Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Some people were claiming full credit for it, regardless of whether they were involved or not.

I thank all of our guests for attending. I appreciate the work they are doing. While there is science behind it, we all know the problems. If I am right, and I picked it up from all of them, those problems stem from alcohol, drugs, speeding, tiredness, losing attention and forgetting that one is driving a large dangerous piece of equipment.

One of my questions is about Vision Zero, which is fantastic. It is where we all want to go. Almost all of this is human error. How do we manage to reduce human error? Is it more technology? Is it more telemetry? In 30 years' time we may all have self-driving cars or whatever, but we are not there yet. We all perform better when we are being watched, but what I took from Professor Cusack's statement is that the number of breath tests, urine tests and blood tests is relatively low in light of the size of our population and the number of vehicles on the road. That said, the positivity rate is quite high. This is probably because gardaí are only testing the people they are suspicious of in the first place. Do we need more of a Garda presence?

The Chairman generally takes the train. In the context of speed cameras and the average speed at which people are travelling between junctions 23 and 27 on the M7, are there any figures yet on how the monitoring of this is going? As we are all aware, people will jam on the brakes if they know there is a speed camera in place or if they see a white van with yellow stickers or whatever on it parked at the side of the road. Can we get more technology within cars? There is a vote happening in the Seanad but I think I will skip it. Can we get more technology to track people driving - perhaps in the steering wheel - to analyse whether what is coming out of their pores contains alcohol or drugs? Is there other technology in terms of tracking that if one is driving through a country village that is a 50 km/h zone and one is doing 60 km/h, 70 km/h or 80 km/h, one's car automatically sends a signal to the driver or to the insurance company that the car is not doing what it should be doing? Is such technology available and can is it capable of being used?

I have a question on speed limits. The Stillorgan dual-carriageway, with which I am familiar, has a 60 km/h speed limit. We are all familiar with rural parts of the country where there is an 80 km/h speed limit on very small roads. While it may not be possible to achieve 80 km/h on those roads, it is still permissible to do so. Those speed limits are a reserve function. I served as chairman of a transport strategic policy committee, SPC, in the past. We looked at speed limits in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. I wonder do we need to do much more on speed limits and the enforcement of them? I saw reference to 30 km/h zones. If everybody was adhering to the 50 km/h limit, it would be a good start. Certainly, there are roads in my area on which 50 km/h limits apply. When it is busy, they are busy. When it is not busy, however, people are certainly doing more than 50 km/h. I am interested in our guests' thoughts on how we enhance and harness technology in terms of in-car aids and average speed, whether it be in the context of a journey from the Dunkettle interchange to the Red Cow roundabout or a shorter distance in between. Is technology in this regard available and can it be used? Is there a reason it is not being used?

I am not sure who is the most appropriate person for all of these questions. They are for any and all of the witnesses.