Another road safety campaign

The DGT has initiated a new safety campaign relating to motorcycles, doubling the number of controls in the wake of 39 deaths during May, the highest total since September 2007 when the figure was 58.

At the same time as carrying out controls on speed, documentation, inspection certificates and the wearing of helmets, there will be a media campaign warning motorcyclists of their vulnerabilty to, and in, accidents. The risk of dying in a motorcycle accident is 17 times higher than it would be in a car accident.

In May, 39 motorcyclists died in a total of 38 accidents, the principle causes of which were inappropriate speed, road traffic violation, distractions or, in two cases, the condition of the road.

The age group in which the deaths occurred was 25 years to 44 years and 32 of the 38 accidents involved bikes over 500cc.

This latest campaign runs until June 18th.

Although there is a parallel media campaign, whether a short period of doubling police controls to check documents etc is actually contributing to an improvement in road safety, as opposed to boosting muncipal coffers, must be debatable.

Similar ‘campaigns’, such as installing an extra radar trap at a particular location, may possibly lead to a speed reduction at that one spot for the length of time it is in operation, but that’s about all, apart from boosting the coffers, of course.

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