Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014
932. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to a long-standing road safety campaign in Sweden entitled the Vision Zero Initiative; and if a similar approach to road safety might also be promoted in this jurisdiction. [18681/14]
View answerI am aware of the Vision Zero Initiative. Our Road Safety Strategy 2013 to 2020, which I launched last year, incorporates many of the same principles. Our Strategy is based on the Safe Systems approach to road safety which is built on the principles of human behaviour, human frailty and forgiving systems. This approach reinforces the concept of shared responsibility across organisations, businesses and communities. It seeks to continue to reduce road fatalities, but will also have a new focus on reducing the number and severity of injuries on our roads. It covers a wide variety of sectors that contribute to, and impact, on road safety including education, law enforcement, health as well as the many aspects of transport.
Our Road Safety Strategy has two main objectives. The first is a reduction of road collision fatalities on Irish roads to 25 per million population or fewer by 2020. This means reducing deaths to 124 or fewer by 2020. The second is a provisional target for the reduction of serious injuries by 30% from 472 in 2011 to 330 or fewer by 2020 (or 61 per million population).
The Road Safety Strategy 2013 - 2020 is available to download from the Road Safety Authority website at www.rsa.ie
