Collision Culture: Road Traffic Accidents and the Experience of Accelerated Modernisation in Ireland

Abstract

This paper interprets the phenomenon of road traffic accidents in contemporary Irish society as a symptom of crisis arising from processes of social transformation. Empirical data from the National Roads Authority, from Local Authority Engineers, and from the Gardaí, showing the typical traffic accident pattern, is used to develop a more general hypothesis of the uneasy coexistence of traditional and modern forms of life in contemporary Ireland. This theme is developed by a discussion of ambiguity and ambivalence arising from the hazardous experiences of accelerated modernization coexisting with vestigial and reinstitutionalised forms of traditional culture. The paper concludes by considering the driving practices of Irish motorists in terms of improvisation in conditions of uncertainty as the artful reformation of habitus.