Mr. Sam Waide:

I thank the committee, through the Chair, for the opportunity to speak to members today to discuss the new Government Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 and speed limit reductions in urban areas. The first topic is the Government Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. Our Journey Towards Vision Zero, Ireland’s fifth Government road safety strategy for 2021 to 2030, was published in December 2021. This transformational strategy was designed in collaboration with key road safety partners, international experts and the public. More than 2,000 submissions were received from the public as part of the consultation process to develop the strategy.

The primary aim of the strategy is to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on Irish roads by 50% over the next ten years. This means reducing deaths on Ireland’s roads annually from 144 to 72 or lower and reducing serious injuries from 1,260 to 630 or lower by 2030. The strategy will be delivered in three phases. Phase 1, which runs from 2021 to 2024, is backed by a projected €3.8 billion investment and includes 50 high-impact actions and 136 support actions. Two further phases are planned up to 2030. The strategy is also the first step towards achieving vision zero, which is the elimination of all road deaths and serious injuries on Irish roads by 2050. These targets are also in line with European Commission and UN global road safety goals.

The strategy is led by a safe system approach covering the following seven areas: safe speeds; safe and healthy modes of travel; safe vehicles; safe roads and roadsides; safe road use; safe work-related road use; and post-crash response. The safe system approach emphasises the shared responsibility among those who design, build, manage and use the roads, including vehicles, to prevent or reduce collision impacts. It also includes those who provide post-crash response to mitigate injury. Ireland’s road safety strategy for the next ten years will be delivered with a heightened focus on the provision of infrastructure and vehicle safety enhancements, improved road user behaviours and enforcement in addition to post-crash response. All priority actions for the strategy sit within the safe system approach and are included in the briefing document submitted to the committee.

As the committee asked that we address the subject of speed limit reductions in urban areas, I will refer to the safe speeds element of the aforementioned strategy. It involves consideration of road and vehicle planning and design, the setting of injury-minimising speed limits, as well as public education and awareness, and the enforcement of these limits. The phase 1 action plan of the strategy includes five high-impact actions under safe speeds and these are listed in the briefing document.

Excessive speed continues to be a leading contributory factor in fatal and serious injury collisions in Ireland and internationally. It has been estimated that 10% to 15% of all collisions and 30% of fatal collisions are the result of speeding or inappropriate speed. Implementing lower speed limits, for example 30 km/h limits in urban areas, will have significant safety benefits, particularly for cyclists and pedestrians. These include reducing the likelihood of collisions occurring and reducing the risk of death or serious injury, should a collision occur. The WHO has estimated that a 5% reduction in average speed could result in a 30% reduction in fatal collisions. Safe speeds can also result in decreases in emissions and noise pollution, and improved traffic flow on our roads.

Evidence shows that many drivers are choosing to speed in our towns and villages. The RSA’s free speed observational study conducted in 2018 found that over half of cars observed on urban roads were speeding. Our attitudinal survey conducted last year found that a third of drivers exceed 50 km/h limits by more than 10 km/h at least sometimes. To put this in context, if pedestrians or cyclists are hit by a vehicle at 60 km/h, 90% of them will die, but if they are hit at 30 km/h, 90% of them will live. In addition to this, many drivers are distracted while driving which puts cyclists and pedestrians at greater risk. Our survey found that 19% of drivers use their phone to read messages and emails at least sometimes while 12% admitted to using their phones to check social media while driving. We must reduce the risks posed to pedestrians and cyclists, who face an environment where many drivers are speeding and are dangerously distracted.

Urban speed limits should not serve to benefit drivers but rather benefit active travel and protect pedestrians and cyclists. Ireland is falling behind the rest of Europe in setting 30 km/h speed limits. There have been several roll-outs of 30 km/h or 20 mph speed limits by municipalities around the world. Spain set a national 30 km/h limit for all urban roads with a single carriageway in each direction in May 2021. Wales has made progress in its plans for a national 20 mph default limit for all built-up roads, to be implemented in 2023. Scandinavian countries already have a 30 km/h limit for most urban roads, with Oslo and Helsinki recording zero pedestrian deaths last year with 30 km/h as a key reason. There are other examples including in the briefing document submitted to the committee.

Our challenge and the challenge for legislators is to keep raising the bar and finding new and better ways of making our roads safer, especially for the most vulnerable members of our community. In Ireland, road deaths have declined by almost 70% since 1998. Reducing road deaths and serious injuries by 50% over the next decade is achievable. Vision zero by 2050 is also achievable and given our road safety journey to date, no target is too ambitious for us. The starting point is recognising that road deaths or serious injuries should not be the price to pay for our mobility.