South Dublin Council launches New Road Safety Plan

South Dublin Council launches New Road Safety Plan
The Mayor of South Dublin County, Cllr. Guss O¡¯ Connell launched South Dublin County¡¯s new Road Safety Plan in County Hall, Tallaght on Thursday 18th August.
The Road Safety Plan 2016 ¨C 2020 sets out how the Council, along with its partner agencies, will implement the National Road Safety Strategy in South Dublin County.
The plan aims to reduce the number of road collision casualties in South Dublin and increase road safety awareness.
The four main objectives of the plan are:
Education ¨Cinvolves campaigns and initiatives aimed at the various age groups to improve road users attitudes and behaviour towards road safety
Engineering ¨Ccreating a safer road environment that reduces the number and severity of collisions
Enforcement ¨Cdeterring inappropriate behaviour on our roads such as speeding and drink driving
Evaluation ¨Cannually reviewing and assessing our progress towards safer roads
This plan was produced by the Council¡¯s Road Safety Working Together Group, an inter-agency partnership group chaired by Cllr. William Lavelle.
Mayor Guss O¡¯ Connell welcomed the new plan and acknowledged the contributions from An Garda S¨ªoch¨¢na, Dublin Fire Brigade, Road Safety Authority, National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. The Mayor said ¡°I am delighted to have been asked to launch the first Road Safety Plan in the County and I believe this is a vital step in improving the safety of all road users. By working together we can make our roads safer, we all need to be proactive in our approach to road safety and this plan gives us a pathway to follow towards safer roads for our communities¡±
Speaking at the launch, Councillor William Lavelle, chairman, said: ¡°As commuting habits in Dublin change we are now seeing an increased number of people walking and cycling to work, school, college and social activities. While this change in mobility patterns is slow, it is growing and is a very welcome change. However, given the predominantly suburban or rural nature of our County, it is understandable that the car is still the favoured mode of transport for many. This inevitably increases the danger for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, motorcyclist and pedal cyclists. Being aware of this fact we now must make a strategically planned approach on how to reduce the risk, frequency and severity of road collisions
The plan is available online, here. http://www.sdcc.ie/services/roads-and-traffic/road-safety