THE GOVERNMENT’S DECISION to abandon plans to split the Road Safety Authority has been framed as a pragmatic U-turn. Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien says the focus should now be on stabilising the existing organisation, improving delivery and avoiding another period of disruption. That may all be true. But if we’re honest, structural reform – or the lack of it – is only a small part of Ireland’s road safety problem.

Because while we debate governance models and organisational charts, people continue to die on our roads. And the uncomfortable truth is that no reshuffle of agencies will compensate for the choices we make every day behind the wheel.

Ireland’s road death toll in 2025 was the highest in over a decade. Vulnerable road users accounted for a significant proportion of those killed. The data is sobering, but it’s also familiar. Speed, alcohol, drugs, fatigue and distraction continue to dominate as causal factors. And distraction, in particular, is becoming the defining risk of modern driving.

We are more connected – and more distracted – than at any point in history. Most of us would readily admit that our phones are rarely out of reach. We use them for work, navigation, music, communication and, increasingly, for dopamine hits delivered via social media algorithms engineered to keep us scrolling. The idea that this behaviour magically stops when we get into a car is fanciful.

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From my own vantage point in the motor industry, including through insights gathered at DoneDeal Cars, we can see how ingrained phone use........

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