asked the Minister for the Environment the regulations regarding the provision of safety belts in cars; and if he has made any recommendations to car manufacturers and automobile organisations generally regarding the use of safety belts by drivers and passengers.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Car Safety Belts.
11.
The Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations, 1971, require that seat belts to approved standards must be provided for the driver and front seat passenger farthest from the driver in every car and station wagon with accommodation for not more than eight passengers and in every light goods vehicle, first registered on or after 1 June 1971. As to the second part of the question, the National Road Safety Association are engaged in widespread publicity in regard to the wearing of seat belts.
Is the Minister aware that twice as many people have died as a result of road accidents in the past five months compared with the previous five months and that all the motoring authorities point conclusively to the fact that the wearing of safety belts in cars has a dramatic effect in so far as the survival rate of passengers and drivers involved in accidents are concerned?
I am well aware of that and I am aware also of the increase in the number of fatal accidents. I am having the whole question of seat belts examined at present.
Has the Minister requested that his colleagues in Government would recognise this situation and would be prepared to set a lead by wearing seat belts while travelling in State cars?
So far as I am concerned I wear a seat belt but I am not aware of what other Government members do——
That is obvious.
——in this regard.
Bearing in mind the increased figure I have quoted and that seat belts are a critical factor in all of this, should not members of the Government give a lead in the wearing of seat belts?
I have said already that I wear a seat belt but I am not in a position to say whether all Government members do likewise. Perhaps, though, the Deputy would find out and report back.
I have yet to see any Minister or Minister of State or, indeed, any of their drivers, wear a safety belt.
I have yet to see Deputy Quinn belt up.
We might like to be rid of the Minister but we do not want him to go as the result of a road accident.
Would the Minister be prepared to introduce the relatively simple regulation that all new cars offered for sale have safety belt equipment?
There is such a regulation in existence already.
But it is not enforced.
It is enforced.
By whom?
As I have said, the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) (Amendment) Regulations, 1971, require that seat belts be provided in every car and station wagon first registered on or after 1 June 1971.
In the event of a car being offered for sale without such equipment or if, say, a certain type of seat belt is not acceptable to the motorist—for example if he prefers a reel belt to a fixed belt—are there any means at the point of registration for ensuring that the seat belt regulation is complied with?
The enforcement of the requirements is a matter for the Garda Síochána.
It is a similar situation as that which prevails in relation to drunken driving but we shall not go into that now.