This article is from page 10 of the 2012-01-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
ROAD deaths in Clare last year were the lowest in the country with two fatalities. The number was half of the previous year, when four people lost their lives on the county’s roads.
Welcoming the reduction, Chief Superintendent John Kerins said the number of deaths on the road has reduced significantly from a time when there were 15 to 16 people a year los- ing their lives on Clare roads.
Serious injury also fell by almost one-third with just seven cases in 2011.
Non-serious traffic collisions were also down significantly from 128 to 97 – a drop of 42 per cent.
Gardaí in Clare recorded an increase in the number of material damage collisions from 774 to 826 – an increase of seven per cent.
Superintendent Peter Duff said that many commentators attribute the increase in the figure to safer built cars.
People are now walking away from accidents with minor injuries, where previously they would have been seriously hurt.
Chief Supt Kerins attributed the reduction in deaths and serious injuries on the roads to new traffic laws and the penalty point system, as well as Garda enforcement and the work of Clare County Council.
On driver penalty points he said, “Whether we like them or not they are having a positive affect on our roads.”
He also paid tribute to Barry Keating, the road safety officer with Clare County Council.
Meanwhile the numbers of people arrested for drink driving in 2011 had reduced by 15 per cent on the previous year, while the number arrested for driving under the influence of drugs had increased by 15 per cent.
The number of missing people cases logged with the gardaí in 2011 was 374 people, but Supt Duff explained that this figure was not necessarily reflective of the number of people going missing.
“A small number of people make up a large number in this case,” he said explaining that many of the cases were young people in the care of the HSE that went missing repeatedly and were returned within hours of the report.