Vol. 550 No. 1
10 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government his views on the call made on 21 February 2002 by the National Safety Council for a new approach to reducing the death toll on our roads; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6963/02]
The Government Road Safety Strategy 1998 to 2002 has prioritised a systematic and co-ordinated set of measures for preventing and reducing road accidents. It establishes quantified targets for achieving its objectives, the principal of which is to reduce road deaths and serious injuries each by at least 20% by 2002 relative to 1997. Priority is accorded by the strategy to actions targeted at speeding, alcohol, seat belt wearing and vulnerable road users. A timetable for key actions in these and other areas is also set out. We are now in the final year of the strategy and real and worthwhile gains are being made in road safety within its framework. By the end of 2001 there was a 13% decrease in the number of road deaths since 1997 when 472 people died on our roads. There were 1,640 serious injuries on our roads in 2000 representing a decrease of almost 25% on 1997 levels.
A range of measures has been deployed to bring about these road safety improvements: Garda enforcement has been intensified in relation to speeding, drinking and seat belt wearing; fixed automated speed cameras and evidential breath testing have been introduced and are being further extended in support of this process; research into the involvement of young people in road accidents and the problem of drugs and driving is being advanced; and education and information in relation to road safety is being improved, including joint promotion of campaigns with the Northern Ireland authorities.
By reference to the estimates set out in the road safety strategy in 1998, more than 100 lives are now being saved each year as a result of implementing the strategy compared to a continuation of trends prior to 1998. Preparatory work on the development of the next road safety strategy is underway. All the agencies directly involved in the production of the current strategy, including the National Safety Council, are being afforded the opportunity to fully contribute to that process. The new strategy will have regard to the target currently being promoted by the European Commission of achieving a 50% reduction in road deaths across the Union as a whole over a ten year period.
If the Houses pass the road traffic legislation this side of the general election, when will the penalty points system be introduced? Will the Minister clarify the position on the funding of the equipment and computer facilities necessary to operate such a system? How much money is being provided by Government and through which Department is it being made available? Has the Garda, which will have to operate the system, been notified and authorised to proceed with the necessary investment?
The latest information I have is that the penalty points system will be in operation by October. The funding of computer facilities is a matter for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform for which it has always been a matter—
Has it received the necessary funds?
—and from which the funding will emanate. As I understand it – I could stand corrected because it is not my Department – the tendering process has already commenced. I expect that it will continue and the money will be available for it about which there is no doubt.
The question refers to a new approach to reducing the death toll on our roads and to a quantum move in the level of enforcement and automatic sanctions applying to road traffic offences. The penalty points system cannot be introduced by next October. Does the Minister accept it is a reflection of Government priority that it will refuse to allocate money to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform? He obviously did not make any representations to the Minister for Finance to ensure this legislation would be implemented. Does the Minister agree there would have been a return on this money in six months through the reduction by a handful in the number of serious accidents if it had been invested in time? Does he accept the penalty points system will not be fully operational for at least another three or four years?
While the Minister's Department may pass the legislation in respect of penalties and so on, does he agree that in order to establish a coherent policy in regard to road safety the strategy is useless without proper enforcement? Is he in favour of a dedicated traffic corps, which would concentrate on road traffic prosecutions? While one must accept speeding is a major factor in accidents, does he also agree reckless and dangerous driving are more significant factors, particularly if one travels on long journeys and witnesses the type of driving taking place on our roads with nobody paying a blind bit of attention to traffic laws because of the lack of resources? Does he accept it is all very well to have cameras monitoring speeding at 7 a.m. on a major motorway when there is little traffic on it and imposing penalty points on offenders, but if the same person drives in a reckless fashion later in the day, there is nobody around to impose a penalty? Does he agree that without a proper dedicated traffic corps, the road strategy is useless unless there is coherence in its implementation between his Department and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform?
Did the Minister read the comments of the chairman of the National Safety Council earlier this week? Does he agree with the chairman that the road safety strategy is not being fully implemented? What are his views of the damning criticism by the chairman of the Government's failure to provide the necessary support and resources for enforcement of the strategy?
Deputy Mitchell said the question referred to a new approach. We are coming to the end of the current road safety strategy and the high level group has commenced its work on the next one. We are the first Government to draw up such a strategy and have the courage to set targets by which it could be measured.
What about implementing it?
While we exceeded the target in regard to injuries, we have not achieved the target in regard to fatalities, which is regrettable, but have six months remaining. We will have to wait and see. However, it is important to make these points to underline the Government's commitment to road safety. No previous Government committed itself in the same way to road safety and reducing the number of fatalities and injuries on the roads. All Members want to reduce the numbers quickly.
The penalty points system is only one element of the road safety strategy. Some believe it will be the be all and the end all of road safety and deaths will be reduced immediately upon its introduction. I do not expect it to be that dramatic. I expect it to have a positive effect, but Deputy Barrett is correct that it will require enforcement because if people believe there is no enforcement, there is no point in having such a system.
Enforcement automatically comes with investment.
The point that is constantly made about the penalty points system is that everything will be all right the minute it is introduced and it will a dramatic effect. Such a system was introduced in Northern Ireland and it did not have a significantly dramatic effect. However, if it is combined with the other measures, to which Deputy Barrett referred, it could have a significant effect.
I commend the Garda in regard to enforcement thus far but agree with Deputy Barrett that greater enforcement is needed. There has been an increase in the number of detections of drink driving from 8,415 in 1998 to 12,864 in 2001. One could say that it is great that the Garda has increased the number of detections, but is it not a shocking indictment of society that despite all the debates in this House and elsewhere and the various publicity campaigns, that number of people still drink and drive? I am in favour of a dedicated traffic corps.
