Vol. 540 No. 1
314 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will introduce lower speed limits on secondary rural roads as a measure to reduce the level of deaths and injuries on these roads, particularly to pedestrians and cyclists. [19619/01]
The Government Strategy for Road Safety 1998-2002 indicated that changes to speed limit regimes, which were comprehensively reviewed some years ago, were not proposed in the immediate term. The priority must instead be to secure a much higher level of compliance with existing speed limits.
However, the option of revising speed limits downwards is not ruled out if enforcement of existing limits does not show good progress towards the strategy goal of reducing present excessive levels of speeding. I intend that the situation will continue to be monitored in line with the above approach.
In addition, under existing provisions in Part IV of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, as amended by the Road Traffic Act, 1968, and the Road Traffic Act, 1994, a county council or county borough corporation may, as a reserved function, make by-laws in respect of the application of certain speed limits – 30, 40 or 50 mph – to specified public roads in their administrative areas, subject to consultation with the Garda Commissioner and with the consent of the National Roads Authority in the case of national roads.
315 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of persons killed and injured in road traffic accidents on national roads and non-national roads in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and to date in 2001. [19658/01]
Statistics relating to road accidents, based on information provided by the Garda Síochána, are published by the National Roads Authority in their annual Road Accident Facts reports. The most recent report is in respect of 1999 and that report and reports relating to previous years are available in the Oireachtas Library.
The following table outlines the number of persons killed and seriously injured from 1997 to 2000 and the number killed to 29 June 2001. The figures relating to 2000 and 2001 are provisional.
|
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001(to 29/6/01) |
|
|
Killed |
472 |
458 |
413 |
415 |
184 |
|
Serious Injuries |
2,182 |
1,916 |
1,867 |
1,640 |
Not available |
