Brendan Howlin
Ceist:109 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the main features of the recently announced North-South joint road safety campaign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19714/01]
Written Answers. - Road Safety.
The North-South Ministerial Council, as part of its programme for co-operation on transport, adopted a mandate for enhanced co-operation on road safety matters in December 2000. As part of that mandate it was agreed that the National Safety Council and the Department of the Environment (Northern Ireland) would continue to develop road safety campaigns with one such campaign envisaged annually. Joint road safety awareness campaigns are particularly suitable for North-South co-operation as they generate economies of scale both in terms of production costs and of television and other media exposure.
In pursuance of the above mandate, Mr Sam Foster, Minister for the Environment in Northern Ireland and I recently launched "Damage" a seat belt wearing advertisement. This campaign is aimed at encouraging road users to wear their seat belts. It follows the joint campaigns that have been undertaken in the past in relation to speeding and drink-driving.
Increased seat belt wearing is a key target area for the road safety strategy along with speeding and drink driving. Advertising campaigns such as this "Damage" campaign will contribute towards the achievement of higher seat belt wearing rates. The Government strategy for road safety, 1998-2002, sets a target of 85% wearing rate for front and rear seat belts which when achieved could result in saving an additional 30 lives each year.