Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have spent much time discussing the enforcement of speed limits and drink-driving limits. I have raised with the Department, the Minister and the RSA the use of technology to prevent the crime form happening in the first instance. If we have an agreed blood alcohol limit in legislation, the use of an alcolock device will ensure that a vehicle cannot be activated by a person who is over that limit. That would perform a service for the general public and for person who is not sure if he or she is over the limit or it would remove the possibility of he or she losing his or her licence if he or she cannot activate his or her vehicle. An argument could be made that because speed contributes as much to road fatalities, if not more, than people who drive over the blood alcohol limit, that a person who drives at speed should also lose his or her licence. Where do we draw the line in terms of what is and is not an appropriate response?

There is technology that can limit the speed at which a car can be driven. Limiting the speed at which a vehicle can be driven to 120 km/h, which is the motorway speed limit, will not prevent a person from driving at an inappropriate speed in a 80 km/h zone or on a country road incorporating a 50 km/h zone or in a built up area, given that 25 out of 40 road deaths last year involved non-motorists in 50 km/h zones. Global positioning system, GPS, technology could also be used to enforce the law in that if one drove over the speed limit in a 50 km/h zone, one could be caught by virtue of one's GPS information. That would represent a massive leap forward. It would change the game completely in terms of the figures we are dealing with, but I do not see any urgency about this in the Department. Would the witnesses view the use of such technology in this respect as representing major progress and would they be in agreement with its use? Ms Price spoke about adhering to the speed limit in a 80 km/h zone. We have all had that experience. When one sticks to the speed limit, one can be guaranteed that one will be overtaken and some people even have the audacity to toot their horns as they pass because they one are in a hurry and one is in their way. It will lengthen journey times, but are people willing to make that little sacrifice? I would be in interested to hearing the witnesses' views on that.