Mr. Sam Waide:

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. Good afternoon everyone. I express our thanks to the committee for the opportunity to speak to it on Ireland's recent road safety trends. We are deeply saddened to acknowledge the tragic loss of life on Ireland’s roads in 2023, to date in 2024 and previous to that. I extend my condolences to the bereaved families throughout the country, in addition to those with serious injuries, which are life-altering for both the individuals and their families.

We last spoke to the committee in September 2023. We have now analysed collision data for that full year and I would like to first outline key statistics from 2023. I will then discuss some of the emerging trends we have seen in 2024. A total of 185 people were killed and 1,438 were seriously injured on Irish roads in 2023. During this year, the monthly fatalities average was higher than in any of the previous six years, at 15 deaths per month. In 2023 there were higher numbers of young lives lost than in any of the previous five years. Tragically, we lost 12 children under the age of 16, and 48 teenagers and young adults aged between 16 and 25 years died on our roads. Some 47% of road deaths occurred late at night or in the early hours of the morning. This is an increase compared with 2022. Of those, 48% occurred during the weekend. Regarding location, rural roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h or more accounted for almost seven in ten of all deaths in 2023.

In a recent European Commission publication, Ireland was ranked in sixth place among the EU member states for deaths per million population for 2023, having been placed third the previous year. Unfortunately, similar patterns in road user deaths in 2023 have continued into 2024. Provisional analysis of collision data from 1 January to 21 April has indicated further fatality increases. The number of deaths that have occurred on our roads this year to date is 64 and the two additional deaths as of this morning takes that to 66. While the monthly average for fatalities last year was 15, this is at 19 deaths per month for this year. It is also important to acknowledge that more than 300 people have been seriously injured in road traffic collisions.

While it is not yet possible for An Garda Síochána to confirm the primary contributing factors to fatal collisions in 2024, our data shows 25% of fatalities occurred between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., while 36% occurred late at night or in the early morning. Research suggests these periods present greater risks in terms of driver behaviours like drink-driving, taking drugs and driving, and fatigue. International research and our data shows dangerous driver behaviours, including speeding, intoxicated, distracted or fatigued driving, and the non-wearing of seatbelts, are key contributory factors to road deaths. Global leaders at the Transport Research Arena last week in Dublin confirmed Ireland is not alone in facing road safety challenges. Few EU member states are currently on track to meet the target of halving the number of road deaths by 2030, as per a recent EU audit. A 1% overall decline in road deaths among the EU 27 was achieved between 2022 and 2023. During the conference, international experts emphasised that road safety requires funding and political support, critical to saving lives. They also acknowledged the essential role of education, technology, engineering and enforcement in improving safety on the roads, with many experts highlighting increases in dangerous road user behaviours post pandemic. In line with this, I would now like to outline some of the key road safety initiatives needed to improve road safety in Ireland, and those being progressed.

The RSA’s communications focus for 2024 is speed, distracted driving, drink-driving and vulnerable road users, which includes cyclists, older pedestrians and e-scooters. I will set out some initiatives since our previous committee appearance. From late 2023 to early 2024, we developed a campaign with messages around dangerous road behaviours that targeted young people, especially males. The campaign included night-time radio and digital audio, digital channels and geo-targeting and budget upweighting in counties where there were increased road fatalities. Historical hard-hitting adverts were rerun, including Siobhan and Gillian’s "Crashed Lives" adverts in the run-up to Christmas last year. There was the "Anatomy of a Split Second" mobile phone distraction advert run in January, and our chairperson, Liz O’Donnell’s, leadership message ran from November 2023. In that month and in March, the RSA aired a 30 km/h campaign on how reduction in urban speed potentially saves pedestrian and cyclist lives, especially those of children, and reduces serious injuries among these vulnerable road users, which predominately take place in urban areas.

Vision Zero’s aim is to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries on Irish roads by the year 2050. The RSA ran a campaign over six months with three distinct phases to generate public buy-in to this national effort. The RSA also ran a brand-new radio and digital campaign called "Say it" with stations across the country. That was an appeal to call out poor behaviour with friends, colleagues and family. We are currently running a hard-hitting campaign with Imogen Cotter outlining her experience of serious injuries and asking motorists to slow down and pass wide of vulnerable road users. Imogen Cotter is a cyclist who was the victim of a road traffic collision and a serious injury that changed her life.

The recent announcement of approval for the RSA to invest a further €3 million of our reserve funds to increase awareness and education programmes means we have already upweighted campaigns such as the Imogen Cotter piece in addition to targeting speeding on rural roads, drink-driving and driving under the influence of drugs, and the consequences of becoming a disqualified driver. The RSA will hold its first ever youth representative forum next week to support young participants on their road safety priorities and to help young people. We thank the Department of children, the Ombudsman for Children and many youth organisations for their support in this. In May, the RSA will air its new e-scooters TV-led campaign, which will help all road users to understand how they can share the roads safely with e-scooter users while also helping new and prospective e-scooter users to understand which rules of the road apply to them. The RSA has undertaken an audit of its existing education services and interventions and is developing a plan going forward to reach communities with impact and continuity. As an immediate step we are updating the existing teacher-led transition year programme, for roll-out from September, and working closely with the Departments of Education and Transport and other voluntary road safety educators. We are also to roll out a pilot programme for festivals and colleges, targeting the 18-23 age group and using the 360° rollover simulator.

Regarding further speed-related actions, speeding both increases the likelihood of road traffic collisions occurring and the severity of injury sustained should a crash occur. The Department of Transport is leading on the implementation of the recommendations of the speed limit review. TII has commenced the development of Ireland’s first-ever national strategy for road safety cameras. Three sites have been identified for the introduction of average-speed cameras and an additional nine sites are being considered.

As for actions on legislation, the Road Traffic Act 2024 was enacted on 12 April. This new legislation will initiate the process of co-ordinated speed limit reviews being conducted by the local authorities, delivering safer default limits. It will also facilitate the administration of multiple sets of penalty points where multiple traffic offences are being engaged in at any point in time. In addition, it will make drug testing mandatory in the same circumstances where alcohol testing has been mandatory to date.

On enforcement-related actions, research clearly demonstrates that greater levels of high-visibility enforcement will reduce dangerous driving behaviours and collisions on our roads, and we urge sufficient resources for dedicated policing of our roads. We welcome the implementation of the Garda's 30 minutes of high-visibility policing proposal.

I move to data sharing for road safety. I wish to discuss the priority activity which is being progressed regarding the sharing of road traffic collision data. This work has progressed in collaboration with other agencies, with oversight from the partnership board for road safety. The purpose is to ensure sufficient legislation is in place to safeguard the continued sharing of detailed collision data. The Department of Transport has also engaged with the Attorney General’s office on this subject.

While solutions were being investigated and progressed, the RSA shared key variables from the road traffic collision data set, which has continued to support local authorities in their evidence-led decision-making. As has always been the case, local authorities receive data on high-collision locations for the national road network from Transport Infrastructure Ireland. I confirm that collision data provided to the Department of Transport is being centrally analysed. From this analysis, I am informed that "locations of interest" are notified to each local authority by the Department of Transport. The Department invites applications from local authorities for low-cost safety schemes. My understanding is that in 2023 55 locations of interest safety schemes were applied for and funded and in 2024 60 locations of interest safety schemes were applied for and are being funded and implemented in this financial year. In the coming weeks, the RSA and others, including An Garda Síochána and the Department, will work together with the preparation of the necessary submission to the Data Protection Commissioner as part of the process of legislating. I have included greater details on this work in our submission, and my colleagues will be happy to answer any questions on this matter.

With regard to updates on the main services the RSA delivers, that is, national car testing and driver testing services, during our visits to the committee, the performance of the NCT has been a topic of discussion. As committed, the service returned to within the service level agreement during the month of December. The booking lead time at the end of March was 15 days, as against the SLA of 12 days. In addition, the number of customers on the priority waiting list has decreased from a high of 65,000 in February of last year to 4,000 at the end of March of this year. The RSA is engaged with Applus to improve the customer experience, ensuring sufficient testing capacity, an improved NCT website, a local training and education programme and the identification of new testing techniques to improve operational efficiency for the remainder of the contract term. This committee previously engaged with me and my colleagues on the suitability of the NCT contract and the term. I can confirm that an independent review of the contract and the terms of same has taken place and they have been deemed appropriate for the nature of the contract. My colleague, Mr. Brendan Walsh, would be happy to take any questions on this matter.

With regard to the driver testing service, I can confirm that the number of learner drivers available, eligible and waiting for an invitation to book their driving tests is 60,385, down from 71,932 in September 2023. That is a decrease of 16%. At the end of August of last year, the waiting time for a driver test was 30.4 weeks. Additional driver testers, new scheduling technology and the commitment to deliver additional tests through overtime have resulted in a reduction in the waiting time to 15.6 weeks as of the end of March of this year. As committed to the transport committee, the service will be back to its normal SLA by the summer of 2024.

In summary, we are deeply concerned about the high number of people who have died or been seriously injured on our roads to date this year and last year and the related trends. We must reverse these trends together. Immediate, collective action from all relevant agencies, with a cross-government approach, including key road safety stakeholders and communities, is required to achieve this. We are particularly grateful that our chair and I were able to meet An Taoiseach, Simon Harris, last week to progress these items. It is critical that road safety remains a priority investment for the Government and that increased levels of awareness, education, engineering and enforcement are implemented. Phase 2 of the Government's road safety strategy will be developed over the coming months to ensure that effective priorities help to reduce fatalities and serious injuries beyond this year. That concludes my opening statement to the committee on requested matters.

I thank my dedicated RSA staff across the organisation, who have worked incredibly hard during and after the pandemic, delivering services to improve safety on our roads. I am joined by my colleagues, Mr. Brendan Walsh, Mr. Michael Rowland, Ms Sarah O'Connor and Ms Nessa Kelly. We are happy to take questions members may have about our submission, my opening statement or any other matters pertaining to road safety.