Editorial: Reducing speed on the roads has helped save lives in Northern Ireland

​We report today on a man who cut people out of car crashes commenting on the dangers of the roads.

​Davy Jackson, a former firefighter, was speaking to this newspaper about light sentences that have been handed out to a succession of motorists travelling at more then 100mph.

For more than a decade this newspaper has been reporting on the massive success that there has been in cutting Northern Ireland’s road deaths. At least four times more people died on the roads in an average year in the 1960s or 70s than they do today. But traffic levels have more than doubled since then, so the actual risk of being killed has been slashed by about 90% if the fatalities are calculated on a per mile basis.

This is a stunning achievement. It has been caused by multiple factors, including better designed roads, clearer road markings, better driver awareness of the risks and better driver training. Deterrent has been key too. Motorists are now far less likely to drink and drive and far more likely to wear a seat belt, with the latter now compulsory.

There is, also, now a far better awareness of speeding and its consequences. In fact, many people detected of speeding have completed speed awareness courses that have helped to open their eyes to the dangers.

It is little wonder that someone such as Mr Jackson, who has seen the horror of the aftermath of road tragedies up close, feels strongly about this issue.

Anyone who is travelling at a speed of 100mph or more on a motorway is moving at a pace around 50% higher than the speed limit. There is no justification for such a deadly speed.

The courts need to build on the progress made in saving lives by penalising such reckless behaviour more harshly than they have been doing.