Road deaths – An acceptable level of violence?

Between 1969 and 2001 3,532 people died during the troubles. During the same period 7291 died on the roads. The Troubles are a constant reminder of the suffering caused by violence and a context for understanding the tragic consequences of road death.

Crashed lives

A series of harrowing interviews on the Crashed Lives website prompted the research for that statistic – struck by the similarities with interviews recorded for Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland. Families bravely recounting the death of family members in the most agonising and violent circumstances – hoping it might prevent further death.

A daughter killed driving home from the cinema. A son killed walking home from the Guildhall in Derry. More families on the Road Peace website struggle to mask their anguish – a mother recalls how her daughter was only identifiable through dental records.

1972 was the nadir for both the Troubles’ and road deaths. Perhaps the destruction caused by the troubles that year can be placed in even sharper focus. 1972 was the only year there were more sectarian deaths than road deaths. 480 people died due to the Troubles, 372 people died due to road collisions. Every other year more died on our roads.

Growing up through the troubles, why was I unaware that I was twice as likely to be killed by a car than by a bomb or bullet? Why are road deaths continually downplayed?

Acronyms

We report road deaths differently. Vehicles aren’t autonomous – yet “Pedestrian hit by car” and “Car leaves Portaferry Road” are standard headlines. No driver or driver error? No road design error? No human error?

Suffering is concealed behind benign acronyms. RTCs (Road Traffic Collisions) and KSIs (Killed or Seriously Injured) strip away all the horrific detail. KSIs are anonymised and boxed up in a spreadsheet cell. The language fails to capture the carnage, grief and suffering contained within each cell of the spreadsheet.

Zoom out. Around 1.19 million people die annually – sandwiched between Diabetes and Tuberculosis. 20–50 million suffer non-fatal injuries. It’s the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29. Over 50% are vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists). Road deaths are traumatic, violent deaths. Perhaps we should drop the acronyms?

Cars

For years the blame rested with the car industry. Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed – The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile – published in 1965 – exposed the car industry’s preference for profit before people. In the intervening decades the car industry gradually adopted NCAP standards as they realised the financial benefits of safety as a marketing tool.

In 1971 there were 270,000 cars registered in Northern Ireland. 304 died on the roads that year, 56 were children. By 2023 there were 1.26 million cars registered – 71 deaths, 3 were children. In 1971 seatbelts were decorative and more people walked and cycled. In 2023 everyone is inside a car where safety has never been better.

Remarkably, we are now at the point where the safest place to be in a car collision is inside another car – particularly if your car is significantly larger than the other. This helps explain the rise of the SUV. In a collision with a standard family car a SUV’s weight and size make them a much safer choice. The Onion makes the point much better than I can. If cars are so safe why are deaths and casualties not decreasing?

People

Inside the air-bagged, crumpled-zoned, entertainment-centre bubble of a modern car, many drivers have become overconfident in their ability. Around the same time as Ralph Nader published his book, the American economist Gordon Tullock was looking at Risk compensation – what happens when additional safety features make drivers feel less vulnerable and prone to take more risks.

Tullock considered ways to heighten drivers’ awareness of the risk. He concluded fitting a spike to each steering wheel – pointing toward the driver’s chest – would effectively rebalance the risk and tame the worst habits of the most impulsive drivers. With the introduction of touch screens, mobile phones and all manner of digital distractions – Tullock’s Spike remains a powerful thought experiment.

However, the car industry can argue they’ve done their part – cars are now a lot less dangerous to their drivers. But this only addresses one side of the equation. Protecting everyone outside the vehicle now falls to our elected officials and publicly funded departments. So how do we force them to design safer streets and enforce the laws that prevent road death?

Roads

The A5 is known as NI’s deadliest road. 57 people have died on the A5 since 2006. 1200 people have been injured in the last 10 years. BuildTheA5 was a remarkable campaign. A community unwilling to accept statistics – their campaign for better road safety is inspirational and rare. Rarer still when the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) gives your campaign its full support and the BBC create an entire resource dedicated to the issue. Bad road design was a contributing factor in the deaths. A newly designed A5 will reduce car collisions and prevent further loss of life.

Contrast the A5 campaign with a small residential street in Belfast. When DFI was asked by an East Belfast councillor to repair a road sign to protect residents from drivers breaking the law – the response was quite different:

Had several requests for improved one-way street signage at Reid St due to multiple cars going up the street the wrong way.

Unfortunately, DFI has turned down the request. pic.twitter.com/iIC5HvHVCf

— Michael Long (@CllrMichaelLong) September 30, 2024

In the same thread the councillor – when asked to advocate for a simple street redesign – replied: “I know DFI won’t do this, so no point me asking.”

This highlights the breakdown between people and policies. When vulnerable road users are concerned, the calming or closing of a street is treated as a loss of territory rather than gain for road safety. The same mentality is playing out on Belfast’s Hill St – where the department continue to grapple with the conundrum of closing a cobbled street designed for horses.

Laws

After DFI cut the road safety campaign budget in 2023, Minister O’Dowd returned with a welcome, high energy campaign throughout 2024. Deaths fell from 71 in 2023 to 69 in 2024. In Sept ’24 he said “we must all do everything we can – both individually and collectively – to reduce road deaths.” This is where it gets fuzzy.

On Dec ‘24 he permitted taxis in Belfast bus lanes “…to help support the industry and ease traffic”. Bus lanes remain the only relative safe space for cyclists in Belfast. On 22 January ‘25 he opened a consultation to increase MOT testing to 2 years. Both initiatives potentially compromise road safety.

O’Dowd’s department recently stated “…every 1mph reduction in average speed has a resultant 5% reduction in collisions which could, quite literally, be the difference between life and death”. A year into the job he continues to sit on his hands over 20mph limits in residential areas – despite the evidence it saves lives.

The Highway Code changed in the UK in 2022. It introduced – among other things – a hierarchy of road users. Essentially, the more powerful the vehicle, the more responsible the individual in the event of a collision. The hierarchy of users is a blunted version of Tullock’s Spike. It forces all road users to think of those more vulnerable. It applies everywhere in the UK but Northern Ireland. O’Dowd’s department resisted adopting it. It might not win him many votes, but it will save lives.

Conclusion

After ordering a large Scotch and declaring Northern Ireland “a bloody awful place” – Reginald Maudling kept digging. In 1971, he coined the phrase “acceptable levels of violence”. It symbolised the British government’s indifference to the violence at the time. Our politicians hurled it back at successive Secretaries of State throughout the Troubles.

So far this year 5 people have been violently killed on our roads. None of them motorists. They are already anonymised cells in a spreadsheet. Dozens & dozens more will be added before the year is out.

Are these the levels of violence we are willing to accept to justify breaking speed limits, using our mobile phones when driving or close passing a cyclist/pedestrian? Is the Justice Minister willing to accept them rather than enforce and strengthen the laws around dangerous driving? Is the Infrastructure Minister willing to accept them to cure Belfast’s congestion and reduce MOT waiting times? Do these levels of violence justify the Department for Infrastructure’s resistance to calming and redesigning urban streets – making them safer for vulnerable road users?

Are we all really doing everything we can?

Stephen McNally is the director of Cycul– a not-for-profit – promoting cycle culture in Northern Ireland.
You can follow on: Twitter, Facebook & Instagram