Road rage is a wheel problem in Ireland
65% worried about behaviour
THE majority of Irish motorists believe road rage here has got worse, a survey has revealed.
More than 65% agree in some way that behaviour behind the wheel has deteriorated in the last few years.
And very few strongly believe the Government is taking the right steps to improve road safety, the AA Ireland survey has found.
Spokesman Conor Faughnan said: “In recent years we have seen traffic levels return to Celtic Tiger levels.
“One unfortunate consequence of that does appear to have been that more motorists are experiencing incidents of bad behaviour on the part of other drivers.
“In many ways higher traffic volumes and increased road rage incidents tend to go hand in hand but there’s certainly no excuse for poor behaviour on our roads, not only is it inconsiderate but it can be dangerous and increase the risk of an incident.”
Less than 3% of the 4,000 surveyed strongly feel our road behaviour hasn’t declined. As of Friday, there were 80 fatalities on Irish roads, which is four higher than the number at the same point of 2017.
And 45% agree in some way road safety is being prioritised by the Government.
Mr Faughnan added: “We’ve made a lot of progress in tackling roads deaths and serious incidents in the last decade, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
“It’s important that the Government don’t become satisfied with the improvements made in recent years and turn their attention away from this area.
“In fact, a priority for government must be to reverse the cuts to the Garda Traffic Corps and to ensure its continued growth over the next few years to ensure we don’t slide backwards in terms of road safety.
“The cuts to the Traffic Corps in recent years have greatly impacted on Garda ability to police our roads effectively and this needs to be rectified.
“The planned increases in strength for 2018 are a good start, but we need to continue this into 2019 and beyond.”