Road deaths in the North were the lowest since 1947 in 2007!

[pintsofguinness]

I take it you don't drive Ziggy? Nobody with an once of sense that drives supports speed cameras.

Yes of coures not 

imho people being too cocky on the roads are a cause of most deaths.

[Hardy]

has anyone got a link to the % road death per population and the numbers dead/car numbers etc down the years.

I've tried to look at this for the republic. The available data goes back to 1961 and shows annual road fatalities rising from 332 in 1961 to an awful peak of 640 in 1972 and gradually declining from there to 335 in 2007. The annual fatalities per 1,000 population (to the last census year, 2006) show a similar, but better trend. Since 1972, annual fatalities have fallen by 43%, but fatalities per 1,000 population, a more relevant figure, have dropped by 59%.

It's hard to get details for fatalities related to the numbers of cars on the road. The only figure I can find as a proxy for cars on the road is the number of first-time vehicle registrations per annum, published by the CSO, but those figures only go back to 1999. For the period from 1999 to 2006, the figures show a decrease in fatalities per 1,000 first-time registrations of 24% and a more encouraging decrease of 33% from the peak year of that period, 2001.

Some charts:

[Tonto]

Hardy, surely something like comparing it to first time car registrations will reflect more on the state of the economy rather than the number of deaths on the roads.

[Tonto]

As for the auld "one death is too many" shite

If that "one death" visits your door, I hope you remember this post.

[Hardy]

Hardy, surely something like comparing it to first time car registrations will reflect more on the state of the economy rather than the number of deaths on the roads.

Feckit I'm only trying to pass on some information. I said it's the only proxy I could find for the number of cars on the road. I'm not saying it's a perfect or even a good one. But, intuitively, there is some relationship between the number of car registrations and the number of cars on the road. A proportion of new registrations will presumably replace existing cars, while the balance will be additions to the number of cars on the road.

If you have better data maybe you'd let us have it instead of giving out to those of us who at least added something to the debate! ()

[Tonto]

Hardy, surely something like comparing it to first time car registrations will reflect more on the state of the economy rather than the number of deaths on the roads.

Feckit I'm only trying to pass on some information. I said it's the only proxy I could find for the number of cars on the road. I'm not saying it's a perfect or even a good one. But, intuitively, there is some relationship between the number of car registrations and the number of cars on the road. A proportion of new registrations will presumably replace existing cars, while the balance will be additions to the number of cars on the road.

If you have better data maybe you'd let us have it instead of giving out to those of us who at least added something to the debate! ()

FFS. I was making the point that the number of new registrations was linked to the number of people who could afford new cars rather than an increase of cars on the road.  I wasn't "giving out"

[ziggysego]

I take it you don't drive Ziggy? Nobody with an once of sense that drives supports speed cameras. They are put up to make money. Driving on an empty road at 50 KPH is not dangerous but a speed camera does not tale account of conditions. Similarly driving at 30 in ice is dangerous but the camera will let you through.

No, I don't drive, but that doesn't make my opinion any less validate. I be in cars where people got caught and I don't feel any sympathy for them. Nore do I rub their noses in it, before someone asks.

I get a regular taxi drivers and he agrees with me. He's all for speed cameras and fully support thems.

[Silky]

As for the auld "one death is too many" shite

If that "one death" visits your door, I hope you remember this post.

What a stupid post!

[ziggysego]

It's true though Silky. It's easy to ride off a number, not so easy when the number visits you.

[Silky]

How exactly do you "ride off a number"?

[ziggysego]

When it's just a number, it's easy to ignore. A number has no meaning.

[Silky]

  Are you Armagh4Sam in disguise?

[ziggysego]

How dare you

I'd never dawn an Orange shirt!!!

[pintsofguinness]

You're putting up some argument here silky 

[nifan]

The Garda do see the motorist as an easy touch. No doubt about it. It's far easier to hide behind a hedge with a speed gun that walk around a housing estate late at night confronting young tear aways.

This sort of argument is purile.
Should the guards only police THE most serious crimes?