Vol. 515 No. 3
31 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the progress, if any, made to date in implementing the report of the high level group on road safety; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5989/00]
The first progress report of the high level group on road safety, published in July 1999, records good progress in 1998-99 towards the primary target of the Government road safety strategy of reducing road deaths and serious injuries each by at least 20% by 2002 – 3% fewer people died on the roads in 1998 than in 1997 and 12% fewer people were seriously injured in 1998 than in 1997. This represents the lowest number of serious injuries for the last decade and constitutes significant progress towards the five year target of at least a 20% reduction.
More recent provisional data from the Garda Síochána indicate that there were 413 road deaths in 1999 compared with 458 in 1998. This would represent a reduction of some 13% in road deaths relative to 1997 in the second full year of operation of the Government strategy.
The report also describes progress on key strategy actions. Evidential breath testing for drink driving is in operation in four Garda stations and will be introduced in an additional 20 stations in the coming months; on-the-spot fines have been introduced to a wider range of road traffic offences, including stop and yield sign infringements, traffic light infringements, defective tyres, and non-wearing of seat belts; additional mobile speed detection units have been commissioned by the Garda and arrangements for the operation of fixed cameras on a number of major routes are being finalised; there has been a significant increase in the number of detections of road traffic offences – 175,000 on-the-spot fine notices were issued for speeding in 1999 compared to 71,000 in 1997; there was a 29% increase in 1999 over 1997 in certifications by the medical bureau of road safety in drink driving cases presented by the Garda; over 25,000 seat belt notices were issued under the new regulations in the last five months of 1999; £500,000 has been provided in 2000 for a new scheme of specific accident reduction measures on non-national roads; £100,000 has been provided for the medical bureau of road safety in 2000 to commence a major two year drug driving research project, and the national car test commenced in January 2000.
