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Road Safety.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 July 2004

Wednesday, 7 July 2004

Ceisteanna (260, 261)

Paudge Connolly

Ceist:

257 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Transport the rationale behind his decision to make the wearing of seat belts compulsory for taxi drivers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20584/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Under the Road Traffic (Removal of Exemption from Wearing Seat Belts by Taxi Drivers) Regulations 2004, S.I. No. 402 of 2004, which have recently become law, the exemption which allows drivers of taxis, hackneys and limousines not to use seat belts has been removed.

The decision to remove the exemption was made on the advice of the advisory council to the commission for taxi regulation which has a wide ranging membership including taxi, hackney and limousine representatives.

Overwhelming evidence exists of the effectiveness of the wearing of seat belts in reducing the chance of injury or death in a motor vehicle collision. On this basis I consider that the wearing of seat belts by the drivers of taxis, hackneys and limousines not only improves their own safety but that of their passengers.

Paudge Connolly

Ceist:

258 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Transport his plans to address the inconsistencies evident in the application of standards required to pass and fail the NCT; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20585/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

As required by EU law, testing of certain passenger cars has been mandatory in Ireland since January 2000. The National Car Testing Service Limited holds a ten year contract to carry out testing on behalf of the State. The company was awarded the contract following an international public tendering competition, which was conducted in accordance with EU procurement law.

The contract for the operation of the national car test, NCT, requires National Car Testing Service Limited, NCTS, to meet a range of performance standards for the service. These cover customer service, premises, test equipment, staff, test arrangements, facilities management and management information technology. The performance standards are designed to ensure test integrity and consistency across the testing network together with a high level of customer service. The contract provides for penalties, including financial penalties, and for the termination of the contract in certain circumstances for failure to carry out the service in accordance with the performance standards.

My Department monitors all aspects of the operation of the NCTS to ensure that it delivers the car testing service to the required standards. To assist the Department in this function a supervision services contractor, a consortium involving the Automobile Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers with engineering, financial, legal, IT and operational expertise, has been engaged and is working to an agreed programme for the Department. This programme includes detailed monthly operational audits of the company's performance; quarterly controlled checks to ensure that consistent test results are obtained across the NCTS test centre network; each month reviewing the performance of a sample of vehicle inspectors as they carry out tests; carrying out spot checks without any advance warning on a representative sample of cars that have just undergone the NCT; carrying out detailed interviews with a representative sample of customers to assess customer satisfaction levels; and a comprehensive annual review of the company's overall performance.

The test integrity measures are in place to ensure testing is carried out to the necessary standards across the network. As a consequence customers can be confident that there are no variations in the standards of the test no matter where it is conducted on the network. Because of these safeguards, test outcomes represent the actual condition of vehicles presented for test. Results for 2003 show a pass rate of 52% for first tests and 90% on retest.

Since 2000 when car testing commenced the customer satisfaction rating for NCTS has at all times been above the contract standard and the satisfaction rating has improved year-on-year. The customer satisfaction rating was determined using proven and reliable scientific methods for such purposes and involved telephone interviews and structured interviews of representative samples of the customers. The high level of customer satisfaction is also borne out by the small number of complaints received by the company in relation to the service. In an operation involving 631,257 full tests and 303,320 retests in 2003 complaints arose in relation to 0.10% of the vehicles tested.

Question No. 259 answered with QuestionNo. 143.
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