Dermot Fitzpatrick (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Things have moved on since then, with the speed of traffic and the sophistication of vehicles. In many cases our roads are unable to handle these vehicles well. The National Roads Authority is addressing that issue. However, we still have many problems with drivers. Many drivers are not careful and have not bought into the culture of safety that is so necessary now. In his speech yesterday, the Minister mentioned the frightening number of deaths on the road so far this year. Many of these people were pedestrians. The speed at which vehicles now travel mean that people are badly injured if not killed outright in road accidents.

The Minister has said that more instructors will be employed and has promised a new Garda traffic corps or considerably more gardaí allocated to traffic duties. The Minister should meet the assistant commissioner who will deal with this matter. In my experience driving around the country I notice that the gardaí with speed guns are normally positioned on very safe parts of the motorway. I would have thought that any Garda district superintendent would have a map on the wall of his office showing the accident black spots in his area and would send gardaí to monitor and control traffic in these areas until the local authority or National Roads Authority got around to improving the roads in such areas.

The previous speaker spoke about separate licences for motorways etc. Before anybody is allowed behind the wheel of a car he or she should be required to complete a certain number of hours on a simulator in a driving school, as airline pilots do. We would not dream of letting an airline pilot behind the controls of an aircraft, no matter how small, without him or her having completed a set number of hours on a simulator. The same should apply to potential drivers. Before they are given a provisional licence they should be required to show evidence of having completed the required number of hours in a simulator.

The Bill seems to focus entirely on motorists and drivers of heavy goods vehicles. However, other road users are stakeholders in driving safety. I refer to cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. I frequently cycle around the city and due to the slowness of the traffic I find it quite safe to cycle in the inner city. However, on the main roads out of the city with heavy goods vehicles travelling at 60 or 70 mph the experience can be somewhat less than enchanting. Pedestrians must also buy into the culture of safety. Many of them seem to believe that the footpath and the road are coterminous and it is possible to step from one to the other without looking to see if it is safe to do so. On Committee Stage the Minister might place more emphasis on this aspect.

I would like to speak about elderly drivers.

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