The goal of the Government’s current Road Safety Strategy, which runs from 2013 to 2020, is to reduce deaths on our roads to an annual level of 124. No one thinks this is easy, but at the same time we will never cease aspiring to achieve a complete end to the tragedy of unnecessary deaths on our roads. Work to achieve our present target is continuing under the current Strategy, and in due course a successor strategy will be developed which I intend to see incorporate even more ambitious targets.
As the Deputy is aware, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union has reached a provisional agreement on a number of proposed amendments to the General Safety Regulation (Regulation (EC) No. 661/2009). These amendments will introduce a range of new vehicle safety systems that will be a mandatory requirement for the manufacturing of new vehicles through the European Union’s Type-Approval regime. The majority of these improvements will come into effect from 2022 and the regulations will apply in all European Union states including Ireland.