Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 May 2013
52. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will elaborate on the actions he and his Department and agencies have taken to combat injuries and fatalities on Irish roads to date in 2013. [22951/13]
View answer80. Deputy Damien English asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of higher than expected levels of fatalities and injuries experienced on Irish roads to date in 2013, the actions he or his Department are considering to enhance safety for all road users; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22911/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 80 together.
I recently launched the Road Safety Strategy 2013 - 2020, which has full Government approval. The Strategy, which builds on the success of previous strategies, contains 144 actions to be implemented over its lifetime. Without taking the emphasis off reducing road fatalities, it also focuses on reducing the number and severity of serious injuries resulting from road traffic collisions.
The Strategy sets a very ambitious target of reducing road collision fatalities to 25 per million population or less by 2020. It also sets a provisional target for the reduction of serious injuries by 30%, from 472 in 2011 to 330 or fewer by 2020, a reduction to 61 serious injuries per million population. The Road Safety Authority is responsible for the overall implementation of the Strategy and must report to me annually on progress on its implementation.
In addition, the Road Traffic Bill 2013, currently being drafted, contains a number of measures aimed at improving driver behaviour on our roads. The Bill will provide for additional Graduated Driver Licensing measures, the testing of incapacitated drivers following a road traffic collisions where death or injury has been caused, changes to the penalty points regime and intoxication impairment testing for drivers, aimed primarily at drug driving. I hope to publish the Bill in the coming weeks.
