Department urges all users to take personal responsibility to travel safely on our roads

The Department for Infrastructure made an appeal today to all road users to redouble efforts to travel with due care and attention.

The appeal comes as statistics published today reveal that 57% of all people who were killed or seriously injured on Northern Ireland roads in 2021 was due to careless driving; a trend that has been steadily increasing over a number of years.  

While the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads due to careless driving is down 17% from the 2004-2008 baseline; there has been an increase in the number of people killed or seriously injured due to careless driving from 2016 onwards.

The Department is responsible for road safety and last October the draft Road Safety Strategy to 2030 was published.  This strategy contains a renewed focus to make our roads safer for all.  The Department also recently introduced a new fixed penalty notice of £100 and three penalty points to specifically help tackle careless driving.  

The evidence shows that more than 95% of road traffic collisions, where someone is killed or seriously injured, is due to human error such as a choice to speed, drink or drug driving or driving carelessly or while distracted.  People driving or riding carelessly is the cause behind the majority of deaths and serious injuries on our roads here.

Most collisions are avoidable. Careless driving is made up of many behaviours including inattention or distraction, wrong course position and driving too close amongst others and is the biggest cause of deaths and serious injuries.

As we use the roads as drivers and riders, we need to be extra vigilant – pay attention to our surroundings, ignore in-car distractions, give extra consideration to more vulnerable people, such as those who walk or ride and children and older road users.  Every one of us has a role to play in preventing deaths and injuries on our roads.  Just as with speeding, drink or drug driving or failure to wear your seatbelt, if you drive carelessly, you run the very real risk of killing or seriously injuring yourself, your passengers or some other innocent road user.  

As part of the Road Safety Strategy, the Department invites people to support ‘Share the Road to Zero’, which encourages all citizens to take a road safety pledge to be the best road users they can to help reduce road deaths. Signing up is easy, it’s quick and it’s free, and you can do so by clicking here ShareTheRoadToZero.com. 

Notes to editors: 

1. The draft Road Safety Strategy to 2030 is now available.
2. Fatal and Serious (KSI) Road Traffic Collisions Caused by Careless Driving, Northern Ireland 2012-2021 are available. 
3. All media queries should be directed to the Department for Infrastructure Press Office at: press.office@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk
4. Follow the Department on Twitter @deptinfra on Facebook @DepartmentforInfrastructure and on LinkedIn at DfILinkedIn
5. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

Share this page