asked the Minister for the Environment if he will make a statement outlining the action he has taken or proposes to take to increase public awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Drinking and Driving.
17.
The promotion of the public awareness aspects of road safety generally is the primary role of the National Road Safety Association which operates under the aegis of my Department.
Since 1978, the association have been particularly active in promoting public awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving, especially at the Christmas and New Year periods. I am satisfied that these campaigns, combined with Garda enforcement of the drink-driving laws, have had considerable success in reducing the number of drink-related road accidents and in bringing about a desirable change in social tolerance of the drinking driver.
Detailed analysis of road accidents carried out by An Foras Forbartha support this view. Since 1978, road deaths generally have declined by 39 per cent and injuries by 17 per cent. Of even greater significance, however, is the reduction that has occurred between the hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., the hours which are most associated with drink-related accidents. The number of fatal and injury accidents during these hours has declined by 29 per cent overall and the proportion of such accidents has fallen from a third to a quarter of total accidents.
The Deputy may rest assured, however, that there has not been, nor will there be, any let-up in efforts to drive home the dangers of drinking and driving. The National Road Safety Association are currently developing plans for 1987 involving a summer drink-driving campaign in addition to the normal Christmas-New Year campaign.
Will the Minister agree that his apparent complacency on this very important issue is misplaced having regard to the fact that there is still far too much drinking and driving? Will he not agree there is no evidence in the media advertising sponsored by his Department or its subsidiaries of an aggressive campaign pointing out the injuries sustained and the risks people take when they indulge in drinking and driving? Will he not agree that now is the time to make an allocation to the association and for this Department to initiate an aggressive advertising campaign on this question to avoid the regular mayhem on our roads?
As far as I am concerned, there is no complacency as regards the problems referred to in this question but we have to recognise the facts and the statistics I quoted in my replies. I suggest that these statistics are heartening because there has been a very big improvement. While we may not be complacent as to the steps which should be taken to improve the overall position, the decision to have a summer campaign should be recognised as a step in the right direction. The figures for Ireland were low relative to the statistics in the other member states and while we should not be complacent about these figures, at the same time, we have to recognise the big increase that has taken place in the past number of years.