Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis na Seanadóirí a mhol an rún seo. Thug sé seans dúinn díospóireacht a bheith againn ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. Is mór an trua é go bhfuil an t-uafás daoine á marú ar na bóithre agus tá an-imní ar an Rialtas faoin méid daoine atá á marú. Táimid ag iarraidh pleananna nua a chur i gcrích chun go mbeadh feabhas ar an scéal seo chomh tapaidh agus is féidir. Níl sé ró-fhada ó shin ó cailleadh beirt bhall den Teach seo i dtimpistí bóthair.
Cuimhnimíd go háirithe ar ocáid mar seo go bhfuil beirt chara ón Teach seo imithe uainn de dheasca timpistí bóthair. Mar sin tá dualgas mór orainn rud fiúntach a dhéanamh chun go mbeadh feabhas ar an scéal agus go mbeadh tuiscint níos fearr ag daoine atá ag tiomáint go gcaithfidh siad a bheith i bhfad níos cúraimí ná mar a bhí siad go dtí seo.
I am grateful to the Senators who tabled the motion for giving the House an opportunity to discuss the most important subject of road safety. The Government has given me special responsibility for promoting road safety and I will carefully note all the points made during the debate in reviewing the road safety programme that has been in operation and seeking to formulate the new strategy in this area to which the Government is committed.
In 1996, 453 people died in road accidents and so far this year over 400 people have died on our roads. That Members of the House were tragically involved in those numbers has brought home to us the reality of fatal road accidents and the need to redouble our efforts to reduce them. Society should not be willing to pay such a high price for the use of our roads. I welcome, therefore, this opportunity to speak about the Government's intentions in this vital area.
Last month was a bad one for road safety. Provisional figures indicate that 48 people died in October. In response to this deterioration and to the public and political concern which it evoked, the Taoiseach with the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, recently took the unprecedented step of convening a high level meeting on road safety. This meeting was attended by the Taoiseach, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, myself, senior personnel of Departments concerned and road safety agencies, including the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Garda Síochána, the National Safety Council, the National Roads Authority and the Irish Insurance Federation.
The Taoiseach's message to those of us mandated with responsibility for road safety was that the current situation was unacceptable. He identified road safety as an urgent public health issue and one which the Government is determined to address, if necessary, with improved instruments and increased resources. At that meeting, the high level group on road safety was mandated by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, to prepare a national strategy for road safety, under my direction as Minister of State with responsibility for road safety. This is a new and critically important initiative. A national strategy will provide better co-ordination and prioritisation of existing road safety activities and a platform for new initiatives. It will provide a full opportunity for assessing, and if necessary redirecting, our efforts to give better results.
The new road safety strategy will review all aspects of existing arrangements, measures and approaches. We will look to build on and improve our current performance in terms of education and promotion, enforcement, the regulatory environment and other critical factors. This is the first time a structured and systematic approach has been taken to road safety policy in Ireland. A similar strategic approach has been adopted by some of the countries in Europe with the best road safety records, including the Netherlands and Sweden, and I am confident that it will benefit Irish performance considerably.
There has been a steady, and in recent times a very marked, increase in the total amount of travel on Irish roads. This has risen from 18 billion vehicle kilometres in 1978 to around 34 billion in 1996. Thankfully, road accidents and fatalities have not risen in direct correlation with this trend. In fact, road fatalities over the 18 years decreased from 628 in 1978 to 453 last year. However, economic growth is undoubtedly a factor in the gradual increase in road accident numbers during the 1990s. For example, our road system in 1996 carried the same traffic volumes that only three years previously had been predicted for the year 2000. This is creating obvious problems for transport policy and administration on all fronts. However, the most critical challenge as we face into the new millennium is to keep road fatalities and injuries down in the face of increases in road traffic.
In facing this challenge and seeking new solutions we should not underestimate the impact and importance of measures taken up to now. I acknowledge the excellent work which has been done and which continues to be done by Departments and the road safety agencies. Successful measures have been adopted in the following areas among others. Recent regulations have improved vehicle safety standards in such areas as an increase in tyre thread depths, compulsory fitting of seat belts on all car seats — many people are still not aware that this includes front and rear seats — and fitting of speed governors in heavy goods vehicles. A comprehensive restructuring of drink driving law was carried out under the 1994 and 1995 Road Traffic Acts. Combined with high profile publicity and enforcement, this has led to a remarkable change in public attitudes and behaviour on this critical issue.
In relation to road infrastructure, my Department published a manual in 1996 on low cost remedial measures for accident blackspots and a comprehensive traffic signals manual for the guidance of local authorities. Major improvements have been made to road infrastructure and by the end of this year £3 million will have been spent by the National Roads Authority on their programme of low cost safety measures at 290 high accident locations on the national network. The NRA will complete work within two years on signage and delineation of the entire national primary route network and will complete within the next three years a programme of erecting signs on approaches to over 200 primary schools on all national roads at a cost of £1 million.
In the area of driving instruction, my Department has been active in seeking to improve standards. We have worked with the Irish Insurance Federation and the professions to develop better arrangements for ensuring quality service from driving instructors. Central to these efforts has been the introduction of a voluntary register of driving instructors which was established in June last year and which has been supported financially by my Department and the Irish Insurance Federation. The aim of the scheme is to improve the standard of instruction generally with the objective of improving driving standards, thereby making our roads safer.
New improved standards on the compulsory wearing of safety helmets by motor cyclists and pillion passengers have been introduced. This was in response to the disproportionately high involvement of motorcyclists in road accidents. More work needs to be done to improve safety in this group of road users. My Department has therefore recently requested the NRA to carry out a special analysis of motorcycle accidents in the past five years and to examine all the factors involved. The results of this analysis will be used to assist and inform decisions by the regulatory, enforcement and education agencies.
As the House is aware, comprehensive new traffic regulations came into force on 1 October this year. These regulations consolidated and updated existing legislation and introduced new provisions. These include enabling local authorities to prohibit the parking of heavy goods vehicles in residential areas, provision for the issue of disabled person's parking permits which apply nationally and making it an offence to park in a disabled person's parking bay without the necessary permit. The regulations also make it an offence to stop or park at a school entrance where the prohibitory road marking has been provided. On the spot fines for speeding offences were introduced by regulation almost a year ago.
Regarding enforcement, every year the Garda Síochána make thousands of arrests and there are over 250,000 prosecutions for road traffic offences. I welcome the establishment of the new Garda National Traffic Policy Bureau which was given the specific task of assisting in the reduction of road accidents. I commend the Garda on the implementation of Operation Lifesaver which is being extended on a phased basis to all parts of the country. That operation is a high profile enforcement initiative with particular emphasis on the key driving offences which cause road accidents. In the lead up to Christmas, the Garda and the National Safety Council will liaise to maximise the impact of this operation.
The National Safety Council has in the last ten years invested heavily in media and other promotional activities aimed at increasing public awareness of road safety and preventing and reducing accidents. In response to the recent serious situation, the Government has made an additional grant of £50,000 to the National Safety Council for increased promotional activity up to the end of this year. The council's most recent advertising campaign, launched last month, focuses on speeding. There is no doubt that speed is one of the primary factors in fatal road accidents. It is reported in "Road Accident Facts 1996" that, where a contributory action was specified in accident reports, the primary contributory action in fatal accidents involving at least one driver was "exceeded safe speed" in 41 per cent of cases. The new campaign appeals to all drivers, but especially to young males, to stop the serial killer inside themselves. It is a particularly hard-hitting advertisement and that is what we need. I was pleased to note the welcome for the campaign in the media from colleagues.
The objective of the campaign is to make excessive and inappropriate speeding socially unacceptable. We would all like to see a situation where it is no longer acceptable to boast in company about excessive and inappropriate speeding or about exceeding prescribed speed limits. A level of social unacceptability has now been very valuably and justifiably achieved in relation to drinking and driving. A similar culture change as regards speeding is critical to improving road safety in present circumstances.
The activities and actions which I have described generally have a national focus. However, there is much going on at local level and being achieved through the co-ordination of road safety efforts at city and county level. Working groups or committees have been established by most of the larger local authorities which have adopted the national multi-agency approach to solving the road accident problem. I welcome the joint efforts being made at local level by local authorities, the Garda, health boards, road user groups and other organisations across the spectrum of interest in the issue. It is important for those of us acting at national level to acknowledge this work being done at county, city and community level. I encourage Senators to network with local authority road safety committees and be fully associated with and support their work.
This leads to the individual road user who ultimately holds the key to solving the road accident problem in a very significant way. It is road user behaviour which dictates the level of deaths on our roads. Road users must take their responsibilities seriously and consider the consequences of their actions. That applies to all drivers in relation to drinking and driving, speeding, seat belt or helmet wearing. It applies to pedestrians walking on unlit roads in dark clothing without armbands or other reflective markers, to crossing roads in towns and cities without due regard to vehicle traffic and to walking in any place having consumed alcohol. We are wasting our time if our focus is only on Departments and agencies. We need public support for our actions and that support needs to be nurtured and encouraged on a continuous basis as we face the challenge of reducing the numbers and effects of road accidents.
The time has come for all of us to be more proactive on road safety. Society is demanding more action and is questioning the price we pay for the great dependence we have on road transport. The prevention and reduction of road accidents must be given a new impetus. I am determined, as the Minister charged with that responsibility, to achieve this. That is why the Government has directed that a national road safety strategy should be prepared and developed in the shortest possible time. Mindful of the acute human tragedy involved in road accidents, I look forward to co-operation in taking this important work forward. I would be pleased to come back to the House to debate the national road safety strategy when it has been formulated.
