Ms Sarah O'Connor:

If the only thing we were doing with regard to pedestrians, vulnerable road users and cyclists was asking them to wear high-visability vests I would be sitting here and saying "Mea culpa; we got it wrong". It exists in the broad spectrum of what we do and it is an important measure. With regard to cycle safety, our Imogen Cotter campaign is live at present. It is fixated on getting motorists to slow down and recognise that the cyclist is a person and entitled to road space, and that any collision can materially damage that person's life. Last year we invested a lot of money in our animated cycling advertisement about overtaking at 1.5 m or 1 m. We have run a number of education interventions.

I will speak a little about what Deputy O'Rourke referred to, which is our Simon and Friends programme that is run in creches. I am aware of it as a user as well as it existing in my remit, as my child is of that age. They get booklets and materials. Our national road safety education officers go to crèches and give training to the workers so they can deliver the programme. Mothers and fathers or whomever is at home gets a photocopy. It is age appropriate. The first piece is about holding hands. This is the key message. The next piece builds on this and is about looking left and right. The children also get an item of high-visibility clothing. From our point of view the high-visibility clothing is only one of a spectrum of measures that can support pedestrians and road users.

I ask committee members to understand that we try very hard to be evidence led in this instance. The European Transport Safety Council states pedestrians or cyclists can be seen at 30 m by night if they are not wearing high-visibility clothing while they can be seen at 150 m by night if they are wearing high-visibility clothing. Even though it is one of the measures it is an important one. If we look across the board in urban areas where people cycle and walk we see fatalities or serious injuries. It can save a life or prevent an injury even if it does not work in every instance.