Road Safety: Motion.

Mr. Browne

I move:

That Seanad Éireann, noting:

—that 354 persons have been killed on our roads in the first ten months of 2005;

—the number of persons killed or seriously injured on our roads in the first ten months of 2005, is now higher than for the same period in 2004;

—that the number of fatalities last month was almost double that for October 2004;

—that the Government is failing to achieve its target of reducing road deaths by25%; and

—that the Government's failure to put in place the enforcement and legislative measures necessary to reduce road deaths and fatalities is aggravating the level of carnage on our roads;

calls on the Government to:

—implement in full the commitments contained in the National Road Safety Strategy 2004-2006; including the complete roll-out of the penalty points system from the existing four to the proposed 69 offences;

—the achievement of the full complement of the Garda traffic corps as an urgent priority;

—the establishment of a road safety authority with a dedicated, rolling budget;

—the introduction of random breath testing;

—the roll-out of speed cameras nationwide; and

—the compulsory training for motorcyclists.

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the House. I am deputising for Senator Paddy Burke, who is standing in for the Cathaoirleach today and who, unfortunately, cannot move the motion.

I welcome the opportunity to debate this important motion. Every year Fine Gael Members use Private Members' time to highlight the unacceptable upward trend in road fatalities and the corresponding failure of the Government to do anything about it. This year has been particularly bad with 20 more people killed than this time last year. That equates to one third of the membership of the Seanad.

It is easy to consider figures coldly but when they translate into family members and so on, one realises the devastation caused. This figure contains a high number of young drivers while the number of serious injuries has increased significantly. Naturally, less emphasis is paid to the injuries caused by road accidents but such injuries are usually accompanied by devastating life changing circumstances for the individuals involved and their families. Sadly, the number runs into thousands each year.

The motion refers to the death toll for October, the latest month for which figures are available, although the death toll for November will be even worse. This is totally unacceptable and cannot continue. In October 2004, 22 people were killed on our roads while in October 2005 a total of 42 people lost their lives. It is difficult to believe the figure has almost doubled. Many of the victims were young people who had their entire lives ahead of them. Why is Ireland the only country in the European Union in which the trend in road deaths is upwards? This raises serious questions.

As this unacceptable increase in road deaths continues, everybody, except the Government, is conscious that these deaths could be avoided and accidents could be prevented. This must be particularly hard for the families of the deceased and the injured to deal with and they deserve better. Unfortunately, we can predict that each weekend our nightly news bulletins will be characterised by grisly images of broken cars and heartbroken families. This must stop.

As the motion highlights, all we have had from the Government is promises and more promises. None of these empty promises has been delivered. The Ministers for Transport and Justice, Equality and Law Reform never move beyond such promises. Where is the 1,200 member Garda traffic corps, which was promised as a priority in 2002? An extra 34 gardaí have been deployed so far but the corps is not dedicated to traffic duty alone. The gardaí involved can be called away from their road side duties at any time. How can this corps effectively police our roads if it is absent for critical periods?

Where are the speed cameras, which were first promised as a priority in 1998, when we were informed such cameras would be rolled out throughout the country? Seven years later, only three speed cameras operate at any time in counties Meath, Dublin and Louth. The Government may well tell us cameras are on the way but, having waited for seven years, I cannot be blamed for being sceptical that they will ever arrive.

Motorcyclists were promised compulsory basic training in 1998 but nothing has happened in this regard. This is a glaring issue, which must be addressed urgently. Motorcyclists comprise fewer than 2% of the motoring public but they account for almost 16% of road fatalities annually. A swift roll-out of all 69 penalty point offences was also promised but, thus far, only four offences are provided for under the system and there is no sign of other offences being added.

In the latest fiasco involving the Government, the long-promised introduction of random breath testing is floundering. The Minister of Transport stated it may not be possible to introduce such testing due to legal difficulties but Fine Gael does not accept this view. Random breath testing is a feature of road safety in many states. For example, in the Australian state of Victoria, its introduction contributed to a 50% reduction in road deaths. The template is in place and random breath testing can save lives. We cannot turn our back on it merely because of legal difficulties. If we are serious about reducing carnage, such difficulties must be overcome.

With regard to the issues of the traffic corps, speed cameras, penalty points, motorcycle training and random breath testing, the Government made lofty promises but did not act. The Government lacks the will to do anything, despite the urgency of the situation. We need leadership from our Government to tackle road deaths but, instead, we have experienced paralysis while the number of road fatalities has increased.

My party leader, Deputy Kenny, recently called on the Taoiseach to take personal responsibility for ensuring these crucial road safety measures are implemented. Nothing less is good enough. In France, President Chirac took responsibility for this issue and fought to ensure what needed to be done was done. The result was a dramatic reduction in road deaths. We need the same high level involvement in Ireland or else nothing will change. The public has lost confidence in the ability of the responsible Ministers to do anything.

The Government has an appalling road safety record, although it will seek to defend it later. However, I ask Government Members to consider the appalling record of road deaths. The upward trend in recent years speaks for itself and the current road safety regime is failing. They should also consider that the failure of the Government's response is nowhere better typified than by the decision of the chairman of the National Safety Council to resign last week. Mr. Eddie Shaw has long been a committed supporter of reform of our road safety regime. He has campaigned passionately for many years for reform and new initiatives to reduce road deaths. His resignation is the culmination of years of frustration due to his pleas for action repeatedly falling on the deaf ears of the Government. Who could blame him for his decision to walk away? I urge the Government to take its head out of the sand and give this issue the priority it deserves. If the Government continues to ignore road safety, countless more preventable deaths and injuries will occur on our roads every day.

Mr. B. Hayes

I second the motion and I thank Senator Browne for raising this matter again. I welcome the Minister of State to the House.

Over the past month, there have been repeated calls in the House for a debate on the issue of road safety. My party colleagues decided to use our Private Members' time to give the House an opportunity to debate the strategy, if it can be called that, in place and to analyse the Government's performance in achieving the goals agreed on a cross-party basis in 1998.

Despite early successes following the introduction of penalty points, the trend has been in the opposite direction in the most appalling way. The House, which has a good record on debating this issue, needs to take ownership of this issue again as we head into the Christmas period to make sure the clear strategy set out in 1998, which has since been updated, is implemented.

The annual national survey of motorists' behaviour and attitudes was published yesterday and I read it this morning with dismay. Unbelievably appalling statistics come from that survey of just over 1,000 drivers. One in eight drivers has fallen asleep at the wheel because of his or her hectic lifestyle. Motorists are comfortable with flouting the law because they feel they will not be caught by gardaí. Driver behaviour has worsened in the past 12 months. The only thing that will stop the 1,000 drivers surveyed from continuing to break the law is more enforcement. When penalty points were introduced there was a dramatic reduction in road fatalities and injuries in the first three months, a trend which has since been reversed. Some 44% drove after drinking and half of those had three or more drinks.

From this basic survey we can see that the Government's strategy to which we signed up is not working. Both Houses must revisit the implementation of that strategy and ensure that much more is done on the kind of issue Senator Browne raised to try to reduce road fatalities and injuries.

I will concentrate on random breath testing. I note the Government amendment includes the following, "That Seanad Éireann notes the ongoing efforts of the Minister for Transport, together with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Attorney General, to extend the basis for roadside breath testing". The Government first announced that it would move on this issue in 1998 and seven years later we have a Government amendment that notes the "ongoing efforts". What efforts? If there are constitutional difficulties, let us hear about them. Let us have it upfront rather than this nonsensical ping pong game between the Taoiseach, who said one thing and the Minister for Transport, who said something quite different in the space of 24 hours last week. I have changed my mind on the issue of random breath testing because I have examined the international evidence and seen that random breath testing elicits a significant change in drink driving. It is time we moved away from platitudes such as appear in the Government's amendment towards the kind of implementation that was promised in 1998.

One of the reasons I have changed my mind on random breath testing is that the evidence from countries such as New Zealand, Australia, France, Finland and Belgium is incontrovertible. Where random breath testing is introduced there is a dramatic causal reduction in the number of fatalities as a result of drink driving. We must move quickly towards a situation where random breath testing will happen. We also have the opportunity to reduce the allowable blood alcohol level, which is still high by comparison with western European standards. After Finland's 25 year campaign, drink driving as a reason for fatalities represents less than 1% of the total number of people killed on the roads. In New South Wales, Australia, random breath testing was introduced in 1982. Drink driving caused 32 deaths in the first quarter of 1981, before random breath testing was introduced, compared with eight deaths in the first quarter of 1982, after it was introduced. Similar evidence has come from New Zealand and France. The attitude to this issue has changed. People are fed up that we cannot make the progress that was clearly needed in 1998.

I wish to speak on penalty points North and South. I am a member of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body and with Lord Alf Dubbs produced a report two years ago asking both Governments to move immediately to the mutual recognition of penalty points north and south of the Border. From the evidence of fatalities, speeding and road-related injuries on the North-South roads that traverse the Border, in particular the Dublin-Belfast road, it is clear that poor driver behaviour is related to the fact that no penalties can be imposed on people. We must immediately move to a situation where a Northern Irish driver who commits an offence on our roads has penalty points attached to his or her licence and vice versa. The British say they do not even have mutual recognition within the United Kingdom but I believe there is no reason mutual recognition between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland cannot be introduced tomorrow because that is where people are driving and where the danger exists. I ask the Government to continue its efforts in this area, which is a huge contributing factor to the number of deaths on our roads.

Mr. Dooley

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all the words after "That" and substitute the following:

Seanad Éireann

—notes that Government policy since 1998 on road safety has provided a framework for the delivery of reductions in road deaths on a sustained basis;

—notes the commitment of the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda Commissioner to advance a further major extension of the operation of the penalty points system as quickly as possible;

—notes that the Government has decided to pursue arrangements for appropriate private sector involvement in the deployment and operation of speed cameras;

—notes the ongoing efforts of the Minister for Transport, together with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Attorney General, to extend the basis for roadside breath testing;

—acknowledges the progress being made by the Garda Síochána in increasing the strength of the Garda traffic corps in line with the commitments made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform;

—notes that the Minister for Transport is pursuing legislative proposals for the establishment of the road safety authority and that the new authority will have a central role in the co-ordination of the delivery of road safety programmes, and notes that the Minister will provide a legislative basis for the introduction of compulsory initial practical training for motorcyclists, which will be overseen by the RSA; and

—acknowledges and supports the Government's continued commitment to the delivery of the policy initiatives set out in the Road Safety Strategy 2004 to 2006 and its continued efforts to realise the target set in the strategy to reduce road deaths to a total of not more than 300 per annum by the end of 2006."

I welcome the Minister and the opportunity to discuss this important issue. I compliment Fine Gael on this motion, which we have been talking about on the Order of Business for a while. Every opportunity to discuss road safety and deaths on our roads allows us to further highlight this serious issue. The most important factor is trying to bring about a culture change, which as everybody knows, happens slowly. The Government has an important role in defining policy and ensuring that the proper legislative framework is put in place; the proper enforcement exists; and there is a network to follow the strategy that has been agreed, as Senator Hayes pointed out, from an all-party perspective. Notwithstanding the efforts made, we have seen a continuation of the increase in road deaths this year. In 2003 the EU Ministers with responsibility for transport met in Verona and declared that "the huge amount of human victims on the roads is too high a price and that, the situation being such, the eradication of this scourge is a top priority on their political agenda. Any delay in action would mean further irreparable losses in terms of human lives". That is an indictment of all elements of the operation including the political system, enforcement bodies and the individuals who have failed to observe the law. As legislators, we have an important role to ensure legislation exists and that we have the resources for enforcement.

By and large we are dealing with adult vehicle owners, most of whom are bright and intelligent workers. However, they fail to contribute to society in terms of their duty of care, not just to themselves, but to the people among whom they live. It is critical we address this issue of the people in society who continue to have scant regard for laws and life. People should have greater respect for their lives and those of others and we must address this lack through education and culture change.

This has been a difficult year in terms of road safety. Up to Monday of this week, some 359 people had died this year as a result of road accidents, 24 more than by the same date last year. Addressing this situation requires a sustained and strategic approach by the Government and a commitment from all our citizens.

Senator Brian Hayes outlined well the situation relating to random breath testing. One of the major causes of death on our roads is drink driving. Despite promotional campaigns, enforcement efforts and severe legal repercussions, people continue to make the decision to drink and drive. This cannot be allowed to continue. The introduction of random breath testing has dominated media coverage on the issue of road safety of late. This has come about because the Government has wanted to move on this area for some time. International experience has shown some phenomenal results, particularly in the state of Victoria in Australia which has what it calls the "booze-buster bus" where people suspected of drink driving can undergo random breath testing. The processing is done in the large mobile vehicle on the side of the road.

The road safety strategy provides that random breath testing should be in place before the end of 2006. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, has raised the difficulty of introducing such a policy with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, of which I am a member. He has outlined the constitutional issue and the advice from the Attorney General; the parliamentary legal adviser attended the committee today in private session. I will not go into the details of the discussion. The committee has sought further legal advice from her and, if necessary, from an outside legal adviser with a view to getting a clear opinion on where we are headed with this issue.

There is a body of evidence that suggests that the bodily integrity issue, in terms of being asked to produce a random breath test, is not proportional, and under the Constitution may create a difficulty. We must try to get beyond this legal point. I do not consider being asked to blow into a bag invasive, considering the consequences in terms of the destruction a person over the alcohol limit can cause. We must be careful how we proceed on this. As the Minister is aware from his deliberations, there is no point in enacting legislation that will be challenged in the courts.

The one area of legislation most frequently challenged is legislation associated with drink driving. Certain people believe they are not committing a criminal offence by drink driving and will challenge that in every court. These people usually have considerable resources available to them. We have seen many challenges in the past, and no doubt will see many more. Whatever we do now must be cognisant of the Constitution and ensure we are not left in a situation where the laws passed in the House will be ridiculed. That would undermine the work done here. The people affected by drink driving and the road deaths associated with it will have little regard for anything that is done within the environs of the Legislature if we enact laws that can be overturned.

I agree with the sentiment of what Senator Brian Hayes said in terms of the necessity for and acceptance of random breath testing. Recognising that, we must look at the issue from the constitutional point of view. Whatever we do, we need to move quickly. If we can legislate to give gardaí greater powers to impose roadside breath tests, the purpose will be to change the climate and culture among the public at large towards the practice of drink driving. This brings us back to what I said earlier about the need for culture change as well as education. In the unfortunate event that we cannot legislate, we should remind ourselves that as matters stand, gardaí may request a breath sample where they form the opinion that an intoxicant has been consumed. This has created a difficulty in the past. Some cases have gone through the courts where there was no issue as to whether the person was intoxicated, but a challenge was made as to how gardaí formed the opinion the person was drunk. This happens despite the test indicating the person was at three times the limit. Some people will go into court and fight the issue on the basis of how the opinion was formed. I do not wish to involve the Judiciary in this regard, but one must question where the balance lies. This is something we need to address.

I do not wish to concentrate on drink driving, but it and speed combine to cause many of our accidents. Many of us saw the programme on anti-social behaviour the other night and saw how high speed cars were involved in that behaviour. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Callely, has a view on how these can be controlled through the NCT and how we might move away from a culture where people have an over-inflated pride in their car and in souped-up models.

There is a club effect which involves these people racing their cars day and night. This is seen even in rural areas. On many Monday mornings we can see tyre marks associated with handbrake turns. This culture has developed on the back of a strong economy. It is not so long since we grew up, but the type of money required for these cars was not available to 17 and 18 year olds then. Now they have high-powered cars to race in at weekends whereas we were lucky if we had a bad bicycle to get us home from the disco. The situation has changed and is creating a problem which should be addressed in conjunction with the other areas.

Mr. Norris

I wish to share my time with Senator Quinn.

Acting Chairman (Ms O’Meara)

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Norris

I welcome this debate, but I am sorry it is so adversarial. We make a mistake by taking the attitude regularly that we will have one party praising the Minister and the other attacking him for failure. This carping style does not go down well with the public, particularly when dealing with a subject as serious as road safety. The debate has not been confrontational, but the terms are, which is a pity.

It is useful that this matter is addressed in the Joint Committee on Transport, of which both Senator Dooley and I are members. Mr. Eddie Shaw appeared before the committee recently and he provided a very interesting breakdown and recommendations, including legislative recommendations. I will not summarise them here, but the Minister would do well to look at the report of the committee. The committee acts in a neutral atmosphere and that is why it is so valuable.

With regard to how gardaí form an opinion that somebody is drunk, a dreadful situation was reported on the radio recently where a woman spoke in a very dignified manner about how her husband who had a stroke was left to die on the floor of the Garda station because gardaí thought he was drunk.

On the matter of speeding, we must have consistency and coherence with regard to speed limits. They are absurd and all over the place. We will not have respect for the law unless we do something to ensure it can be respected. Some issues are quite obvious with regard to crashes. Every weekend we get the same kind of syndrome, we find a group of young people with powerful cars on secondary roads in a rural environment in the early hours of Sunday morning — quite often drink is involved. Let us examine rather than evade this issue.

There are also circumstances where the authorities have a real responsibility. I want to raise a particular case which illustrates a serious worry. I refer to a young woman called Aisling Gallagher who was killed in Mayo. Her parents have been in touch with me. She was travelling on the road after a shopping trip and was due to catch an aeroplane to America the following day. There was a temporary surface on the road. There was no warning about the use of dense bitumen macadam forming the top layer. There were markings on the road which suggested it was a full, proper surface, but it was not. There were no indications of a speed restriction.

The speed limit sign on that road indicated 100 km/h. One is not compelled to drive at 100 km/h in such a speed zone but one has a sense of safety if the authorities are of the view that when driving at 100 km/h one will be safe. Driving at even 30 km/h in this case would probably have been enough to lead to this accident. The parents in this case feel there was serious disregard for public safety because there was no safety warning and there was an inappropriate temporary surface, and this has continued to be the position since then.

This girl was only 20 years old. She had got an honours degree. She was a wonderful young, attractive, intelligent woman with her life in front of her. The National Roads Authority had outlawed the use of DBM wearing course outside 50 km/h zones, and there was a sign indicating a speed limit of 100 km/h on this road. This young girl, Aisling Gallagher, was approaching a bend in road in the village of Murrivaugh and had to reduce speed because the car in front was turning right. Immediately and unexplainedly, her car veered across the road into the path of a loaded concrete wagon coming in the opposite direction. Neither motorist had taken any alcohol and this was shown to be the case subsequently and, furthermore, neither was speeding.

The Minister needs to examine the question of road surfaces. Some are clearly done wrong. I have evidence in this case that the buck was passed from one Department to another, to the Health and Safety Authority, to the National Roads Authority and then passed back to the county council where the process began. I will send copies of this information to the Minister. This issue is serious and I believe it may have been at the root of the tragic accident involving the school bus in Trim.

Mr. Quinn

I thank Senator Norris for sharing his time with me. I add my words of praise for the work of Eddie Shaw, the former chairman of the National Safety Council. He resigned last week because of what I believe was his utter frustration at his inability to persuade the Government to do what he believed had to be done.

I had the experience some years ago of meeting a man on the floor of my supermarket who made a criticism. When I questioned his criticism, he said he recognises these things. The words he used were "I am a quality inspector in the construction industry." I asked him was this the reason he noticed standards were slipping, to which he replied "Yes". I asked him what was the most important element in ensuring that standards are reached. He said it is "if the boss thinks it is important".

Senator Dooley referred to the position in Victoria, Australia. I came back from Australia last week and I often travel to France. There has been a dramatic drop in the number of road deaths in Victoria and France and the reason for the improvement is that the boss thought the issue was important. The President of France gave it priority and said he would put this issue at the top of his list. He said he would ensure the number of road deaths was reduced and that has happened.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power. We know what we have to do to address this issue. We do not need to debate it further. If motorists know they will be caught, they will behave on the road. Senator Brian Hayes referred to a point with which I would like us to get to grips. I often travel North and I refer to the behaviour of motorists on either side of the Border. The drivers of southern cars north of the Border and the northern cars travelling to County Louth know they will not be caught for bad road behaviour or, if they are, that the penalty points system would not apply to them. It would be simple to address this matter. We know we can do that and we need to do so.

When the penalty points system was introduced the number of road deaths dropped dramatically from 40 per month to 20 per month. That improvement in the position lasted only four months but for that period our record was the best in Europe. Then motorists began to realise that they would not be caught for breaches in that respect. As a nation, we took our eye off the ball and our leaders, irrespective of which party or parties were in Government, did not make this issue a priority. If motorists know they will be caught for such breaches, they will behave. Whether the breach is in respect of alcohol consumption or driving at speed, we have the technology to do something about this.

In addressing the issue of driving at speed, I am a great believer in using technology and in erecting speed cameras throughout the country.

Mr. B. Hayes

Hear, hear.

Mr. Quinn

It would not cost money in the long term because it would be a good investment. It would save lives and save the economy a great deal of money.

Mr. Dooley

They would not be as prevalent down the country.

Mr. Quinn

We should cover the country in terms of the erection of such speed cameras. The investment would be worthwhile. Motorists would know they would be caught for breaches of the law. Speed cameras can identify what happens on our roads and the motorists who drive at speed. The use of such technology would result in what happened two and a half years ago when we reduced the number of deaths on our roads. It is in the hands of the Government to address this issue. It is in the hands of the Minister of State to say he will push the Government to do this. If the Taoiseach were to give this issue priority — I accept the Minister of State gives it priority but he must get support for it — there would be an improvement in the position. We do not need new ideas, strategies or promises. All we need is for the Government to deliver on the promises it made so many times in the past.

I repeat what I said at the outset. We know what we have to do if we are to cut the number of deaths on the road. All we have to do is actually do it. However, this issue needs to be given priority and determination and somebody at the top needs to say, "This is my priority and this is what the Government will do."

We do not have to wait for a new Government to take office to address this issue. It could be done next week. I welcome this debate because it is a way of making sure that this matter it brought to the top of the agenda and to the forefront of our minds to ensure that we do something about it.

Ms K. Walsh

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, to the House. I appreciate this opportunity to speak on this tragic issue. I last spoke on road safety here on 27 April. Since that day, 242 more lives have been lost on our roads. I said on that occasion that I have a problem with statistics because they disguise the pain and distress families and friends suffer as a result of tragic loss. I referred in April to there being 118 tragic losses and of the sorrow for the families of those who lost their lives to that date, but another 242 lives have been lost. That is a shocking waste of life and many of those killed were young. Commitment and investment by the Government must be matched with real action and improvements because that means lives will be saved.

In April, I focused on three specific points, namely, the use of headlights during day-time driving, the cleanliness of headlights and number plates and pedestrian safety. These issues are even more important at this time of the year when visibility is reduced, weather conditions are worsened and many people make extra road journeys. On the first point I mentioned, studies reveal that leaving dipped headlights switched on during daylight, regardless of the weather conditions, reduces the risk of crashes. This is especially true when cars overtake and cross to the other side of the road.

Legislation in many countries forces drivers to drive with their lights on all day. In Canada, this has been the case for 16 years. The authorities there estimate that the practice of using headlights during daylight hour have saved 120 lives each year. I also highlighted the cases of Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. I repeat my call that we consider the introduction of some similar measure in Ireland, particularly for heavy goods vehicles. We have vast numbers of HGVs on our roads, transporting goods in what is, thankfully, our prosperous economy. If large trucks and lorries used their dipped headlights during the daylight, accidents would be avoided and lives saved.

As I stated previously, the practice would have an added benefit in that as darkness falls in the evening, we would not rely on individual drivers to switch on their lights. How many times have motorists approached oncoming cars at dusk with their lights switched off? I have driven by them and flashed my lights at them. It puts the heart crossways in me when I meet a grey or dark car with the lights switched off. It is particularly prevalent in lit up areas and these motorists seem to think that they can rely on street lights. It is dreadful. A child or a person out jogging crossing the road in the path of such an unlit vehicle could be knocked down. Dark coloured cars with the lights switched off travelling on a dark evening are a hazard to their occupants and other motorists.

It is crucial that drivers of vehicles, in particular HGVs, keep their headlights, indicators and number plates clean and visible. The Minister of State has previously appealed to drivers and owners of heavy good vehicles regarding safety mirrors, for which I commend him. Similar campaigns should be applied with regard to lights and visibility. Drivers must be compelled to keep their vehicles in the safest possible condition.

Bus drivers have a specific responsibility as they hold the safety of passengers in their hands. Fading light and poor weather contrive to make driving vehicles such as buses more hazardous in winter months. The driver is responsible for safety. Before he or she turns the key, he or she must confirm that the lights are clean and their number plates are visible. I have frequently driven behind buses with faulty, broken or filthy lights; a situation which is unsafe.

Vehicles must be in proper condition and headlights are extremely important. Sometimes, a car only carries side bulbs and lacks any headlights. Drivers facing such a car do not know whether they are meeting a wide vehicle or a motorcycle. Studies show that dirty headlights can reduce a driver's night vision by between 50% and 90%, which can be the difference between having an accident or not. I have called for all regulations relevant to this area to be reviewed and would be grateful if the Minister of State could inform me as to whether this has been done or is being considered. We must work towards reducing the risk of accidents on Irish roads.

A total of 56 pedestrians have been killed on our roads this year. Drivers must be aware of the dangers traffic poses to people walking on footpaths, and in many areas, on roads. Pedestrians who walk on our roads, particularly at night, also have responsibilities. More than two-thirds of fatal pedestrian accidents happen during the hours of darkness. Pedestrians may be able to hear oncoming traffic and see their lights but drivers may not see them and certainly will not hear them.

Consideration should be given to making it compulsory for pedestrians walking on roads at night to wear reflective armbands or Sam Browne belts. How many lives would have been saved if the pedestrian in question could have been seen from a safer distance? These three specific points are important to any debate on road safety. I appreciate the opportunity given to me to make them and I support the Government's effort to make Irish roads safer for all.

Mr. Ryan

I do not often quibble with the content of Government amendments since they are usually daft but I sometimes become annoyed when people make factual claims that are unsustainable. I am not sure what the first two lines of the Government amendment mean. These state that "Government policy since 1998 on road safety has provided a framework for the delivery of reductions in road deaths on a sustained basis". A total of 458 people died on our roads in 1998, while 413 people died in 1999, 415 people died in 2000, 411 people died in 2001, 376 people died in 2002, 334 people died in 2003, 374 people died in 2004 and over 374 people have died so far in 2005. There has been some reduction in road deaths, for which I am glad, but one is entitled to dispute the claim that there is a sustainable pattern of reduction in road deaths.

It is alarming to discover that matters are not as bad as they were previously. Figures released by the Garda Síochána reveal that 628 people died on our roads in 1978. Matters have improved. The formula for reducing road deaths is simple to say, if not to practise. One needs safe vehicles, safe roads and safe driving. The lack of any one of these elements will frustrate the achievement of the other two. If some people do not drive safely, the roads are not of a sufficient standard or vehicles are not roadworthy, accidents can occur. The NCT has removed unroadworthy vehicles from our roads. We should remember the vehicles which were allowed on our roads before the introduction of the NCT. I remember sitting in cars where I was forced to keep my feet off the ground because the cars in question had no floor. Such vehicles were officially taxed and insured.

Mr. S. Power

Senator Ryan was only taking a lift.

Mr. Ryan

I assure the Minister of State that I did not drive while I was keeping my feet off the floor. I accept that vehicles are safe with regard to their engineering maintenance and care. There are greater numbers of roads today, which are safer than before. However, newspaper headlines from the last two days indicate that our driving is getting worse. According to an NRA survey relating to 2003, 86% of cars exceeded the 30 mph speed limit in the urban arterial 30 mph zone. The NRA trumpeted the fact that this figure was a considerable improvement because the figure for the previous year was 99%. I do not dispute the fact that the 2003 figure represented an improvement. The figures from the survey showed that 75% of cars exceeded the speed limit in the 40 mph zone. A total of 96% of rigid vehicles and 92% of articulated vehicles exceeded the speed limit in the 30 mph urban national zone. There was no difference between the figures for articulated vehicles in 2003 and 2002, while the figures for rigid vehicles in 2003 represented an 11% increase on the 2002 figures.

Figures relating to motorways are even more alarming. A total of 85% of articulated vehicles exceeded the speed limit on motorways in 2003. The average speed of these vehicles was 53 mph, which is three miles above the maximum speed limit. Articulated trucks are forbidden from driving above 50 mph. Only 23% of cars exceeded the speed limit on motorways, while 83% of rigid vehicles exceeded the speed limit, with an average speed of 55 mph. Articulated vehicles must have a governor fitted which prevents them exceeding 55 mph yet the vehicles in the survey managed an average speed of 53 mph. One does not need to be a mathematical genius to work out that if such vehicles have an average speed of 53 mph, a considerable portion of them must be exceeding this speed. An articulated vehicle travelling at over 53 mph is exceeding what it is supposedly able to do. As I have stated previously in this House, I have begun a guerilla war against articulated trucks. While I am driving during the day, I note the name of the company which owns the truck that is exceeding the speed limit and telephone my secretary because I am unable to write down names while I am driving. My secretary then keeps a record of the name.

Mr. MacSharry

Which particular secretary?

Mr. Ryan

Like Senator MacSharry, I have a secretary paid for by the taxpayer. I then write to the companies which own the trucks in question. It would be invidious and improper to identify them but they are major distributors, some of which operate in the retail sector. I receive heartfelt letters from all of them assuring me their trucks are fitted with governors.

However, my secretary recently received a telephone call from a major company which assured him that everyone knew of ways to circumvent governors. If we all know, we can all stop their use. I have discovered since that one can simply remove a fuse from a governor. In my innocence I assumed that, like a meter in a taxi, a governor would have an official seal on it to ensure that once it was put in, it could not be tampered with. If we can do so in regard to meters in thousands of taxis, we can insist on it in respect of governors in articulated trucks.

I got involved in this campaign when the National Roads Authority told me that of all vehicles on the road, 3% are classified as heavy goods vehicles yet they are involved in 10% of fatal accidents. I draw the obvious conclusion that the reason they are involved in that number of accidents is not necessarily exclusively, but largely because they are being driven too fast by drivers who are under considerable pressure, either by contract or employment, to do too much on our limited roads in too short a time. The one measure which could have a dramatic effect would be to enforce the law in respect of heavy goods vehicles.

Mr. Wilson

I wish to share my time with Senator MacSharry.

Acting Chairman (Mr. Dardis)

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Wilson

I welcome the Minister of State and the officials. So far this year, 360 people have lost their lives on the roads of the Twenty-six Counties. While the number is dramatically down on the 472 people killed in 1997, it is 360 people too many. It is the Government's intention to reduce the number of deaths from 472 in 1997 to an average of 300 by 2010. However, that is still too high a figure.

In October 2002 the penalty points system was introduced by the then Minister, Deputy Brennan. I very much welcomed its introduction at the time and, initially, it was a very successful campaign. However, I now admit it is not working the way in which it was intended and for a number of reasons, mainly because the gardaí are not on the right roads. I am not talking about the highways but about the byways on which many of these accidents occur. It is not working because people detected speeding must sometimes wait up to three months to get a letter in the post stating they have been caught speeding. It is also not working because there are technical hiccups. For instance, letters are not registered, an issue I raised before. It is a loophole which people can get around and it should be closed.

Unlike some previous speakers, I do not believe the penalty points system should be expanded to 69 offences. It should be confined to five or six, including speeding, not wearing a seat belt and, in particular, driving without insurance. Not only should somebody receive the maximum number of penalty points, which is 12, if they are caught driving without insurance but he or she should be disqualified from driving for five years.

I agree with what Senator Kate Walsh said in regard to headlights. It should be compulsory for headlights to be on at all times. I commend Senator Brian Hayes, who is a member of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body along with myself and the Acting Chairman, Senator Dardis, and Lord Dubs on the work their committee is doing in regard to trying to harmonise the penalty points system between North and South. It is a joke in my part of the country where the natives attempt to obey the speed limits yet they are overtaken by cars with Northern registrations doing twice the speed limit, the drivers of which know nothing can be done about them. I welcome the initiative being undertaken and I commend the amendment.

Mr. MacSharry

I thank Senator Wilson for sharing his time. Like Senator Norris, I regret a motion must be tabled on this issue. We should have statements because there is a great deal of unanimity in regard to the approach to this issue and agreement that we continue to fail in our efforts to reduce the number of deaths on the roads. However, that does not mean the willingness does not exist on all sides of the House to try to implement a strategy which will reduce the number of deaths.

Since 1998 there has been an unbelievable increase in the number of cars and trucks on the roads. The level of traffic in the most rural parts of the country has also increased. I am not here to necessarily praise the Minister or to give out about him but I would like to make a few points on how we could make more progress. Speeding results in more deaths than any other factor. Senator Norris mentioned that speed limits throughout the country are inconsistent. Responsibility for speed limits should be removed from the local authorities and they should be implemented by the new road safety authority. Deaths as a result of speeding occur predominantly late at night or in the early hours of the morning. Young drivers, young men in particular, are seriously injured or killed.

When I was younger I probably was careless and fond of driving that little bit too fast. Indeed, I had a number of accidents. When many young people get their provisional licences at 17 and 18 years of age, it is all about driving fast and getting to their destination more quickly. When I think of how irresponsible my actions were at that time, I am thankful I am more mellow now and can see the benefits of driving slowly and in a calculated way. We must deal decisively with this scenario of young people driving fast in modified cars set up to do higher speeds than those for which they were built.

I recommend that we implement a policy where governors should be considered for drivers under a certain age unless they are prepared to embrace a particular course of training. In fact, I would incentivise people with governors, whether through direct State subsidisation of their insurance bills or through the insurance companies. The insurance bills of those with governors and driving under a 60 mph speed limit should be reduced by up to 50%.

Speeding obviously attracts young people, so there should be alternatives. We have none compared with other countries. There is Mondello Park and a number of go-kart tracks throughout the country. Along with the more reputable celebrity drivers, whether Formula 1 or rally drivers, we should implement State-sponsored programmes in schools and allow young people to experience speeding in an appropriate environment. The impression is given in Hollywood movies that it is cool to drive at 100 mph on particular roads. However, we must implement a policy which shows it is not cool to drive at such speeds but that it is cool to engage in motor sports with the professionals and in the proper safe environment and not on our roads in the middle of the night. We also know alcohol abuse is a problem which, mixed with speeding, is a lethal combination.

The use of governors should be considered. We should encourage alternatives and engage those involved in motor sports to try to encourage people to drive more slowly. If people must speed, they should do so in the right way and join the various clubs. Perhaps the Minister of State could take a couple of those points on board.

Mr. Bannon

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Callely. I hope he has tuned in to what has been said in this important debate on road safety and that he will take note of the points made.

Ireland is the only country in the EU where there is an upward trend in road deaths. There is absolutely nothing the Government can do to spin its way out of this, the figures that exist tell a story of human suffering and misery beyond understanding, which could be prevented by the necessary legislative and enforcement measures.

Most importantly and tellingly, the National Safety Council has stated that half of these deaths could be avoided if the proper enforcement structures were in place. That is, they could be prevented by a strong Government, which could tackle the horrific carnage that we see on our roads. That certainly does not describe the present Government which has exhibited great inaction on the issue of road safety. Here we get to the nub of the matter. We have a Government which does not enforce its own legislation or initiatives. Every action of the Government sends out a message of low priority in regard to driver behaviour and the subsequent threat to road safety. How can we be surprised when some drivers pick up this signal and cause mayhem, injury and death on our roads?

A total of 2,000 extra gardaí were promised after the election in 2002, but we now know that this figure will not be met until 2008 — another promise. This delay is impacting on the effective policing of road safety measures.

Mr. Wilson

They have to be trained.

Acting Chairman

Senator Bannon should be allowed to speak without interruption.

Mr. Bannon

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform stated in May this year that 211,982 speeding offences were detected in 2004. This means that a mere 20% of the target set in the national road safety strategy is being reached. Should we not feel helpless and despairing when we read that gardaí in rural areas arrest only one driver each per annum on suspicion of drink driving? The figures also indicate that only one person is arrested for drink driving for each of the 12,000 pubs in the country annually and even more strangely, only one quarter of that number is convicted.

There is a direct correlation between initiatives to increase safety on our roads and a decrease in road fatalities. If the Government does not channel resources into improving standards, the cycle of low standards leading to high road death figures will continue. The Government is sending out the message that anything goes. Over 30% of drivers on our roads break speed limits and drink driving is commonplace. Despite continual assurances to the contrary, there are significant delays in attaching penalty points to driving licences. The positive impact of penalty points, which did have a dramatic effect in reducing road deaths, has not followed through. Senator Dooley referred to this matter. The results were great in the first four months after penalty points were introduced but this has not been sustained. To date, only four out of 69 offences for which penalty points are applied have come into operation. Will the Minister of State indicate when the computerised system will be activated and outline the reasons for the delay? Some 18,000 drivers who hold licences that are not Irish are able to treat the current system with disdain and get away scot free in terms of the attachment of penalty points. This issue must be urgently addressed. Several Members have referred to this matter.

Nothing has improved or changed since the introduction of the penalty points system and until it is fully functioning Garda time will continue to be wasted and drivers will literally get away with murder as road deaths continue to rise. The number of deaths caused countrywide through traffic accidents is "shamefully high" according to the National Safety Council. In 2004, road deaths reached their highest level since 2001, indicating that we are back to the pre-penalty points level of fatalities.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, announced the creation of a traffic corps in late November 2004, two years after it was promised as a priority measure in the programme for Government. To date, this has entailed little more than a merging of all existing traffic units. Current staffing of the traffic corps is 530 gardaí. This figure will only rise by 33 in 2005.

Like a seasonal itch, the Taoiseach has once again raised the possibility of random breath testing as a measure to reduce road deaths. The Minister of State will forgive me for not holding my breath on this Government promise.

Mr. Wilson

I wish the Senator would.

Mr. Bannon

This plan was first proposed six years ago, yet six years later the Taoiseach is still singing the same old tune. Despite assurances from a succession of Ministers since then, nothing has happened. Doubts have now been expressed as to whether it will be possible to introduce random breath testing at all, despite the fact that figures from Australia and France prove that it significantly reduces fatalities. All I know for certain is that this lame-duck Government has failed to achieve its target of reducing road deaths by25%. A total of 323 people were killed on our roads in the first ten months of this year and those seriously injured or killed in this period is higher than for the same period in 2004. A further 40 people were killed on our roads in the past month. A mere 20% of the national road safety target is being reached.

Speed limits are breached with impunity on our dual carriageways and motorways. The lack of police presence, which is compounded by the Government's failure to deliver the full complement of the Garda traffic corps, gives a strong message to drivers that they can break the law and get away with it. After nine years in office, this limping Government has failed to implement the six year old road safety strategy. This, as we know, was strongly criticised by the ex-chairman of the National Safety Council, whose resignation was the impetus for the tabling of this motion.

I have raised the issue of road safety on many occasions in the House and called on the Minister for Transport to urgently debate plans to improve road safety. Dangerous roads, particularly in the midlands, such as the N55 between Athlone and Cavan, the N53 between Kinnegad and Tyrrellspass, and the appallingly bad stretch between Edgeworthstown and Armagh town, pose a serious threat to the safety of the public.

In my parish a young man was killed last July on the worst stretch of county road in the midlands, the Rathowen to Legan road at Ballygarvey. A significant percentage of such deaths on country roads are due to their neglected condition. They were described as the "roads to hell" following a survey conducted earlier this year by the Automobile Association. The roads to which I referred were highlighted, in addition to a significant number of other dangerous roads throughout the country which are a major threat to our safety. The survey described the road between Edgeworthstown and Armagh, the N56, N54 and A3, as the worst continuous stretch of road, varying between medium to high risk and very high risk. There was a major underspend on roads last year of €640 million, with many of the roads in need of remedial action being in the BMW region.

Acting Chairman

Senator Bannon should finish. He is well over the speed limit.

Mr. Bannon

Public safety is not negotiable and the Government must wake up to the fact that bad roads cause fatalities. We want action, not promises from the Government. We have had far too many broken promises in the past 18 years on this matter.

Mr. Wilson

If Senator Bannon does not stop we will have to breathalyse him.

Mr. Bannon

People in every constituency are waiting to boot out the Government at the next general election.

Mr. Wilson

Senator Bannon should wait until he gets the nomination.

Ms Ormonde

I wish to share time with Senator Kitt.

Acting Chairman

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Ms Ormonde

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Callely, to the House to listen to this interesting debate. I always do some homework before coming here and every time I come here I change my mind about what I will say. I will start with——

Mr. Bradford

I thought the Senator would state she changed her mind about Senator Bannon.

Ms Ormonde

I would not change my mind about him. I made up my mind about him a long time ago.

The number of deaths on our roads amounted to 354 in the first ten months of this year. What can one say? We all sing the same tune. It is absolutely disastrous.

Mr. Bannon

We claim this Government neglects——

Ms Ormonde

I did not interrupt Senator Bannon. I ask the Senator to hold on. I am not finished. I have just started and I only have four minutes speaking time.

The Opposition argues we must establish the road safety strategy. It is established. They discuss whether we should have random breath testing. A problem does exist with that and it has been highlighted. The Fine Gael Party well knows it is in existence because it was discussed at length at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport. There is no point in going down that road. Fine Gael knows where it is coming from and is being troublesome by referring to it.

The next issue is the roll-out of speed cameras. That is great——

Mr. Bannon

I hear they are stored with the e-voting machines.

Ms Ormonde

It is about people.

Mr. Bannon

Keeping people alive.

Ms Ormonde

It is about people on the roads. I will give a small example. I was travelling down the country last Monday on a side road. Fortunately I was driving slowly. A young fellow came at me and only that I was quite into the ditch I would not be here speaking today. This issue is about speeding and crossing white lines. It is not always about drink driving. It is about behavioural and attitude change in everybody who gets into a car.

The Government cannot do everything. Every crossroads and byroad in the country cannot be manned. Responsibility must be put on young people. If they go behind the wheel of a car they must know to obey the rules of the road. That is the bottom line and there is no way to overcome that point. I do not care what legislation or breath testing is introduced. If the simple rules of the road are not obeyed we will have accidents.

Mr. Bannon

Where are the extra gardaí to ensure they obey the rules of the road?

Acting Chairman

I thought Senator Bannon was a gentleman. I am not sure now.

Ms Ormonde

Accidents occur at night time when less traffic is on the road but drivers speed more. The reason for that must also be examined. Most of those who die in accidents are young people, and many accidents involve heavy articulated trucks. Why is this happening? Why are so many young people——

Mr. Bannon

There are no speed checks.

Ms Ormonde

It does not always have to do with police checks. It has to do with responsibility for one's behaviour.

Mr. Dooley

Hear, hear.

Ms Ormonde

Every parent in this country should be able to instill in his or her children how to behave if they take a car onto the road. That is the bottom line. Let there be no doubt about it. Stating that we must have random breath testing and rolling out cameras deviates from that. Such measures are great and we want deterrents. However, it rests with parents and education. A cultural change must occur. Programmes must be introduced for 14 and 15 year olds.

We are all shocked when we see the vivid illustration on television in the magnificent advertising campaign. It gives a clear message on the guilt and shame that will rest with people who cause deaths on the road. That campaign should be brought into the classrooms of 14, 15 and 16 year old pupils to make them realise that they take responsibility for obeying the rules of the road when they take the wheel of a car. No garda, task force or strategy will stop them if they do not know how to behave and take responsibility for their behaviour.

Mr. Kitt

I thank Senator Ormonde for sharing her time. I thank the Minister for State for being here. We should extend the operation of penalty points as quickly as possible. Senator Bannon mentioned bad roads. I was glad that the Loughrea bypass opened last Friday. I am sure the Chairman knows about it.

Acting Chairman

We are all glad about it.

Mr. Kitt

The campaign for it started 41 or 44 years ago. Developments such as the bypass help frustrated motorists who have waited in long queues to get through Loughrea. The frustration of motorists often contributes to accidents. Senator Ormonde mentioned speed cameras. We must get them into operation.

A great deal of hypocrisy surrounds driving and bad driving. Drivers openly admit they break and bend the law. In the next breath they state more gardaí are necessary to catch those who break the law. Such logic escapes me. Another example is of people who use mobile phones while driving. I saw figures from the UK which suggest that 77% of motorists use mobile phones while driving, but only 30% use hands-free kits.

Longer journey times and traffic jams lead to fatigue and frustration. I hope we can deal with those issues. Single vehicle accidents that occur early in the morning are extremely disturbing. It attests to loss of judgment. Drink driving is still a major cause of accidents. The headlines in some newspapers suggest that drugs have worsened the situation.

It seems anyone can teach anyone else to drive or to pass the test, which is more like what people want to do. Driving schools can operate without supervision. The Minister of State should also examine that issue to improve the situation. I agree with Mr. Tony Toner who stated in today's Irish Independent that “Education is the only way to teach these artful dodgers”. He is correct. I cannot understand why more emphasis is not put on learning the basis rules of the road in secondary schools. Transition year would be an ideal time for this. Mr. Toner refers to Rosemary Smith, who established a think awareness programme nine years ago through which tremendous work was done. Education and enforcing rules and regulations are simple and easy ways to deal with it. I hope the new road authority and Mr. Noel Brett will work hard to ensure they can make progress.

I was sad to hear last year when the road safety strategy was announced that the intention was to reduce road deaths to not more than 300 per annum by the end of 2006. That figure is too high. One death from a road accident is too many. The strategy intends to reduce the number of deaths and we would like that achieved.

I am glad we are having this debate. A number of issues can be dealt with by the Minister of State and I am glad his efforts and those of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, have succeeded in making this a top priority. We must ensure this is prioritised within the Government. I hope education policy, particularly in second level schools, will lead to a reduction in road deaths.

Mr. Bradford

I am glad to have an opportunity to say a few words on this important motion. As my colleague Senator Browne outlined at the start of the debate, this has regularly been the subject matter of Private Members' motions submitted by the Fine Gael Party during the past three or four years. The fact we had to raise the issue so frequently shows not only the extent of our concern but the extent of the problem. I agree with previous speakers. The problem and solution concern all parties in this House. It is not a party political matter. As a serious Opposition party we are obliged to highlight the crisis on the roads of Ireland and demand strong cohesive action from the Government.

There are two schools of thought on this issue. Senator Ormonde placed responsibility on individual drivers while Senator Bannon suggested better roads and more policing. Like all issues of politics, the answer lies somewhere in between. There are major issues in this country with dangerous junctions, bad roads, bad drivers and enforcement. While we will not solve the problem this evening it is important we debate possible solutions.

We were all pleased with the introduction of penalty points. Many Oireachtas Members, like any cross-section of the community, have penalty points and this does not please them. The concept was welcomed in the House and across the country and in the initial stages it seemed to work. We seemed to be solving the problem of deaths on the road. Perhaps it is an Irish trait to get used to these issues and then try to get around them. Every motorist was concerned about the imposition of penalty points when the policy was implemented. It was a hot topic of conversation but that has faded. Hundreds of thousands of drivers received penalty points but one would expect the introduction of the system would slow drivers in the long term and improve safety.

These statistics paint a different picture. Up to October this year 354 people were killed on the roads, a higher figure than in the same period last year. The advantage gained from the penalty points has diminished and we must consider other means of enforcement. The penalty points system did not aim to increase insurance premiums or ban drivers from the road, rather it seeks to ensure every driver would be more careful, thereby improving road safety. This has not worked as well as we thought and it must be urgently reviewed.

I have heard the Minister of State speak on the roll-out of further offences covered by penalty points, such as use of mobile phones. This will help but it is only part of the solution. I have raised the issue of driving instructors, driving lessons and the driving licence system. Perhaps this needs to be reviewed as our system of instruction is not working if we see such carnage on the road network. Driving and care of a vehicle could be studied in secondary school and this matter deserves attention. Most 18 year olds and some 17 year olds are driving. If one can instil a sense of the dangers of the road and teach driving skills, it would be a positive long-term investment.

We should also examine simple issues that are easy to implement, such as those raised by Senator Kate Walsh this evening and on previous occasions. Drivers should have their headlights switched on regardless of the time or weather conditions because this seems to work well in Europe. It will not reduce the statistic of 354 to zero but if it reduces it to 324 that would be great news for 30 families. Sometimes we seek a glorious one-page solution when we need dozens of minor measures. I support Senator Kate Walsh's proposal and hope we can implement such a simple, straightforward measure.

We must also examine the NCT test. Every motorist with a car over a certain number of years must have his or her car tested. We hoped that improving the quality of our vehicles and removing minor faults would improve road safety. This does not appear to have worked. The NCT tests are expensive and there is a suspicion it is a money-making scheme at this stage. I ask the Minister of State to examine this. I strongly favour the NCT test but wonder if vehicles coming through the system are as roadworthy as they should be. Many accidents are caused by faults in the vehicles and that should not happen if the NCT test is as good as we were led to believe.

The quality of roads must be addressed and we will debate Transport 21 in the House tomorrow. While proposals for Atlantic corridors and major motorways are positive, we must ensure a substantial amount of the investment is used for road safety measures. We should examine accident blackspots throughout the country and tackle these issues. Through local authorities we are aware of areas where accidents occur once a fortnight. We should remove these problems through proper investment in road safety measures.

Sometimes it is as simple as replacing a yield sign with a stop sign. I speak as someone who had an accident a number of years ago. I did not see the yield sign, drove through a crossroad and was almost removed from the political and the entire system. The gardaí who were called to the scene of the accident told me accidents occurred on a weekly basis. I was pleased to see the yield sign replaced with a stop sign some months later. If that had been done months before, several accidents could have been avoided.

Such solutions will not result in newspaper headlines but they will work. When we invest billions of euro in our road network we should consider such minor measures. Local authorities should play a greater role in road safety because council officials, engineers and councillors know the areas in which accidents occur.

I support the motion as it is important the Houses of the Oireachtas emphasise making roads safer and reducing road deaths. By bringing forward this motion the Fine Gael Party allows everyone in the House the opportunity to propose ideas. The Opposition and the Government Senators will listen to each other and if we are all here next year, the carnage on the roads in 2006 will be less than the figures for 2005.

Ms White

I welcome the Minister of State and this debate, which I called for some weeks ago. Yesterday, the report of the annual national survey of motorists' behaviour and attitudes to road safety was published. The survey of 1,100 drivers nationwide was carried out by the Smurfit business school, UCD, in partnership with FBD Insurance and Advance Pitstop. It provides startling and eye-opening results. A total of eight out of ten drivers surveyed admitted to knowingly speeding, while 44% admitted to drinking and driving, frequently having consumed three or more drinks.

The report also found that general driving behaviour has worsened considerably over the last 12 months. The authors asked respondents what would make them abide by the law. They found that the only measure that would stop drivers from continuing to break the law is more Garda enforcement on the roads. Drivers are comfortably flouting the law because they believe they will not be caught.

The report's findings must be placed against the backdrop of 354 deaths and an estimated 2,800 serious injuries on our roads in the first ten months of this year. These figures are quite sickening and it is clear that current policy is not sufficient. We are failing in our roads policy. If gardaí are not visible, there is little deterrent for those who flout the law and put their own lives and those of others at risk.

I note that since its launch last year, just over 500 gardaí have been deployed to the traffic corps. The Minister has promised that the corps will reach its full strength of 1,200 by 2008. However, 500 gardaí equates to less than 20 traffic corps officers per county, which is far from satisfactory, given the extent to which people are flouting the law. The traffic corps should be expanded as quickly as possible.

Speed cameras should be rolled out nationwide but, more importantly, they should be fully functioning. The introduction of penalty points for speeding was very effective initially. Drivers were made very aware of the penalties for speeding and were conscious of a Garda campaign to crack down on same. However, we have seen a clear reduction in consideration of speed limits on the part of drivers. This has occurred because of the lack of a visible Garda presence, well-reported questions over the legality of certain speed cameras and the fact that some cameras are not functioning at all. As I said a number of weeks ago in this House, I drove from Dublin to Athlone one evening and did not meet anybody, travelling in either direction, who was obeying the traffic regulations and keeping within the speed limits. Everybody on the road that evening was flouting the law, even when entering country towns and villages on the route.

Drink driving is something I find particularly abhorrent. Random breath testing should be the norm in this country. A potential drink driver should be fearful of being caught, rather than drinking and driving at will, as the survey results appear to indicate. Again, deterrents and a Garda presence are key, especially in proximity to public houses.

We are also failing in our courts. A judgment was handed down recently in the case of a man who killed two others on the road. The court heard that the man was so drunk that he had unknowingly forced a car off the road. The drunk driver was fined €2,000 and banned from driving for ten years. He then walked free, with not even a suspended prison sentence. If we are failing to provide a deterrent on our roads in the form of visible gardaí, the sheer leniency of this sentence illustrates that we are also failing to provide a judicial deterrent in cases of drink driving, causing harm. We are failing on both fronts and the lives of those who have already perished on our roads will have been in vain if we, as legislators, do not ensure that the law of the land is respected and upheld.

This is not a political but a moral issue. I want the Government to do more to tackle the carnage on our roads and to do so as soon as possible — not later, or over a phased basis. This is a crisis.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport (Mr. Callely)

This debate comes at a time when we face major challenges in the pursuit of our road safety policies. Road safety is an evolving area of public policy. Improvements in road network standards and vehicle engineering can, on the one hand, enhance road safety and, on the other hand, establish a false sense of security that blinds us to the need for constant care.

The major challenge to the Government and society in general, in terms of road safety, arises from changes in expectations. When we had poorer roads and far fewer and technically inferior vehicles in the 1960s and 1970s, the annual number of road deaths often exceeded 600. Now in an environment featuring levels of motorisation that were unimaginable 40 years ago, the picture is somewhat different. My Department's aims for the immediate future are set at reducing road deaths to a level of no more than 300 per year. Society demands that the daily reality of deaths and injuries on our roads must be addressed and the carnage curtailed. In that context, I welcome most of the contributions to this debate, which reflect that demand.

Similar demands for action to address road casualties were prevalent in the late 1990s. The response by the Government in 1997 was to adopt a strategic model based on achieving targeted reductions in deaths and injuries through the pursuit of targeted advancements across a range of policy areas. A significant feature of the first national strategy on road safety was the creation of the road safety high level group, which was tasked with overseeing the delivery of the programme that had been adopted in a co-ordinated way. The high level group was asked to monitor and report on progress achieved, recommend adjustments to the strategy and prepare proposals for future strategies for Government approval.

An international expert on road safety was engaged to examine the strategic model that was put in place in 1997. He confirmed that the approach adopted and the oversight regime and reporting mechanisms that had been established provided a robust model for the pursuit of road safety policy. Reflecting on the past eight years during which those structures have been in place and a second national strategy has been developed, it is clear that there has been a significant degree of success. Casualty trends have been relatively consistent and significant advances are evident when one reflects on the fact that the average number of road deaths over the past four years was 374, compared with the average annual level for the previous four years of 440.

However, the capacity for road casualties to fluctuate dramatically is evidenced by the fact that as of yesterday, the number of road deaths this year is 20 higher than on the same day last year. The task of realising the target set in the road safety strategy of reducing road deaths to a level of not more than 300 per annum by the end of next year can be placed in sharp focus by the trends revealed so far this year.

It is appropriate that I should report to the House on the progress achieved to date with our strategy. There are a number of key policy initiatives set out in the strategy, on which the achievement of further reductions in road deaths rely. These initiatives relate primarily to the adoption of a new structure for speed limits based on metric values, the establishment of a dedicated traffic corps, the extension of the penalty points system, the introduction of a network of privately operated speed cameras and the extension of the basis on which a breath test can be requested by the Garda Síochána.

The Government introduced a revised speed limit structure expressed in metric values in January 2005. The legislative basis for this system was provided for in the Road Traffic Act 2004. The changeover process involved a major public information campaign as well as the posting of some 58,000 road signs signalling the new speed limits. The changeover went very smoothly and represents a good example of national and local authorities working together with a common aim. From the road safety perspective, the revised system provides for a reduction of 16 km in the speed limit on regional, rural and local roads.

The new legislation confirmed the central role of the elected members of county and city councils in making determinations for changes to the speed limits that are applied under the legislation and gave them the capacity to deploy a greater range of speed limit values, including the 30 km/h limit. The system is further improved by a facility for public engagement in the process of local authorities making speed limit changes.

One of the most important elements of any road safety policy is enforcement. The efforts of my colleague the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda Commissioner to radically step up enforcement are vital to success in the road safety arena. The Commissioner has placed the new Garda traffic corps under the supervision of one of his most senior officers of Commissioner rank, as a signal of the intent of the force to bear down on enforcement. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is adamant that the very significant increases in the strength of the traffic corps planned for the next few years will proceed and that the corps will not lack for any technical resources. The Minister and the Commissioner will have my full support and any policy or legislative assistance I can give them in their efforts.

The traffic corps currently stands at 560, and will comprise some 800 officers by the end of next year. In the latter half of 2007, there will be 1,000 gardaí deployed to the traffic corps. The increased enforcement should have a significant deterrent effect on drivers' behaviour. This is crucial to an improved road safety performance and is an initiative which I very much welcome.

In my recent contributions before the Oireachtas Joint Committees on Transport and Enterprise and Small Business, I expressed my disappointment that we were not in a position to see an application of the penalty points scheme to other key road safety offences in addition to speeding, seat-belt wearing, driving without insurance and careless driving.

The legislation underpinning the system has been in place since 2002. The speed of the roll-out has not been satisfactory and this has blunted the potential of the system to deter drivers from the very behaviour that gives rise to collisions. It is my understanding that the IT systems and other administrative support mechanisms will be in place by the beginning of April 2006 and that the major extension planned for the operation of the system can be put in place at that point. My colleague the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, is in regular contact with the Garda Commissioner on the issue of meeting that target date.

The road safety strategy identifies the introduction of a significant network of speed cameras as a central component in addressing speed limit breaches. The Minister for Transport proposes to bring forward, early in the new year, an amendment to primary legislation to enable the engagement of the private sector in the widespread deployment, under strict Garda supervision, of speed cameras. A working group, established to examine the general framework within which this proposal can be pursued, acknowledged that it would be necessary to engage private sector interests if we were to reach the critical mass required to establish the level of enforcement of speeding that will support the achievement ofthe enforcement targets in the road safety strategy.

I take this opportunity to reassure the House that the operation of the system will be grounded firmly in road safety considerations. The Garda will be responsible for choosing locations where cameras will be placed, and such decisions will be based on collision history and prevalence of speeding. The working group has also recommended that there can be no relationship between the receipt of fixed charge payments resulting from detections by privately-operated cameras and the funding of the private sector operator.

There has been much debate recently on the possible introduction of random breath testing. The road safety strategy provides that random breath testing should be in place before the end of 2006. I and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, have pursued a detailed examination of the possible approaches that could be adopted here to give the Garda greater powers to impose roadside breath tests. This examination has been informed and supported by the receipt of independent legal opinion and the opinion of the Attorney General. In examining this issue it is important that a balance be struck such that measures aimed at reducing road fatalities which are clearly for the common good are proportional in that they have proper regard to the legal rights of the individual. However, the protection of the community from individuals who abuse those rights must inform our examination of this issue.

The Minister for Transport recently met with the chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and party spokespersons for a discussion focused solely on the issue of random breath testing, at which he outlined the legal concerns as he understands them. He is endeavouring to work with colleagues in the committee to try to find a solution to this issue, which crosses party boundaries.

If, however, we cannot legislate for wider roadside breath tests, I point out that as things stand, gardaí can require a driver to provide a preliminary breath sample where they form an opinion that an intoxicant has been consumed, or where a collision has taken place, or where a road traffic offence has been committed. I am sure that the Garda Síochána will continue to pursue drink driving enforcement robustly through the range of powers available to it. I recently discussed the issue with the superintendent of the greater Dublin area, who brought to my attention that road deaths and serious accidents in the area are down and detection of drink driving is on the increase. It shows that gardaí are out there and applying the relevant Road Traffic Acts with success.

The process of establishing the road safety authority is well advanced. The Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 which has completed Second Stage in the Dáil is the legislative basis for establishing the authority. When the Bill was introduced its principal purpose was to establish a driver testing and standards authority whose primary responsibility would be the delivery of the driver testing service and the regulation of driving instructors. The authority would also have a statutory duty to promote the development and improvement of driving standards. However, the functions to be assigned to the authority were reviewed and I indicated during the Second Stage debate and at committees that the establishment of a separate public sector body to deliver the driver testing service and take responsibility for other functions relating to the testing and control of drivers, offered an opportunity for other functions relating to roadsafety in general to be assigned to the new authority.

Consequently the Government decided to amend the Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 to enable other functions to be assigned to the authority, which will ensure it can play an important role in the process of improving road safety in general. As a consequence of these amendments it is proposed to change the title of the driver testing and standards authority to the road safety authority, and the Bill to the road safety authority Bill.

The road safety authority will be a single agency with responsibility for a wide range of functions which have a bearing on road safety and will be in a unique position to co-ordinate and advance the road safety agenda through delivery of road safety programmes such as testing of drivers and vehicles, driver education and the promotion of awareness of road safety in general. I see the authority having a significant advisory role to the Minister for Transport in the development of road safety policy.

In order to facilitate the road safety authority in carrying out its role, the additional functions that will transfer to the new authority include the functions of the National Safety Council in relation to road safety. As the Bill already provides that the authority will have a general duty to "promote the development and improvement of driving standards" it is appropriate that the educational brief of the NSC, together with its brief for the promotion of road safety, be transferred to the authority, which I believe the House supports.

In the road haulage sector the authority will take responsibility for the functions currently exercised by my Department on driver hours and rest periods, including the tachograph, the working time directive for mobile workers in the road transport sector and the implementation of EU requirements on bus and lorry driver vocational training. In addition, the authority would also be enabled to enforce the relevant regulations in these areas as well as the conditions applying to licensed road haulage operators. Responsibility for implementing new requirements under EU directives on professional driver training in this area will also be assigned to the new authority.

While the Bill already provides for vehicle testing to be transferred to the authority, it is proposed to also transfer other functions relating to the standards that apply to vehicles sold or used in Ireland, as required by EU directives, and all related matters. Work in this area includes EU vehicle type approval law, standards for in-service vehicles, commercial vehicle testing and oversight of the NCT.

The activities of the authority as originally envisaged all have a bearing on road safety and the addition of these functions will enhance the effectiveness of the authority in contributing to an improvement in road safety. While the authority will have a significant input into road safety through driver training and testing and vehicle testing, it will also be given responsibility for road safety research. This will enable the authority to both analyse the causes of road accidents, evaluate what action might be taken and make appropriate recommendations.

I wish to refer to the issue of compulsory basic training for motorcyclists. The establishment of the road safety authority will also facilitate the introduction of compulsory initial practical training for motorcyclists. A working group, chaired by my Department and comprising motorcycle interests and an insurance representative, has been considering the appropriate standards that will apply in this area.

The House will be aware that Mr. Eddie Shaw tendered his resignation as chairman of the National Safety Council. The term of office of the board of the National Safety Council elapsed last April and the Minister, Deputy Cullen, specifically asked Mr. Shaw and members of the board to continue to pursue their remit until the end of the year so that they could support the proposed transfer of the council's function in regard to the promotion of road safety to the Road Safety Authority. To further enhance that process, the board of the council recently appointed the chief executive officer designate of the Road Safety Authority to act as the CEO of the council.

As the model within which we currently work needs to be re-examined, I accept the point raised by Senators. The establishment of the road safety authority presents an opportunity to pursue such a review. The authority will be tasked with the delivery of a programme across a wide range of areas and will also play a central role in ensuring that road safety policy is pursued in a co-ordinated and structured manner.

This year has seen a number of tragic collisions and, as the Fine Gael Party motion points out, October saw almost twice as many road deaths as last October. Reference to monthly totals for road deaths can create misleading impressions and the degree of variation over the months of this year reveal a significant degree of volatility. However, the trends re-emerging over the past two years are certainly a source of concern. We are now at the end of the second year of the current strategy and there is much to be done to complete the roll-out of the programme set down in the strategy and to realise the main target of reducing the level of deaths to not more than 300.

I assure the House that as Minister of State with responsibility for certain areas of road safety, I and my colleague, the Minister, who have immediate responsibility for road safety policy at national level, together with my other colleagues in Government, who have either a direct role in delivering programmes relating to road safety or in supporting the overall policy, are fully committed to achieving their goals. I commend the amendment to the House.

Mr. Dardis

I thank the Minister of State for what he said by which I am encouraged. We are all aware that alcohol is a significant factor in speeding. I recall that when the Road Traffic Bill was being discussed here alcohol was the predominant factor.

The whole road signage system throughout the country has been discredited. Local authorities erect signs and never take them down. It gets to the point when one does not know whether one is arriving at roadworks or at an oil spill. I travelled to Galway recently and there were oil spill signs all over the place but there were no oil spills. The danger of this is obvious. One is likely to go off the road when there is one because one has ignored all the other signs for oil spills.

There is a constitutional aspect to the issue of the breath test which I hope can be resolved. I hope this can be done without having to resort to a referendum. However, if this is what must be done, then it must be done. On the hands-free phones, if one can afford a car, one can afford a hands-free kit. We have been discussing this matter for ages and it should be done. I have driven in a number of countries and I do not believe that people in other countries are any more or less responsible than they are here, but the chances of getting caught are high. I drove on a short journey in Italy not so long ago and the speed camera went twice. I was not even aware that I was driving over the speed limit. The fine came back to Ireland through the hired car company, which should be the case. Wherever one travels, one should be subject to the law. Senator Brian Hayes referred previously to a similar situation.

Until the enforcement is implemented, all the abuses will continue. I accept what was said about personal responsibility. There must be personal responsibility and education, but unless the regulations are enforced, people will continue to flout the law.

Mr. McHugh

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the motion. I thank my party colleague, Senator Browne, for tabling it. It is a significant national issue but I find it difficult to get away from the parochial aspect of the negative experiences we have had in County Donegal in the past few months, specifically in Inishowen where five young people lost their lives tragically in a car accident. When trying to highlight the issue, we talk in terms of the statistics which are escalating. I want to put on record the human impact of such a tragedy whereby five young people's lives have been lost tragically, for which nothing can compensate. One cannot describe what the immediate families went through as a result of this tragedy. Nothing can compensate for the impact it had on the Garda and emergency services personnel who arrived at the scene and had to deal with the accident and the consequences and impact on the Inishowen community at large.

As Inishowen is a very close-knit community, the people are still reeling from the effects of this tragedy. Following the car crash, my colleague, Councillor Bernard McGuinness and I had a meeting with Chief Superintendent Terry McGinn. It was an important meeting because the superintendent highlighted the human impact of such a tragedy. She told us of the impact it had on the bereaved family members, with whom she was directly involved, on herself and on her Garda colleagues. She said that if there was a debate on the issue in the Seanad, she would like to have some form of communication with Members. Therefore, I welcome the fact that she sent a representative, Garda Brendan Roche, to represent her during the debate. This is how serious Garda personnel take the debate on road safety. While it might be easy to criticise the Garda in regard to the numbers of road deaths, it is important to put on record that it is very interested in moving forward on the issue.

The superintendent said that she would welcome more involvement on the part of local authorities. She would welcome a partnership approach in this regard, which was referred to earlier in the House. I believe we are all singing from the same hymn sheet in this regard. The local authorities, as a statutory mechanism, can play a pivotal role in terms of combatting dangerous and reckless driving either in urban or rural areas.

Approximately 40,000 people live in Inishowen. The number of Garda personnel in the area is based on the population who live in the area. The fact that Derry city is the fourth largest city in Ireland and that there is a constant movement of people across the Border into towns in Inishowen, including Burnfoot, Buncrana and north Inishowen, is not taken into consideration. Resources are not put in place to deal with this issue. There is a fundamental problem in the area because there is double the amount of traffic as a result of people crossing the Border from another jurisdiction.

When debating road safety, we must consider extra Garda personnel. We require ten times the number of Garda personnel in Inishowen to deal with the current problems. There is one 24-hour manned Garda station in Burnfoot. That is a 30 minute response time to north Inishowen, which is not good enough. We need resources for a second 24-hour Garda station in north Inishowen to cater for the ever-increasing amount of traffic coming from Derry city.

I will not go into the repercussions for drivers who speed and live in the North. There are no ramifications for these people if they are arrested for speeding. This problem needs to be addressed in the short term.

The majority of young people are very responsible drivers and they want to do something about this. Next Wednesday, the Minister of State will have the privilege of meeting young people from Cork to Donegal at a protest entitled Cruise the Dáil. They are protesting about specifications relating to car exhausts and tinted windows. While these are issues, road safety, dangerous driving and road fatalities will not be resolved by addressing them. Young people are travelling to the Phoenix Park next Wednesday and it is expected that between 1,000 and 1,500 cars will be present. Twenty representatives of the group will attend Leinster House to meet the Minister of State. They will put forward the case regarding the two issues I mentioned. However, the opportunity should not be missed to heed their message that all young people do not drive recklessly and they do not want to see their peers dying on the roads. They want to do something about it and the Minister of State will experience their conviction in this regard first hand.

I hope we can move forward. We can do so because many young people want to get involved. It is positive that they are staying at home in County Donegal and in County Clare, where Senator Dooley is from, rather than emigrating, as they would have done not so long ago. They are staying at home, working in their local communities and buying cars. They pay outrageous amounts for car insurance but they are at home.

Mr. Dooley

And they are dying there.

Mr. McHugh

I agree. I would like the Minister of State to fast track the implementation of policies and dedicate resources in this regard. I refer to a specific issues in rural areas. A small percentage of young drivers act irresponsibly doing donuts and driving carelessly but they use mobile telephones. They know when gardaí are on duty and they know which crossroads they use to set up checkpoints. If a garda has set up a checkpoint about which one of them was not aware, he will text his friends to warn them. This issue needs to be addressed but it again relates to Garda resources. Every back road in the State cannot be monitored on a 24-hour basis and a garda cannot be deployed behind every bush. However, if a presence is created, it will have a massive impact on the minority of young people involved in these dangerous activities.

I ask the Minister of State to heed the young people he will meet next Wednesday because that will empower them. They are responsible drivers and they are endeavouring to do something about the tragic loss of life throughout the State. The Minister of State should take them seriously.

The Seanad divided: Tá, 28; Níl, 17.

Tá

Brady, Cyprian.
Brennan, Michael.
Callanan, Peter.
Cox, Margaret.
Daly, Brendan.
Dardis, John.
Dooley, Timmy.
Fitzgerald, Liam.
Kenneally, Brendan.
Kett, Tony.
Kitt, Michael P.
Leyden, Terry.
Lydon, Donal J.
MacSharry, Marc.
Minihan, John.
Mooney, Paschal C.
Morrissey, Tom.
Moylan, Pat.
Ó Murchú, Labhrás.
O’Brien, Francis.
O’Rourke, Mary.
Ormonde, Ann.
Phelan, Kieran.
Scanlon, Eamon.
Walsh, Jim.
Walsh, Kate.
White, Mary M.
Wilson, Diarmuid.

Níl

Bannon, James.
Bradford, Paul.
Browne, Fergal.
Burke, Ulick.
Coghlan, Paul.
Coonan, Noel.
Finucane, Michael.
Hayes, Brian.
McCarthy, Michael.
McHugh, Joe.
Norris, David.
O’Meara, Kathleen.
O’Toole, Joe.
Phelan, John.
Ross, Shane.
Ryan, Brendan.
Terry, Sheila.

Tellers: Tá, Senators Minihan and Moylan; Níl, Senators Browne and McHugh.

Amendment declared carried.

Question, "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to", put and declared carried.

An Leas-Chathaoirleach

When is it proposed to sit again?

Ms O’Rourke

At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.

Seanad Éireann debate - Wednesday, 30 Nov 2005

Road Safety: Motion.

Tá

Níl

Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 30 Nov 2005