Mr. Michael Nolan:

The Chairman asked a number of questions related to road safety, which I will now address. First, I was asked how the TII decides on the priorities for work on safety improvements and the locations of the work. There is an EU directive on road infrastructure safety management. We rank the whole road network on how sections of the network perform in relation to what an average piece of that type of network would deliver on. We identify the location of clusters of incidents where the accident rate is twice the national average for that type of cross section. We work with local authorities. We identify about 200 locations annually, where we see clusters of incidents above the normal. Following an appraisal it is decided whether an engineering, enforcement or education solution is required. We work with the Garda Síochána and the local authorities on the issue. Of the 200 locations we identify on an annual basis, between 40 and 60 locations might require an engineering solution. We then start working with the local authorities to consider what the solution might be. This is how we identify issues. We get calls from local authorities. We may be working off Garda accident records that are two years old. At present we have validated data up to 2014. We have data that has not been validated for the years of 2015 and 2016. We rely on local authorities and public representation to identify the location of the recent spate of incidents. Because of funding, we have to deal with clusters of accidents that are twice the national average for that type of road section. We deal with them first. We do not have enough funding to deal with locations, where there have been no accidents, but it could be an accident waiting to happen.