Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I attended the oral hearing on the widening of the M50 because I was interested in transport campaigning before I got involved in politics. In the past 30 or 40 years we have seen a significant improvement in road safety, as I said earlier. Much of that is down to legislative provisions on drink-driving, safety belts, airbags and a range of different measures which have helped us to reduce the terrible carnage that used to occur on our roads. In some ways, we in the political system can take credit for that.

There is another truth when it comes to road safety. One of the changes that has occurred in the past 40 or 50 years is that there has been a significant reduction in the number of young people walking and cycling to school, in particular, as well as in everyday life. That has had a very deleterious effect on their health as well as on the ability of parents to allow children to go outside and not have to drive them everywhere. In truth, much of the reduction in road fatalities is because we have taken people away from the roads. There has been a significant increase in car traffic volumes. It is safer in terms of accidents per kilometre and so on, but we have created an environment that is inherently unsafe for young people and pedestrians and cyclists, in particular. That needs to change.

This can be the situation in rural and urban areas. Country roads can be very difficult to walk on and some towns may not have the same resources as others. Therefore, this is an issue for the whole country.

Our next step forward in road safety must be in trying to change the basic characteristics of the transport system. I refer to a modal shift and a reduction in travel overall. We cannot continue to increase the amount of travelling undertaken all the time. More than anything else, though, we must create a safe space. It is especially important we do so for our younger people and enable them to walk around their areas, get to know their own neighbours and be able to visit their friends. I met representatives of the RSA last week and the point I made was that what is important is the necessity for wider change in the whole transport system to make it safer, in addition to the provisions being made here.