asked the Minister for Local Government if corporate status has been given to the Road Safety Association, the functions of this association as regards reducing the incidence of road accidents; and if he will state the number of fatalities and serious accidents in the year before the introduction of the driving test and in the most recent 12-month period for which information is available.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Road Accidents.
12.
The National Road Safety Association was granted corporate status on 8th April, 1974 under the National Road Safety Association (Establishment) Order, 1974.
The functions assigned to the association are the promotion of road safety publicity and education. The primary objective in this regard is to secure the greater co-ordination of road safety activities on a countrywide basis and an intensification of such activities with the maximum involvement of the community at local level.
Driving tests were introduced on 18th March, 1964. In 1963 there were 335 fatalities compared with 591 in 1974, an increase of 256. There is no specific category of "Serious Accidents" in the accident statistics which are compiled under the headings, "Fatal Accidents", "Personal Injury Accidents" and "Material Damage". If the Deputy has "Personal Injury" accidents in mind, the figures recorded are: 4,422 persons injured in 1963 and 8,117 in 1974, the latter is a provisional figure. I should point out that in comparing statistics of personal injuries between the years 1963 and 1974, it will be noted that a change was made in the system of reporting and recording accident information in 1968, when the definition of personal injury was extended to include minor injuries such as sprains and bruises. There has, of course, been a substantial increase in traffic since 1963.
Apparently since the introduction of the road test licensing provisions—and as appears from what the Minister has just said—the number of accidents has doubled. Can the Minister now say that licensing tests have been satisfactory?
That is a different matter.
I am afraid we might also decide, for instance, it was wrong to prosecute people for drunken driving and say there is no evidence that drunken driving is causing a lot of fatal accidents.
Question No. 13.
Lest the figures the Minister has given be misread in the manner in which the supplementary question would seem to indicate, might I ask the Minister if he would take time off, with the statistics available to him, at an appropriate time to indicate the full picture so that there will be an end to the suggestion that drivers should be issued licences without knowing one end of the car from the other.
The suggestion has come twice from the Opposition benches in the last few months.
Not all of the Opposition benches.
Twice from the Opposition benches in the last few months. What I gave were the statistics available to me. Anybody who reads anything except what is in them——
They can read anything into them.
If they want to read anything into them, they must do so with malice of forethought.