BY AUSTIN LYNCH
Six people lost their lives on Fermanagh's roads last year, a significant reduction from the number of road deaths recorded in 2007 when nine people died.
In 2006, 15 people died on Fermanagh's roads.
Police say they are encouraged by the falling death toll, but want to reduce the figures even more.
Tragically, all but one of those who died on our roads during 2008 was under 25 years of age.
In March last year 19 year old Arlene Forbes, from Enniskillen died 10 days after being injured when the car in which she was a back seat passenger crashed on the Chanterhill Road in the town.
Also during March, 22- year old Lithuanian national, Huberta Zaldakaite died when the motorbike on which was a pilion passenger crashed at Ballycassidy.
In August, 17 year old Newtownbutler man Kevin McChesnie died in a road collision near the town. Within days of this, a 54 year old Monaghan man Michael Connors died when the Transit van he was driving crashed outside Lisnaskea.
The fifth and sixth people to die on Fermanagh's roads were school friends Nathan Gault (15) and his 14 year old friend Debbie Whyte. They were knocked down in the Florencecourt area as they walked home from school Provisional figures released by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) reveal that this pattern is echoed across the North, with the total number of road fatalities also down. During 2008, some 106 people died on the North's roads, down from 113 deaths on the Province's roads during 2007.
The trend continues in F-District (which includes Fermanagh, Omagh, Cookstown and Dungannon) where there were 23 road deaths during 2008 - down from 26 the previous year.
And, while one death on our roads is still one too many, these provisional figures are somewhat encouraging and may be indication that the road safety message is getting through to more and more motorists.
Even December, which is traditionally the worst month for road deaths in Northern Ireland, saw a dramatic reduction in road deaths - from 20 during December 2007 to just 5 deaths last year. The Police have said they are encouraged by the figures for 2008 but still want to reduce the number of fatalities further and hope the figure will go below 100 deaths on our roads this year (2009).
Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson said the improvement was due to working on 'education, engineering and enforcement initiatives' with other agencies. But, he added, 'There are still too many people dying needlessly on our roads'.
Reacting to the road stats for 2008, the SDLP's Environment spokeseperson, Tommy Gallagher welcomed the reduction in road deaths last year but he said there were no grounds for self-congratulation or complacency.
He remarked: "Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson has been quick to attribute the reduction to road safety initiatives but the truth is that we just don't know enough about trends in road deaths or the effectiveness of counter-measures. We don't have good research or a good focus on road safety because responsibility is shared between a number of government departments and the police.
"The SDLP believes we should have a single point of responsibility, like the Road Safety Authority in the Republic, and indeed we need to integrate our efforts with theirs. It is a well known fact that in the border areas that there is a high death toll on the roads.
"We need to analyse all the causes of road accidents and to involve Roads Service, environmental services, such as DVA and even the Department of Education in meaningful measures to reduce death and injury."
