Vol. 403 No. 1
43 Mr. Byrne asked the Minister for Justice if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there were 8,900 victims of traffic accidents in 1988 and that the numbers are growing annually; the reason there has been a decline in prosecutions under the Road Traffic Act of 1961 of 250,000 between 1984 and 1988; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I am very concerned about the level of fatal and other serious traffic accidents which occur on our roads. Improvements in road safety can be brought about only by action on a number of fronts and my colleague the Minister for the Environment has recently announced a major road safety campaign. As Minister for Justice my particular concern is that the Garda should do everything in their power to prevent as many of these accidents as they possibly can by more effective enforcement of our traffic laws.
I recently announced a series of measures which the Garda are taking to step up traffic law enforcement. These measures include: the permanent assignment of additional gardaí to the Garda Traffic Corps which specialises in the prevention and detection of traffic law offences; the purchase by the Garda authorities of 50 additional mobile radar speed meters which will enable the force to be much more effective in the detection of breaches of speed limits; the revision of procedural directions in relation to the prosecution of serious road traffic offences, such as drunken and dangerous driving, to enable the Garda to institute more effective prosecutions in respect of these offences; and the introduction of a vehicle rectification scheme to enable gardaí to request motorists to rectify minor vehicle defects as an alternative to prosecution.
The Garda authorities have also notified me of their intention to place even further emphasis on law enforcement in relation to the more serious breaches of the law such as drunken and dangerous driving.
