Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A NEW ROAD safety programme has been launched for transition year students to “help them become safer road users”.
Last year, the highest risk age group on the road was those aged 16-25, who accounted for 26% of all road fatalities.
Some 48 people in this age bracket died on Irish roads last year, almost double the 25 deaths among this cohort in 2022.
The ‘Road Safety Matters’ programme was developed in partnership with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and supported by An Garda Siochána.
It will initially be rolled out to 143 schools nationwide and the programme aims to prepare students to be roads users and safe drivers, should they drive in the future.
There are 10 modules including modules on learning to drive, components of a car, speed, alcohol, drugs, distractions, safety belts, and vulnerable road users.
The programme can be taught over a 10-week period or longer, depending on a school’s transition year timetable.
Speaking at the launch today at Marian College Dublin, Minister for Education Norma Foley said the new programme will be a “very important road safety awareness resource for schools”.
She described it as a “big step forward in terms of education for a critical age group of road users”.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport James Lawless said “educating young people on the importance of how we use the road, the rules of the road and the important awareness of all road users is something they will carry throughout their lives”.
Meanwhile Sam Waide, Chief Executive of the RSA, said “we are committed to equip the next generation of road users with the right knowledge and awareness when it comes to road safety, including at a time when they may be considering getting a driving licence for the first time”.
He said the programme highlights how everyone has an important role to play, no matter what mode of transport they use.
Paula Hilman, An Garda Síochána’s Assistant Commissioner for Roads Policing and Community Engagement, remarked that “education is crucial in increasing awareness of road safety among people and young, new drivers in particular”.
“Working together to enhance education for young people is essential in ultimately reducing the number of road fatalities on Irish roads,” said Hillman.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Teach them the difference between the driving lane and the overtaking lane(s).
@David Gray: A golden oldie that one.
@David Gray: Interesting to see that Passengers and pedestrians account for more road deaths than drivers of vehicles. In fact the incidents of passenger and pedestrian deaths has nearly doubled since 2021!!… Arguably the ‘overtaking lane’ has literally nothing to do with road deaths
@David Gray: And forewarn them about the twits that *will* undertake them *at speed* eventhough it is entirely illegal.
@Thesaltyurchin: There are no passengers in the cars that hog the overtake lane? WwAAOOOWWW!! I never knew that.
@Pink Freud: A strike and a miss… There are no deaths happening in the overtaking lane… you lemon… (but I do hate the self-deputised hogs also)
It is a joke that as soon as someone passes their driving test, they are allowed go straight onto the motorway. There should be some sort of lessons or course to let them get experience driving on the motorways.
@den: Lessons are mandatory in Ireland.
@Thomas Berry:: not on the motorway Thomas, no learner drivers allowed on the motorway!
@den: It’s some joke watching more people with phone in hand in their 50s on said motorways. Truck drivers included..
@Paul Gorry: Agreed Paul, every second driver!
@Paul Gorry: maybe concentrate on your own driving instead of looking up at truck drivers. Yes there are poor truck drivers but the majority of us are the best drivers on the road & find novices like yourself a far greater danger even when you are not on your phones.
@Mic JHintl: Tell me you’re taking the pi,s with that lame comment!!
@Paul Gorry: a little bit but the message remains the same. Novices shouldn’t lecture professionals & its you lot and the poor driving standards brought about by poor instruction and education from entities like the rsa that are causing most of the issues on the road. That and driving under the influence.
@Mic JHintl: Professionals should never ever talk into a phone while driving a truck. The ” yous lot ” is gas all the same. Their called witness’s in court..
@Paul Gorry:
He’s right. Truckers and coach drivers are the best drivers on the road.
@Paul Gorry: witnesses in court?? Sorry are we in court here? You have presented truck drivers here as being on the phone so much they’re the major issue?? Not the case. Yes some truck drivers no doubt do but we are regulated on a scale you couldn’t imagine. Many trucks now have live cameras to make sure we are not on our phones and in the event of an accident particularly a life threatening one our phones are seized. So the suggestion that it’s a huge issue is hyperbole. Do you use a satnav?
Have never ever used a sat nav. Never said it was a huge problem. I’ve seen truck drivers on mobile phones. You calling me a liar? ” Huge issue? Never said that. Truck drivers on mobile phones fact.
@Paul Gorry: yet you never mentioned anything else. It’s hyper focusing on a non issue. I’m actually more concerned about people using sat navs including truck drivers which are 7 times more dangerous than a phone according to studies in the US. The standard of driving amongst ordinary road users is horrendous. The RSAs performance in all areas suggest its an organization not fit for purpose. Huge emphasis on speeding and nothing of DUI hardly yet it is a massive issue particularly drug driving & the lack of road craft on the roads is astonishing. Of all the countries I drive in in Europe everyweek Ireland is in the top 5 worst & its nothing to do with phones..They are an issue yes but like speeding they are well down the list.
@Mic JHintl: Who am i to argue with the best truck driver to ever deflect an article? TRUCK DRIVERS USE MOBILE PHONES. Apologies if it irks you..
@Paul Gorry: truck drivers use mobile phones?? Incorrect. Some truck drivers do. It doesn’t irk me. It just reveals complete ignorance of the situation around road safety.
@Mic JHintl: 1 truck driver is too many. Agree? Even in my saloon car, looking up and witnessing it .
@Mic JHintl: I’m trying to make sense of your arguement, you say truck drivers using their phones is incorrect because only some do. I didn’t see anyone say all truck drivers so saying truck drivers use their phones is correct. I use to always see truck drivers on their phones. You think because you drive for a living then that means you lot are the best drivers on the road. Maybe when you passed your test you were. Definitely not now.
@Regular John: Too many on the raods. Need rid
@Anthony Hilton: passing a test is not much of a qualification. Its basic training which I do every year unlike the novices here. It was implied that truck drivers on phones is a big issue. I’m saying it happens but it’s a non issue. Cars drivers in particular are way worse in this matter yet its far from the biggest problem. That to me is driving under the influence particular in relation to cannabis. Then there’s a complete lack of road craft in this country. The driving standards are horrendous and not surprising when you look at the training & systems of training that are available to all drivers. So as usual here’s another person with a novice opinion.
@Mic JHintl: it’s not a novice opinion to point out what you said is incorrect. You said “truck drivers on their phones? Incorrect and then yes some are “so it would be correct to say truck drivers are on their phones.
Why is that so hard to understand? I never said car drivers are not an issue nor did I even mention it above. I completely agree that car drivers are shocking and the worst
@Mic JHintl: Here! Here! Dead right on both your comments, especially second one.
“Poor HVG drivers”?
Probably Borris’ ‘no reverso’ post-Brexit HGV drivers
>snigers behind hand<
@Paul Gorry:
Paul Gorry has watched all the episodes of “Caught on Dashcam”.
QED he has ALL the evidence he needs to convict Irish HGV drivers.
…eventhough the footage in show is from all over the world.
But Paul is so accustomed to watching US fictional TV (driving Right Side of Road) while simultaneously living in Ireland (where pl drive Left Side of road), he didn’t even notice how the road layouts frequently changed in “Caught on Dashcam”.
@Anthony Hilton: ya I did ask about truck drivers on their phones as it’s a non issue in relation to the current driving standards. There are far more serious issues in relation to road craft and in particular DUI. It’s no different than the speeding issue. It’s not where the vast majority of the problems lie. The issues lie with poor driving standards overseen by the rsa and novices thinking they can drive. Remember if you wish to improve road safety start with yourself and stop wagging fingers.
Michaél Martin talking about how violent ian Bailey was. Why did he wait until after he died to start saying these things.
Now trying to include us in the government’s shame!! Shame on ye Michaél
@den: Mehole questioning the independence of the DPP and their actions.
Can I just ask why at 16 and 17 do these young people think they are? There allowed to drive a Car/Tractor or Moped. These people are incapable of driving these machines. The shouldn’t be let into a drivers seat of a car/ tractor Or Moped until there at least 20 years of age. As they aren’t allowed to vote till their 18 but still there allowed to drive to school making other students jealous of them.
@Tommy: jaysus Tommy, don’t get me started on the tractor drivers!!!! A driver with a C or CE license have to complete a CPC course every year, by orders of the RSA. A 16 year old can get into a tractor with a trailer behind them carrying 20 tonne + and drive down the road, no problems at all, no special license and usually texting while driving!!!
@Tommy: Kalle Rovenpara the current WRC champion started driving rallycars in anger aged 7 & had to do his driving test the week of his first wrc event. Plenty of good young people driving tractors at 16 with zero issues. Most of the people i.have issues with as a professional driver are so called experienced drivers who think they can drive. Change your own driving practices before you point fingers at young people.
@Mic JHintl: countless skid marks made by the tractor trailers is testament to some inability to drive tractors
@Mic JHintl: Rallying is a closed environment, not a public road (during the event).
Tractors were old Massey 135s or smaller when that licence was brought in. They should change it to a similar system as motorbikes.
@den: Have no problem with this, they all are very hard workers that are trying to keep a business going on roads that are hundreds of years old that dont even fit two cars, let alone, walkers, cyclists, horsey type, etc. It’s time to turn the hate cannon back at lazy political class who’ve done nothing in the transport space for 30 years. Why cant we widen roads? why is there no innovation, in holland they’re driving on roads that charge your car ffs… We’re spitting pothole water through our missing teeth.
@Means Of Escape: skid marks indicate what exactly? You display your complete lack of knowledge in the matter.
@Yleennoc: rallying is a closed environment for good reason. It’s incredibly dangerous yet a 16 year has managed to not die or kill anyone while becoming the youngest world champion. My point wasn’t comparing rallying to driving tractors. My point is young drivers are well capable and competent drivers given the correct approach and training. Clearly you missed that.
@Thesaltyurchin: You missed my point completely, teenagers get into a tractor with no training and can drive it how they like , with a trailer carrying 20 tonne behind them. Does not make sense.
@Thesaltyurchin:You missed my point completely, teenagers get into a tractor with no training and can drive it how they like , with a trailer carrying 20 tonne behind them. Does not make sense.
@den: no training?? Not true. Clearly you don’t work in the sector. There is training & its not the case they turn up and just drive with 20 ton.
@Mic JHintl: I missed nothing and I understand what you are saying. Its the same in single seaters. But there is a formal licensing system to build you through both racing paths.
But again closed roads vs public roads are very different. At that age you take more risks and a tractor with a load is big ask with no formal training.
So while you can say a 16 year old can be trained to win a national rally championship he was trained , which they arent here.
A Finnish style driving test would be welcome here.
@den: Sure it makes sense, they’re really needed as farm hands, they all grow up on farms, driving every piece of farm machinery from very young (on private land) Diggers, etc. They’re all very well versed in the dangers, and in the bigger picture (road deaths) this argument hardly even features?… Should we have been researching and planning for the last 50 years to evaluate specific routes in agri transport that could privatise some roads for them? maybe there’s call for a private infrastructure to facilitate local movement through each others property, why cant the countryside have a one way system where possible? can we widen roads to facilitate local movement? These are all the ideas that a normal society would investigate… why are we so incapable?… we lower the bar.
Driving lessons should be introduced at 14y. My eldest who is calm and mature for his age, still managed to fly off the road and crush his R clio. He escaped with bruises. He maintained that someone forced him off the road but evidence was that he was driving too fast and lost control, which he admitted eventually.
Thank god he survived.
Lessons like these, maybe in 3d, should be taught to young people.
Not a bad idea, maybe not perfect but it’s a goChange the theory part of the testing system to actual classes you have to attend instead of the self study it is today and include motorway driving in the lessons and test as well
@JSH 1973: good start that gochange was supposed to be
I had to figure out for myself one specific danger of driving on three-lane motorways (mainly the M50, in reality), and that was how drivers moving into the middlelane from the inner/outer lanes need to check out two lanes, rather than the usual one. the fear is that both drivers move into the middlelane at the same time, having only checked the lane next to them. for me, it’s the driving scenario where the punishment and crime are least in line; basically, it’s guaranteed to be v serious, and I’m certain it’s happened to guys who would otherwise be pretty good/attentive drivers. the hack of the RSA for never having rolled out a public-awareness campaign for this very specific scenario.
@Barry O’Driscoll: Another lesson that needs to be taught is that cars handle very differently when they are full of people – inexperienced drivers have got used to how their car handles on fast corners with just themselves and maybe one other person in the front seat, but fill the back seat with two or three more and the car gains a very different handling envelope. Many of the multiple-death tragedies that we’ve seen are due to this point, which younger drivers often forget or aren’t aware of.
@Barry O’Driscoll: motorway driving should also be compulsory for learner drivers. So many people are completely ignorant of the rules on a motorway… One particular pet peeve of mine is the middle lane hoggers. Nobody on the inside lane but they stay on the middle lane. Why?
On the continent you hog the middle lane and get caught, it’s a few points off your licence, no ifs or buts. But there’d have to be enforcement here and more gardaí, and that’s another problem altogether.
@Jerry LeFrog: Agreed. They need to split the Driving Test, and Driving Education, into 2 tiers.
Tier 1: All the usual Driver Eduation and Test as it is. Qualify with obligation to display sticker for “Tier 1 qualified driver”.
Tier 2: Return to the dual control car with a *Driving School* (not friend or family). And get educated *on* the Motorways, and their slip roads, junctions and roundabouts.
Progress to education in your own car.
Do a Driver Motorways test.
Tier 2 should be accessible within 6 weeks to 6 months of completing Tier 1, IF the driver hasn’t already written off a car, or been pulled over for a serious offence (no insurance/tax, *excessive* [not accidental minimal] speeding, or drink or drug driving).
Definitely Motorway Training and Testing should not be done during Rush Hours.
Not for the wellbeing of the learner.
But for the *sanity* of the public!!!
Heck! Tier 2 should probably also include “opposite road familiarities”.
Urban drivers should be obliged to take classes&tests on extremely rural roads (not Dublin County “rural”).
And extremely Rural drivers should be obliged to take classes & tests in Dublin/Limerick.
But these urban/rural additions shouldn’t be a big giant rigmarole.
They should be available in a 3 hour lesson block plus same day test.
And should definitely include staged, typical “difficulties and challenges” of said road types.
If you book multiple testers on same day, you can use same staged problems on multiple drivers simultaneously or separately on pre-designed nearby roads.
@Jerry LeFrog:
That’s my greatest pet peeve too! Anyone hogging the middle lane of a 3 lane motorway should be given points and fined. It’s absolutely ridiculous some days, your 3 lane motorway may as well have only 2 lanes. Absolute donkeys…
A great initiative. Anything that may improve awareness is welcome. Well done
Why not bring back the traffic schools & safe cross code & public health/safety movies etc etc from 70s & 80s. Start in primary school. Then in secondary could be moved up to rules of the road etc.
@Helen McKernan: Yes. Maybe. But *definitely* with a revamp from “1970s video” into interactive AI or something…with pertinent audio, visual & content upgrades!
They probably cycled to school and broke red lights
Teach people about filter lanes
@Kevin O’Connell: and also how to properly use indicators BEFORE they move to filter lanes (it’s all in the name, they are not “confirmers”), not after they’ve started turning onto the other road
@Jerry LeFrog: LOOOL!!! Dead on.
People have forgotten indicators are “an indication of intent”.
They are also a form of **asking permission** of the driver behind you in another lane before…..yennow….making what is (even with all due care & attention) …a Hazardous Move!!!
And before some car designer with absolute notions starts “modernising” the indicator lights to a different colour…
…they are bleedin’ AMBER for a reason!!!
And on the issue of car lights, the RSA should have been ontop of research into the impacts of blue-white LED head lights within 1 year of their first roll out.
And should have been ready & prepared to *ban* them on Irish roads.
Simply put. Not only are they blinding on rural dual carriageways, especially with truck and coach lights beaming over the median’s hedge.
They are horrendous to meet on dark, dark, rural backroads AND the Nat’l roads, where the first (or only) car is obliged to dip lights to oncoming traffic (which, fyi, doesn’t always happen anymore! Indeed, almost never happens!!).
Also abysmal in Irish Fogs.
This is usual from the government, take what is essentially a really good idea, and implement it in such a way that makes it worse than useless.
There is absolutely no reason why the majority of students shouldn’t leave school with a full driving licence, rather than a participation driving theory certificate.
@Dvsespaña: 100 students in a year. 12 driving lessons each. 1200 lessons total. Split between 5th and 6th year. 600 lessons per year. 32 weeks in a year. About 19 driving lessons a week. Each lesson lasts 1 hour. Typical class lasts 40 minutes so 2 classes disrupted by absence or students entering/leaving. Thats about 38 classes disrupted in 1 week through driving lessons. Massive disturbance!!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Absolutely, don’t want something of vital importance, that people use everyday to replace say Hamlet. Makes sense.
@Thesaltyurchin: How would you organise the driving lessons?
@Thesaltyurchin: It would also have to replace say, Maths? Or Physics? Or Engineering? Or Chemistry? Or Construction? Or Languages? Are these important?
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: I would replace all of them on an individual basis, so more of a choice situation, not too diss similar to the GCSE system. I remember showing work in the UK when I first lived there and was so embarrassed by how much more advanced my colleagues were by comparison, I was 22 and my work was at their 17 year old standard, certainly studying English past junior cert has no baring for me (doesn;t for the English even lol), nor chemistry, nor physics, languages maybe, maths maybe (to a point), is Construction a subject? (certainly it should be). For the career I wanted (and subsequently got) none of these ‘core’ subjects are needed. Choice tho, all about choice.
@Dvsespaña: Get a grip! A school is a serious place with serious business and is responsible for ALL its students simultaneously – including Exam-Year Students. Not just TYs.
Qualifying in anything surplus to Junior and Leaving Certs – like Life-saving, First Aid, and/or Driving – should be entirely down to the individual’s own volition. Not imposed by schools or anyone else. Especially when those qualifications can contribute to advancing the individual’s part-time employability, or accessibility to full-time career through *qualified* voluntary experience.
Plus, plenty of young people *never* want to learn, or have no need of learning, to drive because they live in a City.
And regardless, it shouldn’t be on schools to provide every aspect of their self development.
What schools can, and should, do is take the *opportunities* provided by the fact that they are an assembly point for sizeable *groups* of young adults.
And provide them with – what is for some who never go to University – their last semi-fun semi-serious, modern & interactive real world *applied* Educational experience(s).
@Pink Freud: How about you get a grip of what I said rather than talking out your exhaust pipe. The majority of students should leave school with a full friving licence, not just TY students.
Furthermore, they should also leave school able to swim to a standard that they can save themselves from drowning, be able to cook a few different basic meals so they don’t go hungry and being able to manage a weekly budget for themselves.
These skills are, along with driving, life skills, which are sadly lacking in the younger generations. Just because someone is currently living in a city, doesn’t mean they always will, having a full driving licence like all skills and qualifications, just means that they would have options in the future, rather than limitations and restrictions.
Apparently there’s been a higher percentage of students every year taking TY. Perhaps it might do some good.
Another scheme being foisted onto schools? I know this is 2nd level, but a primary teacher described it as ‘Death by a 1000 Initiatives’.
teach them the sense of responsibilities first. the costs, the insurances, the consequences. teach them also about mechanic, safety, how to change a wheel…etc…
transition year is too early, and it should be like economics, compulsory for everybody
@Dominic Leleu:
@Ita O Mahony: agree
This should have been happening mamy years ago
Not much point in the youngsters being safer road users while the older crap drivers are still on the roads!
@Padraig O’Brien: There’s a reason why older drivers insurance is so cheap and young drivers pay so much.
@Regular John: An easy target considering the age group 56+ accounts for a much greater amount of road deaths.
@Thesaltyurchin:
Are you saying aged 56+ drivers cause more road deaths than young drivers ??? I doubt that very much. Anything to back that up with ?
@Padraig O’Brien: There ought to be compulsory *tested* re-licencing of all drivers throughout the lifespan. At least every 15 or 10 years with licence renewal. Just a quick run through Motorways & (non-Dublin) rural backroads. No big convoluted nonsense. No failing either, unless you kic-off&turn uncooperative. Just an obligation to stay on after test to sit a brief driving lesson on your dangerous errors.
Every 5 years after a certain age too.
Obviously that age range should change as the average life expectancy of the population expands or contracts (eg: it is contracting in England due to multi-variate deficits resulting from Brexit. And probably a delayed knock-on impacts from Recession stressors).
@Regular John: Link in the article… pretty sure the stats reflect ‘road deaths’ rather than the ’cause of road deaths’ (we’re not allow to know that).
As long as you shout about inane non-facts like overtaking lanes, M roads, phones, then you validate the policy of ‘awareness’ and justify your elected officials doing literally nothing. Why can we not research, innovate and implement the systems we need? I used to think it was politicians, but I’m sure now it’s a reflection of who we are. We’ll never fix anything, one read through this comments section is a great example of why.
About time. Should also have practical driving skills included in the school curriculum.
Teach them how to drive… parents would pay that… like in America..no brainer
@Helen Clinton: We LOVE to challenge ‘no brainers’ and blast them out of the water, our problems are special, we don’t need your sensible solutions.
It should start in Primary School.
Not just juniors learning to cross the road.
More importantly, 5th & 6th Class learning all road etiquette and rules. From things long forgotten like how to mount a bike *at the curb’*, to things easily forgotten like speeding past driveways & driveway pillars on a path or on a quiet housing estate road, but also including important life-dependant things like correct clear signalling, understanding Garda signalling (if anyone still did it), and taking Right turns at busy junctions (and even Left turns …..into mainstreet traffic from lower grade side roads).
Afterall, 5th & 6th Class need a safe foundation for cycliy to school in 1st Year of Secondary.
But yeh, Secondary, University, ***AND IMMIGRANTS*** [Economic & Asylum Seeker alike; American & Algerian alike] should get courses experiencing the full works.
That aside, obviously its a great idea to also do a whole interactive programme in Transition Year.
Afterall, that is the whole point, purpose, benefit and *privledge* of doing and choosing Transition Year – doing “applied” and “real world” activities.
Actually integrating and applying their already familiar Junior Cert Science (Physics) to Road Safety it brilliant. Things like velocity+weight and force on impact; cyclist vs pedestrian, or car vs bike/car/truck etcetera. And jumping ahead to present Leaving Cert level, real world applied Biology and Chemistry to drugs that cross the Blood-Brain barrier and their real world impacts.
But also the interactive learning through wearing of “drunk goggles”.
Or more importantly developing the program further for this new TY plan, through employing far more advanced mediums like proper good VR and/or AR goggles.
**AND,** more importantly, ensuring the program, the graphics and instructions etc are *Irish-centric*, and pertinent to Ireland.
Not American, not British.
Yep, that means at least 100 goggles or whatever it akes to cover the entire year group of an average TY, and/or half the year group of the largest urban TY.
(But that means also being well prepped for breakage and University Rag Week events).
Indeed, all Junior Certs should have an “RSA day”.
Incase they are not doing TY, but also to entice them into TY.
A day of wearing (the old!) “drunk goggles”, and maybe also experiencing the “overturning car” machine thing.
However, the RSA (or is it Dublin Fire Brigade?) needs to up its game on the “crashing overturning car” machine. It’s a yoke with flimsy, wornout, 90s seat belt. Musty with manky worn out torn up seats. Pure ikk to anyone, but especially women and young teenagers.
But more importantly, it only flips lengthways.
And it turns far far far far far too slowly.
Both of which don’t reflect reality – when we certainly have the engineering of fairground rides and the like to do far far better (especially since it is a very serious, and not fun, exercise!).
But also, FYI, tiny slender shouldered women frequently slip out of seatbelts when a car turns upside down. Yes. Even fully grown adults.
Something crash test dummies (and seatbelt crash-reaction to weight/force of belt-wearer) don’t even factor in.
So when RSA (or is it Dublin Fire Brigade?) turn over their sample car. As a small woman – you have to grip onto something – which is highly implausible scenario when a car is flipping (lengthways AND sideways!!) at normal even moderate velocities.
Slow flipping also means it’s not safe – the more women you flip, the more likely it is someone will simply fall out into the roof/windscreen!!
Nonetheless, a nearly apt experience.
And a valuable exercise (that could do better).
There is no bigger or better use of the Apple €13billion but to invest it entirely into road safety…nothing more important right now.
have your say