reported there were nine fatal traffic collisions in the county so far this year resulting in the deaths of 14 people. This represented a 200% increase in fatal accidents compared to last year.

While the number of roads accident deaths has risen sharply in the county this year, the latest statistics from the Garda Pulse system show the number of serious injury collisions in the county was down 14% from 35 to 30 in the eight months up to September 1 compared to the same period last year.

Other Pulse statistics show worrying trends for speeding and seat belt offences. Chief Supt. O’Sullivan pointed out that detections in the county for failing to wear seat belts increased by 22% from 166 to 202 in the eight months up to September 1.

“We all know you are more likely to suffer serious injury if you are involved in a collision and are not wearing a seat belt,” he said.

While the 2,225 speeding offences detected in the county between January and the end of August represented a 9% fall, Chief Supt. O’Sullivan said it was still a “startling figure”.

He urged motorists to slow down when driving and particularly to reduce their speed and take extra care when weather and road conditions are bad.

“When travelling to Tipperary Town (on Friday) I was stunned by the number of people overtaking me on the road in those conditions. Just because the speed limit may be 80km per hour ofr100km per hour it doesn’t mean you drive at that speed limit because the conditions don’t allow us.

“We drive our vehicles in accordance with the conditions today and the conditions today tell us that we slow down.”

The Garda chief also voiced “significant” concern at the number of motorists detected driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs at Mandatory Intoxicant Testing checkpoints in the county since the start of the year.

The 1,875 MIT checkpoints conducted by gardaí in the division was down a significant 27% from 2,580 over the same eight months last year but the number of people caught driving while intoxicated rose 2% from 180 to 183. This figure included 45 people caught driving under the influence of a drug.

Chief Supt. O'Sullivan pointed out that this figure only related to those stopped at scheduled MIT checkpoints and didn't include motorists detected at other types of Garda checkpoints, traffic accidents and other incidents.

A number of public representatives joined with Chief Supt. O’Sullivan in criticising the behaviour of motorists who speed, take risks overtaking over vehicles and drive under the influence of intoxicants on the county’s roads.

Cllr John Crosse, who is a publican for 30 years, told the meeting of his dismay at seeing a young man drive away “full to the gills with drugs” and narrowly missing a wall.

“There was only a coat of paint between him and the wall,” he said.

While he didn’t support drink driving, he considered cases of older men driving home after a few pints as no danger to the public compared to those young lads driving completely dangerously under the influence of drugs.

Like Chief Supt. O’Sullivan, Independent TD Mattie McGrath was shocked at the incidents of dangerous overtaking of vehicles he too had observed on the county’s roads in bad weather. He said an awareness campaign about the dangers of this driving was needed.

He recounted observing a line of cars behind a number of sulky horse and traps on a road in heavy rain and some drivers were passing them out without any concern for the weather and safety of others.

“Janey Mac some people drive as if it’s a summers day,” he declared.

JPC Chairman Noel Coonan, meanwhile, wondered would the plans to reduce speed limits on national secondary, local and rural roads create more traffic build up situations where “some lunatics” try to pass out vehicles.

Responding to Cllr Crosse’s comments about drink driving, Chief Supt. O'Sullivan countered that consuming both alcohol and drugs suppresses one’s ability to drive and respond properly particularly where a difficult situation arises such as a child running between a car out onto a road.

“Your awareness and capacity to deal with what is presented to you is greater when you are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. We would say if you drink, don’t drive and if you take drugs, don’t drive,” he advised.

Sympathy extended to families of Tipperary road accident victims 

Clare/Tipperary Chief Garda Superintendent Colm O'Sullivan led the expressions of sympathy at the JPC meeting to the families of the eight people who died in and after road accidents in the county last month.

The deceased include Thomas and Bridget O’Reilly and their grandson Tom, who died in Cashel on Tuesday, August 29; Luke and Grace McSweeney, Nicole Murphy and Zoey Coffey who died in Clonmel on Friday, August 25 and Liam Hanrahan, who several days after being struck by a lorry in Thurles on August 15.

Supt. O’Sullivan also paid tribute to the gardaí and other emergency services personnel who responded to these tragic accidents and acknowledged it had been a traumatic few weeks for them.

“It was a devastating month and our thoughts and prayers are with all those families and the wider community,” he said.

Other JPC members echoed his sentiments at the meeting.