Editorial: Road tragedies show need for further safety
Three people were killed on Northern Ireland’s roads in just over 24 hours, from Monday morning to the afternoon of Christmas Eve.
Across the border, an elderly man died in Co Cavan.
Relatives and loved ones of the dead have been plunged into agony.
It would be horrendous enough at any time of year, but to happen on the verge of the Christian world’s biggest celebration makes it all the more unspeakable. It is in the nature of road fatalities that there is never any warning of them.
We extend our deepest sympathies to the families affected by these tragedies.
We do not know what happened in the crashes and might not for a while.
Typically, when the facts of a crash are established, very few people are paying attention apart from the loved ones
It is hard therefore for society to learn lessons.
And yet there has been major progress in reducing the carnage on our roads.
Road deaths have stayed low for most of the last 20 years, and are now only a fraction of the levels that they were in the 1960s and 70s when measured on a per mile travelled basis.
It can never be said enough that one death on the roads is one death too many. The horror of the last few days is testament to that.
But society as a whole, in particular road safety experts, have gathered a lot of information over the decades on how to reduce the number of collisions – and this has had huge success in saving many hundreds of lives in Northern Ireland alone.
Next year we will be reporting on driverless cars, and the possibility that they will drive down deaths and injuries too.
This does not mean humans won’t drive – something many many people love to do. It does mean that high technology can help to reduce further tragedies such as we report on today.