Vol. 543 No. 5
354 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the level of importance which is given to road safety and education by his Department; if there is an identified target group for such safety and education programmes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26566/01]
Education and information is recognised in the Government road safety strategy 1998-2002 as vital to forming good road safety habits in younger people who are the adult road users of the future. The National Safety Council, which was assigned the lead role in this area by the Government strategy, has developed a resource pack on road safety for input into the social, personal, health and education programme in the new primary school curriculum. The resource pack was launched in September 2000 and over 30,000 copies have been distributed to primary school teachers, principals and boards of management.
The National Safety Council has also developed a secondary school transition year resource project on road safety, which was pilot tested in 20 secondary schools and launched on 10 September 2001. The resource will complement existing activities in secondary schools. The council also regularly targets young drivers in its public media campaigns. My Department was represented on a task group set up by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in autumn 2000 at the request of the Minister for Education and Science, to look at the area of driver education. The task group submitted its report to the Minister and I understand that he has authorised the NCCA to proceed with the research phase of a project on driver education recommended in the report.
