Authorities in Northern Ireland have launched a new campaign highlighting the dangers of careless driving.
The public information campaign, which launched on 1 December, has been made possible through a sponsorship agreement between Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure and the Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership (NIRSP).
The campaign runs across a range of media platforms.
Careless and inattentive driving, which includes a number of road user behaviours such as ‘inattention or attention diverted’ and ‘driving too close’, is the number one reason for road traffic collisions in Northern Ireland.
In 2022, 604 people were killed or seriously injured as a result of collisions on the country’s roads where the cause was attributed to a careless driving causation factor.
Denis McMahon, permanent secretary from the Department for Infrastructure, said: “Too many people sadly lose their lives or are seriously injured as a result of careless driving and that is a tragedy for their families and friends.
“We all know the dangers of drink/drug driving, excessive speed for the road or conditions and that wearing a seatbelt can save our life if involved in a collision. However, perhaps we are not aware of the potential serious consequences of careless or inattentive driving.
“The reality is that careless driving is the main causation factor which is responsible for the majority of those people killed or seriously injured, accounting for 55% over the last 10 years.
“This campaign is an opportunity to raise awareness of the dangers of careless driving so that we all improve our behaviours as road users and save lives.”
Thanks to the collaboration, a second campaign will launch in the New Year.
The established anti-speeding campaign, ‘Classroom’, will air in January 2024.
Data shows 310 people were killed or seriously injured on Northern Ireland’s roads because of speeding in the past five years (2018-2022).
The department says every 1mph reduction in average speed has a resultant 5% reduction in collisions ‘which could, quite literally, be the difference between life and death’.
The news article gives the impression that ‘careless driving’ is somehow an astonishing, newly discovered, seperate causation of traffic collisions, when in fact it is obviously a general umbrella term for what is the root cause of most collisions…together with recklessness. Okay, both can be subdivided into specific events e.g. going too fast and/or too close, taking one’s eyes off the road, being distracted, lack of observation, misjudgement, taking a chance etc. etc. but is is still carelessness and/or recklessness by one or more road users for each collision.
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
+1