Meathman's Diary: Mary Ward and the long journey to end the number of lives lost on our roads
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has unveiled a 'Who was Mary Ward: Vision Zero' campaign. Vision Zero is a worldwide commitment that aims for no road deaths or serious injuries on roads by 2050. The RSA wants to bring us back prior to 31st August 1869, when Mary Ward was the first person in Ireland - and apparently the world - to be killed in an automobile incident.
A cousin of the Earl of Rosse, she was killed at Birr, Co Offaly, when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins.
The RSA is calling for public support in working towards a reality where we see our last life lost on Irish roads. They are appealing to all road users – drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians – to make one change to prevent further tragedy.
As part of this, the RSA is encouraging people to have a conversation with friends, family members and colleagues about Vision Zero, and is calling on everyone to look at their own behaviour and commit to making one positive change that would contribute to safer roads. A shared responsibility for road safety will save lives.
I would suggest that apart from motor cars, another lethal device that wasn't around in Mary Ward's time was the mobile phone. I would say that the combination of the mobile phone and motor car is the greatest distraction for drivers, causing many crashes.
It is a long time ago since Noel Dempsey as Minister for Transport suggested that we turn off our mobile phone while making a journey, but with technology developing and smartphones providing us with maps and directions these days, that is not always practical.
But it is clear from walking around the streets of Navan, or driving around the county, that drivers of all ages and sexes, of vehicles of all shapes and sizes, are reading and scrolling, and even texting, on their phones, while driving. Stand on a street corner or sit in a café window in the town, and you can be guaranteed somebody will pass by, phone in hand or to ear.
When there is a major accident or incident at one of these junctions, there are calls for road safety or traffic calming measures. But it's usually not about the road or the junction – it's driver behaviour. And this is not just true of drivers – pedestrians can also be at fault, walking along footpaths glued to their phones, often with earphones, oblivious to the world around them.
It's not just teenagers – last week I saw a woman walk a young boy to school - I presume mother and son - who was too busy texting on her phone to pay any attention to the lad. Maybe it was a very urgent communication – but it was also a very busy junction. You can be guaranteed if anything had happened, the junction would have been blamed.