In the '80s and early '90s, road deaths in Australia were rocketing, nowhere more so than in the most populated region, Victoria and its main city, Melbourne. Speeding, drink-driving, the non-use of seatbelts and driver fatigue were all problems that needed to be tackled. The model subsequently put in place is now regarded as the best worldwide and its format has been exported to Canada and South Africa, with elements of the project studied by road safety analysts internationally. A widespread media campaign, with shocking and gruesome television advertisements began. This was coupled with an intensely active communications and PR strategy which would inform people in advance what exactly was being done in their area. Local communities were involved in the operation of camera systems and a large presence on local radio networks soon changed attitudes towards bad road safety practice. A group of government ministers from the departments of health, environment, transport, justice, finance and education formed an alliance whose legislative power fed down to a Road Safety Management Group. John Bodinnar was one of its architects and he believes that real success lies in political will. "We were told by our ministers that we had to make it work. . . It worked then because the commitment was there. If we wanted legislative reform, it was made available." He believes that slow progress towards legislating on road safety, as experienced in Ireland, is due to a lack of enthusiasm from government ministers, and a reluctance for ministers to form a real alliance to tackle the issue. "Australia is a democracy, we have strong rights for individuals and there was nothing that we implemented that infringed on those rights."

Road safety agencies were integrated in the plan, to cut out the element of competition between them. "The problem in Ireland has been that the agencies have desperately been trying to emulate what has happened in Australia in isolation, " Bodinnar said. "There is a competitive interest at work between educators and enforcement agencies. Enforcement say they need more police, technology and equipment. Communication agencies say it's all about public awareness. They are all right, but they're not all right in isolation." In Victoria, alcohol ignition interlocks, a device that prevents a drink driver from starting their car, are mandatory for convicted drinkdrivers.

The Swedish Model ENGINEERING

Dr Claes Tingvall, the director of traffic safety for the Swedish National Road Administration, drew up an engineering plan, 'Vision Zero', which has been adopted in principle by much of the EU.

The plan has four components: that human life is not something you can trade off the benefits of road transport systems; the government and private sector have a responsibility to ensure safer roads; the safety of roads should be based on the failing human, not the perfect human; and road safety should not be an economic issue, but a fair demand of individual citizens. Tingvall believes that safety is not expensive if it is a factor of engineering. He identified that an extra 1% cost in building roads would reduce fatalities by 90%. But safety features must be incorporated into the design and planning of roads, as attempting to implement safety features retrospectively causes massive expense. Swedish road safety is hugely focused on building roads forgiving of human error, with simple engineering features saving countless lives. Over-taking lanes on single lane rural roads appear every few kilometres, to lessen dangerous overtaking.

The Colombian Model MULTI-FACETED APPROACH TO URBAN DRIVING

Bogota, the capital of Colombia, is a city of seven million inhabitants. In 1995, 1,387 people were killed on the city's roads, about one death per 5,000 people. In Ireland, there is currently about one death per every 10,000 people. In seven years, Bogota reduced annual deaths to 697, almost exactly the current Irish road death rate per capita, despite the city having almost double the Irish population.

The main element of the campaign to reduce deaths on the roads focused on drink driving. An intense media campaign was orchestrated, encouraging a respect for alcohol and for those who drank in moderation. This campaign was twinned with the passing of a law to close licensed establishments at 1am instead of 4am, cutting drinking time.

A large number of cyclists were being killed on the streets of Bogota so the transport ministry developed a system of bicycle paths, which allowed cyclists to travel safely though the city. In addition, Sundays became 'bicycle days' where the only transport allowed on many of the city's streets were bicycles.

Although bicycle lanes have been built alongside quality bus corridors on the outskirts of Irish cities, there is a severe lack of dedicated lanes in the city centres. Three cyclists have been killed on Irish roads this year; one in Dublin city centre, another in Co Cavan and another in west Dublin.

Tennessee Model INTEGRATING TRUCK DRIVERS AND POLICE

Driver fatigue and dangerous driving by truckers in Tennessee had been a huge problem, and single-truck accidents along with accidents between truckers and regular motorists escalated. As in Ireland, trucks became disproportionately involved in fatal road accidents. 'Road Team Tennessee' was established, involving 500 trucking companies and professional drivers with "superior driving records" to educate the public about sharing the roads with truckers.

"'Road Team Captains', many with more than one million miles of accident-free driving, take a few days each month to speak to the public about highway safety and the trucking industry, " a spokeswoman for Road Teams Tennessee said. Drivers appear on radio and television and speak to schools, business groups and civic groups, providing safe-driving tips and advice for safely sharing the road with a truck. The police highway patrol gives certain truck operators access to communicate directly with police to report incidents, building a high trust relationship that adds hugely to the enforcement capability.

The South African Model SELLING A ROAD SAFETY BRAND

South Africa had one of the worst road safety records in the world, but in 1996, a delegation from KwaZulu Natal travelled to Australia to research best practices. They returned with the idea to sell a strong safety brand to the public. The 'Arrive Alive' campaign resulted in a 31% reduction in road fatalities between 1996 and 1999. Dr Wendy Watson, general manager for land transport regulation, told the Sunday Tribune that 97% of South Africans were now aware of the brand and its message.

Although the government had neither the money or resources of the Australian government, the media campaign, made up of emotive television ads and the monitoring and awareness of accident blackspots, was a massive success. "The main problem was the attitude of lawlessness in the country and there is still that kind of ethos, " said Watson. She has drawn up a new road safety strategy based on the Victoria principles and is hopeful that its implementation will be possible, and the results successful, as the soccer governing board Fifa has funded road safety ahead of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. "If we get the resources, there will be bigger improvements, " she said.

TACKLING DRUG DRIVING In recent years, international surveys have consistently shown that Ireland has a high usage of cannabis, cocaine, ecstacy and amphetamines, yet there is currently no campaign here to tackle drug driving.

The Medical Bureau of Road Safety (MBRS) in Ireland has repeatedly said that the levels of drug driving are underestimated here. In a recent survey in the UK, one in five young motorists admitted to driving under the influence of drugs.

In 2005, the MBRS tested 750 drivers for drugs.

Although it is not routine to test a motorist for drugs when they have already been found over the limit for alcohol, the MBRS asserted that twothirds of drivers who tested positive for drugs had no alcohol in their systems, indicating many drug-drivers are slipping under the radar. In the UK, drug-driving campaigns run parallel with those for drink-driving and in at least two police jurisdictions, pilots schemes for a roadside 'drugalyser' are underway.

THE CONTRADICTIONS IN INTERNATIONAL ROAD SAFETY LAW FOR IN-CAR MOBILE PHONE USE

Ireland is currently legislating for the long-awaited ban on mobile phone use while driving. Under the draft legislation, it will become illegal for a driver to use a handheld mobile phone, or to use a phone propped anywhere on the driver's person. It will, however, be legal to use hands-free mobile phone kits, bluetooth and wireless mobile phone technology or mobile phone headsets. However, numerous scientific studies conclude that the use of handsfree kits is just as dangerous as using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. The latest report on this issue concluded that using a hands-free mobile phone was as dangerous as drink-driving. David Strayer, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah in the US, and a lead author of this report, told the Sunday Tribune: "There is really no safety advantage in hands-free use, because impairment is associated with concentration." His report was based on experiments in an advanced driving simulator, where participants using hands-free mobile phone kits were five times more likely to have accidents.

Participants intoxicated with alcohol to a blood-alcohol level of .08 were four times more likely to have an accident. Strayer said the belief that hands-free kits were safer than hand-held mobiles was actually counter-productive because it "entices people to use a phone that they might not otherwise". Noel Brett of the Road Safety Authority said: "We advise people not to make or receive calls while driving, but if they must, to use a hands-free kit, because it's better than using a hand-held phone." Strayer believes the proposed Irish legislation is "inconsistent with scientific data".

THE NEW ROAD SAFETY AUTHORITY The RSA will incorporate the National Safety Council, and will take over road safety research from the National Roads Authority. It will have responsibility for driver testing, licensing, road haulage enforcements, vehicle standards, the NCT, the driver theory test service, road safety education and promotion, and the regulation of the driving instructors industry.

Broadcaster Gay Byrne was appointed its chairman on 27 March.

The authority is currently running on an interim basis, with the board of directors appointed and Noel Brett in place as CEO.

The board has met on four occasions.

The RSA will be staffed by 300 civil servants, of whom 129 will be based at the authority's head office in Ballina, Co Mayo where 67 are already in place.

Forty-one staff will be based in a Loughrea office, which will be fully operational in October. The remainder will be based in 54 driver test centres around the country.