‘A matter of life and death’
Thursday, 18 September 2008
CONCERNS about accident 'blackspots' on the Ballybogey Road were highlighted at a District Policing Partnership meeting at Coleraine's Town Hall recently.
Inadequate roads warning signage, and traffic congestion at Portstewart's Promenade were also mentioned during a Q&A session after a Roads Policing presentation at the public meeting.
Councillor Norman Hills (UUP) claimed the Ballybogey Road remains a danger to motorists but the PSNI's Chief Inspector Nicky Thompson said DRD's monitoring results showed excess speeding to be closer to 65mph than the more dangerous 75-90mph range. There is a maximum 60 mph speed limit in operation on the Ballybogey Road.
Cllr Hills added: "This is a matter of life and death. I really can't put my finger on what is the cause. You can't blame the road, you can't blame the speed, but something's there."
CI Thompson acknowledged that while there are speeding 'hot spots' along Ballybogey road there is a lack of evidence to suggest speeding is the root cause of accidents.
Concerns were expressed that additional warning signs might distract drivers and increase their risk of being killed or seriously injured.
Paddy McGowan raised concerns about the number of people 'cruising' along the Promenade after 11pm on Sunday nights. He claimed the 'tooting' of horns after that hour was a motoring offence.
CI Thompson told the public meeting that police have no authority to block off the Promenade and divert motorists into Lever Road or Strand Road as had been done previously. He informed the meeting that police had introduced traffic calming measures at Atlantic Circle by preventing motorists doing u-turns to travel back up along the prom.
Inspector John Millar of Roads Policing, based at Ballymena, had delivered his roadshow presentation to the audience earlier.
Ins Millar said: "The KSI Reduction Strategy, 2002-2012, aimed at reducing fatalities and accidents has already met its 2012 targets."
“These include a 33 percent reduction in road deaths and a 50 percent reduction in accidents affecting children by 2012. In the last year, just 113 people were killed on our roads and roads fatalities are now coming down," Inspector Millar added.
He explained how Roads Policing engages with a wide cross section of organisations from the voluntary sector, police, private sector and statutory bodies, including DRD. His unit focuses on roads engineering, driver education, enforcement, service evaluation and encourage better driver discipline through the PSNI's 'Bikesafe' programme targeting motorcyclists and through its 'Cruise' initiative aimed at young male and female drivers.
Coleraine's Constable John Jamieson, Roads Education Officer, outlined how the 'Cruise' initiative, targeted at the 17 to 24 year old drivers, has improved driver discipline.
He said: "We held an event at Cushendall. We took along some high performance police cars for car fans to appreciate. Some 200 people turned up at Cushendall's golf club on a Saturday night to witness the 'Cruise' initiative.
“We hosted an event at the NW200 pits between Portrush and Portstewart as another event in Coleraine. We had 800 people at the pits. We showed them a very hard hitting roads safety message, using video footage from America and Germany."
The PSNI's 'Bikesafe' initiative focuses on motorcycle road safety. The PSNI's motorcycle patrol officers are trained to a specific level and pass on roads safety techniques to 'bikers'. For those 'bikers' who pass the advanced driving course, they are rewarded with discounted motorbike insurance cover.
Inspector Millar added: "The 'big four' causes of road accidents are: speeding, drink or drug driving, people not wearing their seat belts, and use of mobile phones."
Councillor John Dallat MLA advised: "Drive according to conditions and anticipate the mistakes of others."
