These things wont be done of course because everything has a price and the price to society of 100 per cent road safety is too high. So it's easier just to blame the motorist than actually taking responsibility. Those countries that have show the fastest decrease in the levels of fatal road accidents are those that have built new road networks most quickly.

In Europe Portugal has dramatically improved its safety record as a result of building a comprehensive motorway network in just a few years. If you don't believe that new roads are the single biggest determinant in reducing fatalities you don't even have to look abroad for evidence.

The new M1 motorway between Dublin and the border is the first of the "inter-urban" routes from Dublin to be completed. It replaces the old N1 Dublin to Belfast road and has reduced accidents along the route by a factor of 10. An added bonus is that on motorways head on collisions become almost impossible.

As Ireland's new road network is rolled out, the fatality rate will decline correspondingly. If investment in the new network is slowed, progress on road safety will slow correspondingly. Despite all the ad campaigns, the preaching and the "blame the motorist" guilt trips, the new motorway network will save more lives than all of those other measures put together and then some. The irony of course is that motorways are the fastest roads in the country so maybe it is the coming to a halt bit that actually kills people after all.

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