Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

When the Minister spoke about road safety, he referred to "a new intervention to highlight the danger of low-level speeding, or driving a few kilometres per hour above the speed limit, and the consequences of this for vulnerable road users". I am sure everybody here agrees that any effort or initiative to prevent road fatalities or accidents is to be welcomed and actively encouraged. There is a fine line to be drawn here, however. Anybody who drives knows that the modern technology now available in cars can cause a sensation in the cabin of one's car that lulls one into a false feeling of security. One thinks one is driving at a slower speed than one is driving at. I hope the Minister understands what I am saying. The speed of one's car does not always connect with one's brain. Cruise control has been a great innovation. I use it all the time, particularly in urban areas. The speed limits in such areas can be quite complex, particularly around Dublin but also in some other cities in Ireland. I will give the specific example of the M4 motorway, which I often use. When one comes off that road at 120 km/h, one is immediately requested to go down to 60 km/h at a stretch of road that leads one to Palmerstown, where the speed limit is 30 km/h. After one has passed Palmerstown, one travels on a stretch of dual carriageway that has no urban landscape at all but has trees on either side of it. The speed limit on this 2 km or 3 km of road, as far as Inchicore, is 60 km/h. From time to time, I see the Garda road traffic corps supervising drivers on the Palmerstown and Inchicore sides of this dual carriageway. I have no doubt that people are caught speeding at this location, perhaps when they are just a few kilometres over the speed limit.

I understand that the Minister's predecessor embarked on an overall nationwide evaluation of speed limits. Has this exercise been completed? I am not saying it should be easier for drivers to speed, but I think there should be a bit more consistency. If the speed limit goes up and down along a certain route, it is inevitable that drivers are going to get caught. I have mentioned an inconsistency along a stretch of road that was built primarily to increase traffic speed, or to make travel more efficient for commercial and private drivers. There is a similar situation on the Naas Road. The speed limit one has to observe as one comes off the Naas dual carriageway, from the Red Cow as far as this side of Inchicore, goes back down to 50 km/h or 60 km/h. All I am saying is that drivers coming off a high-speed roadway are being asked to reduce their speed in this way immediately. I am not suggesting that the Minister has the solution to this problem. I am raising it in the context of the Council suggestion that we should be more proactive in ensuring those who drive a few kilometres over the speed limit are done for speeding. I wonder whether that is really the best way to go in terms of compliance. Perhaps there is some other way around it. I reiterate that I am in favour of anything that is going to reduce road fatalities. I am concerned that certain inconsistencies, particularly in the examples I have mentioned, may not be helpful as we seek total compliance with the speed limits.