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THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD pay more heed to the recommendations of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) instead of disbanding it, a road safety campaigner whose teenage daughter was knocked down and killed at a pedestrian crossing has said.
As one of its last acts before the next general election, the government wants to disband the RSA. Minister of State for Road Safety James Lawless told The Journal this week he believes the RSA’s variety of functions are all facing problems that are not being adequately dealt with.
Cabinet ministers are expected to receive a memo that would propose splitting up the RSA’s functions and creating two new bodies – one that would deal with safety and another than would take on roles such as administering driving tests and coordinating the NCT.
Leo Lieghio is the Vice-President of the Irish Road Victims Association, a campaigning organisation that provides support for people who have been bereaved or injured by road collisions.
In 2005, his 16-year-old daughter Marsia was knocked down by a driver at a pedestrian crossing and died in hospital.
Lieghio has said the RSA is being blamed for problems but that the ultimate power to take action lies with the government.
“I think the RSA are being used as a scapegoat. There’s a lot of good people in there working hard to try to save lives,” Lieghio said, speaking to The Journal.
He said the RSA does not currently have the authority it would need to implement effective changes and has “had to work with their hands tied”.
He added that the RSA can put forward recommendations and produce advertising and promotional campaigns but that decision-making power ultimately lies with the government.
Minister Lawless told The Journal earlier this week that be believes the operational side of the RSA is “not working” and its safety promotion remit is “not where it needs to be”.
He said the problems are both compounding and distracting from each other.
“If there’s a board meeting dominated by discussion on NCT delays and licence failures, there’s not the same time being afforded to discussion on road safety, for example,” Lawless said.
A growing number of devastating road collisions in recent years has raised public attention to the issue of road safety and led to increased calls for high-level action to tackle dangerous driving.
This year, as of Friday, 143 people have died in road crashes. 57 of them were drivers, 30 were passengers, 26 were pedestrians, and 17 were motorcyclists. Nine were cyclists, three were on an e-scooter, and one was recorded in a “pillion passenger/other” category.
Lieghio said the government is “very slow” to implement any changes around road safety.
“The RSA recommended double penalty points a while back and they wanted to implement graduated speeding penalties. They’re still waiting on that,” he said.
He also criticised the limited rollout of new average speed cameras.
Two cameras were introduced this weekend on the N3 in Cavan and the N5 in Mayo – “Two, by the end of the year. Why not more?” Liegho questioned.
Looking forward, Liegho also called for consequences handed down by the courts for dangerous driving to become more serious, especially for repeat offenders, to dissuade drivers from acting irresponsibly.
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Very strange that Germany can expand a Coal Mine, but the Irish have to close their Bogs and stop cutting Turf. Where’s the equality in Europe.
@Owen G Mc Ginley: all down to good old eamo
@Owen G Mc Ginley: Turf cutting is regulated under the RAMSAR Directive, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), EU legislation, including the Water Framework
Directive etc., the main aims of these international agreements is to preserve biodiversity, reducing CO2 emissions plays a secondary role. These lignite coal mines are not wetlands, so they avoided most regulations that govern turf cutting.
Germany reopened its lignite coal mines after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, that resulted in them deciding to close all their Nuclear Power Plants under pressure from the Greens. That resulted in a shortfall in energy generation as they had not built enough renewable generation to fill the gap, that gap was filled by reopening giant Lignite mines and importing more electricity from France (which ironically gets most of its energy from Nuclear).
https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-climate-targets
@Owen G Mc Ginley: eamon wants to be a great green god of Europe.
@Giles Wolohan: Good old Vlad more like.
@David Jordan: David they are reopening the coal mines not because of Fukushima but the sanctions they put on Russian gas and the Nord stream pipeline being blown up.
@Owen G Mc Ginley: you do know we have plenty of our own coal mines in Ireland, that should be opened up too, if the Germanys can do it why can’t we!!!!
@Phil Keran: plenty of coal mines… :-D Name one that would be profitable to put on stream….
@Mac Dara Powell: no, this is not related to recent events. The protests have been going on since 2012, the sizes of the protests increase when a village gets demolished.
Under German law all lignite mines are due to close by 2038, that hasn’t changed. Also, the Garzweiler II mine is due to close sooner, by 2030, that hasn’t changed. Germany extended the life of its lignite mines after the 2011 Fukushima disaster and closure of all its nuclear power plants.
Garzweiler II mine opened in 1980, the planned demolition of 12 villages and towns, and the eviction of 12,000 people, is part of the long term plan to expand the surface mine. The mine covers an area of 32 km2, but it’s approved to expand to over an area of 110 km2 (area of Dublin City, not county). It will mine 1.1 billion tonnes of Lignite over the next c. 7-8 years.
Should just ignore her spoilt brat
@John Moloney: stay classy John.
@John Moloney: Can you explain how she is spoilt? All ears if you have some evidence of that, not an opinion or conspiracy but actual evidence
@John Moloney: daft comment
@jason weir: Really thats your opinion in reality its true
@John Moloney: Maybe she appears that way to you because she wants to save this planet and its ecosystem to stop humans from destroying everything in the name of profit. She’s not just going to accept the status quo ‘this is just the way it is’ and I respect her for that. She could go to college, become an accountant, and be a 9 to 5 droid to our economic system for the rest of her life (the system which is destroying our planet for profit) but she’s chosen to be give up any semblance of a normal childhood and early adulthood to raise awareness. Full respect from me.
@JC O’Connachain: Greta Thunberg’s net worth in over $1 million. Do not think she is suffering from lack of food and shelter as are millions of people in third world countries who need cheap fuel for heat and survival. Greta is a perfect example of the do as I say not as I do twits of this world.
https://www.tuko.co.ke/406466-greta-thunberg-net-worth-2022-how-wealthy-teen-climate-activist.html
@Tomo: save the planet explain how she gets to every country while she saves the planet is she walking
@Don Hogan: So do you have to be especially poor before you’re allowed to protest climate breakdown? What’s the cut-off point? Can you protest a bit if you’re quite well-off, but not really rich?
@Tomo: 100% agree
@John Moloney: So your logic is:
Greta uses public transport like the rest of us = as a result she’s not allowed to criticise the system or raise awareness?
That’s like saying people who use the HSE services can’t criticise the government’s health policies. Ridiculous logic – in fact I’m not sure that’s logic at all.
100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. The only meaningful change is for government intervention and regulation. Individuals doing x or y isn’t going to do anything.
@John Moloney: Ignore John, he won’t save ye. He’s the spoilt one here.
@Don Hogan: Ah Don, I’ve read the above article and if you are basing your argument on something the Sun says you are on a weak footing. They have had classy views on a wide range of things including Hillsborough
@JC O’Connachain: the staged ‘arrest’ to enhance her activist status.
Good to see the German cops doing their job, climate zealots ideology don’t care that their is a very serious temporary energy problem for Germany and Europe, only care about their own climate Religion,
@Ned: yep nazis onthe rise again cop on ya fool
@Ned: ‘Temporary energy problem’? Can you expand on that?
@Ned: This is not related to recent events, Germany reopened its Lignite surface mines after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, which provoked them to close all their nuclear reactors.
The demolition of 12 villages and towns is part of the long term plan to expand the Garzweiler surface mine. The mine covers an area of 32 km2, but it’s approved to expand to over an area of 110 km2 (area of Dublin City, not county).
View of the mine: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48734321
It will mine 1.1 billion tonnes of Lignite over the next 15 years, until 2038, after which Germany will phase out Lignite mining.
It won’t be 110 km2 at any one time, as it fills in the hole behind it as it goes and the land is put back the way as it was, but minus the 12,000 people that will be evicted from their homes (30,000 people were evicted since 1980).
@David Jordan: I think more impactful views of the mine literally eating up farmland and nearing the next villages in The Atlantic here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2023/01/luetzerath-protests-german-coal-mine-expands/672696/
Kind of apocalyptic looking to my eyes
@jason weir: name caller you just revealed the type of person you are, you have a lot of class all of it low.
@Claude Saulnier: no need you should know if you are paying attention to what is going on in Europe right now.
@David Jordan: fair comment but I have read somewhere that the Germans want faze out coal in the next 10 years??
@Ned: say they haven’t been paying attention, can you not explain considering you seem to know so much?
@Jen Mc: nothing to explain, with all the news and social media to tap into for all this info not my problem if some people have their head in the sand like the auld ostrich,
Why isn’t she in school
@Míleata Watch Co: think shes too old why are you not in play school
/
@John Moloney: sad post
@Míleata Watch Co: She’s 20. An adult. She can do what she wants!
@damian: John Moloney is our resident Ukraine expert. Maybe he should stick with what he knows best.
@Míleata Watch Co:
Seriously? Where have you been for the past five years? Don’t you understand yet why she is not in school? Why millions of students follow her in not being in school? Are you a recently arrived alien?
Wow, woman arrested in Germany at protest .
#freeGreta
@Séan Ó Nuanáin: she’s free so????
All I see here is a lot of grown men disliking a young adult for no reason. There’s just no way she has affected any of their lives.
@Jen Mc: It’s to do with a subconscious bias towards a young girl trying to change the world for the better. Psychologists reckon it’s a loss of control thing. There’s a mountain of science behind it. It’s fascinating. BTW, I’m a middle aged man and I think she’s doing a great job.
@Stephen Deegan: I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, Stephen. And to be fair there a few lads here supporting her. I guess I’m just also surprised by the amount here who dislike her for no apparent reason.
@Jen Mc: a sure nobody men or women dislikes her they just dislike how they zealots in the climate religion use her for their own interests.
Pity about her
Where’s the wizard of mud video?
@potnoodle: https://youtu.be/KUOir-SAKDs
That’s gas
I didnt like her before but she layed the smackdown on Andrew Tate so that put her up in my estimation.
Cue the men of a certain age:
Splashing paint on the poor coal….but seriously, it seems she’s gotta protest at anything to remain relevant.
Great photo! Everyone looks quite content.
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