Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill and wish to raise some points about it. Over the last ten years, approximately 5,000 people have been killed on the roads. The overall cost of this death toll to the community is approximately €7.5 billion, not to mention the grief caused to the families involved in such tragic circumstances. This is the background to this Bill. If one translates this figure of €7.5 billion down to every man, woman and child in this country, it equates to approximately €2,000 per person. This money could be better spent on education, health and the protection of the most vulnerable people in society. The greatest waste has been the lives of many young people who have been involved in road accidents.

If one assesses a young person who has passed the driving test and compares him or her with a young person who is about to sit the test, there is no difference in driving ability. There is something wrong about a system where the driving test does not improve a person's driving ability and in some instances disimproves it. Young men in particular who have sat the driving test gain a sense of false confidence and proceed to drive too quickly afterwards. The driving test does not achieve any of its aims. Even the report produced by the Minister for Transport's consultants concludes that this Bill will not challenge this difficulty. The report concludes that the new authority will not reduce the waiting times for learner drivers and will not improve learner drivers' standards, that the Bill is much too limited in its scope and needs to be expanded to include many elements relating to such matters as licensing and driver instructor registration and that there is a need for a road safety authority with a much wider remit that the one proposed in the Bill.

I want to address the issue of driving instructors because it was stated at the commencement of the Bill that one of its elements relates to driving instruction and the regulation of driving instructors. However, the Bill does not really address driving instruction. I think we all accept that there is a need for some type of regulation of driving instructors and that unless it is introduced, road safety will not improve. Ireland is the only country in Europe that does not have a register of qualified driving instructors. Anyone can put a roof sign on his or her car and call himself or herself a driving instructor. Driving instructors are not even required to sit the driving test and there are driving instructors who have not sat the test, yet they are supposedly teaching driving skills to learner drivers. While the former Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Bobby Molloy, introduced legislation to facilitate the establishment of a qualified driver instructors' register, this has not happened. This Bill tips its hat in that direction but does not go any further. There is still no timescale for the introduction of a register.

Section 4 of the Bill gives the Minister the power to transfer the powers under section 18 of the Road Traffic Act 2002 and section 18 of the Road Traffic Act 1968 to the new Driver Testing and Standards Authority. Other than the reference in section 4 of the Bill, there is no further reference to driving instruction in the Bill. Driving standards cannot be improved unless the issue of driving instruction is addressed because properly qualified driving instructors are needed to improve driving standards on our roads. It appears that the Minister is trying to pass the decision on who will be exempt and who will issue certificates of competency for driving instructors to this new agency. This seems to be the only purpose of this legislation. The Minister does not want to take the decision regarding driving instructors. In his response, will the Minister clarify what will happen with regard to the driving instructor register? There are other instructors who are qualified under other agencies. Will they be exempt, as indicated by Bobby Molloy when he introduced the legislation in 2001? The former Minister of State intended for there to be a number of organisations which would provide qualifications and for them to be certified by the new authority. Will the Minister inform the House which organisations will act as training bodies for driving instructors?

I have a suggestion to make to the Minister which may skirt this issue of the regulation of driving instructors which seems to be a thorny one and the reason the legislation pays such scant regard to it. There is provision within the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999 to provide for certification of different instructors. However, FETAC is not ready to certify private providers of training services. A way around it would be for FÁS to certify driving instruction courses, thus allowing the courses to gain FETAC recognition which would mean that instructor's qualifications would be recognised throughout the EU. Currently, an instructor's qualification obtained under the DIR system is not even recognised in Ireland. The current system of driving instructor training is a mess. FÁS could certify the trainers who would carry out the training and the driving training courses themselves. This could be one route around part of the difficulty that the Minister appears to be experiencing and which leads to driving instruction being ignored in this Bill. The ambiguity of this in the legislation gives rise to concerns among driving instructors as to the Minister's thinking on the issue. Will the Minister elaborate in his response?

There must be greater transparency in the driving tests and the administration of the system. We need additional testers. The Department must ensure the full complement of testers is employed, which has not yet been the case. We must also rid ourselves of the shambolic situation of having a 20% variation in the pass rate around the country, from a 35% pass rate in some centres to a 55% pass rate in others. This situation is making a farce of the Irish driver testing system. There should not be so large a range and a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on this issue recommended that measures should be taken to address the massive variations.

I recently met some driving instructors in Carrick-on-Shannon. They say that part of the reason for such a variation is the different interpretation of the rules of the road by examiners. For example, does one see a yield sign at a stop junction as a simple yield sign or as an actual stop junction? If one stops at the junction, one can be marked for a lack of progress and four of these marks would lead to a failure. The situation could be the other way around when one progresses and is viewed to have gone through a stop junction. The road markings do not correspond with the signs on many driving test routes and this is crazy.

There is a roundabout with three exits at a bridge on the N4 in Carrick-on-Shannon. Under the rules of the road, if one takes the second exit, one should indicate left when on the roundabout but the examiners say, if one is exiting after 12 o'clock, one should indicate right when coming around the junction. There is nothing about this in the rules of the road, which is supposed to be the bible for examiners and those being tested. Driving test applicants in Carrick-on-Shannon use a one-way street. However, as ESB lorries go in the opposite direction on the street, people who think they are on a one-way street meet heavy goods vehicles. This is an example of where the driving test route itself is wrong and is causing major problems in the interpretation by examiners. This could be a part of the reason we have a farcical situation regarding a 20% variation.

I am sure the Minister has digested his consultants' report by this stage. It recommends an end to the rotation of testers. This would bring some testers up to speed and ensure there is equivalence around the country. I do not know how the Minister will address this matter but it must be done, as the lack of equivalence is making a mockery of the system. Deputy Glennon spoke about the crazy backlog, which extended to two years at one stage. On average, it is now approximately 20 weeks or five months. This is another farcical situation, as it should not take so long before one can sit one's driving test. Macra na Feirme has estimated that this is costing provisional drivers approximately €50 million per annum in additional premia.

We have a 50% failure rate in driving tests on average. To be exact, the figure is nine out of every 20 people. Something is wrong with the system. If this were happening in the leaving certificate examination, there would be a significant public outcry. We are prepared to turn a blind eye in this instance. The driving test has not been reformed in approximately 20 years. The test does not take into consideration parking, emergency braking, motorway driving or other critical techniques that should be part of the competency. We must encourage a more thorough training process that emphasises scanning ahead and anticipating other road users' behaviour, which returns to the issue of the current campaign regarding pedestrians.

We should seriously examine the prospect of continuous assessment, especially when dealing with nervous applicants. There are many applicants who are competent and capable drivers who will drive in an exemplary fashion seven days out of the week but put them sitting beside an examiner and everything goes pear-shaped. The exact opposite also occurs, where people without the skills can come up to the mark in the examination and pass it. The Minister could take on the Fine Gael proposal for a logbook, a mechanism to provide an element of continuous assessment. If one had qualified and competent instructors, they could verify someone's competence through this mechanism so that the driving test does not become the be all and end all.

There are problems with the driver theory test, in particular considering our multi-ethnic population. We should think about introducing languages other than English, Irish and European languages. An audio service could be provided for persons with seeing difficulties and so forth. This must be examined in connection with the touch-screen services that should be provided as part of the theory test.

I was contacted recently by someone who rang the freephone number to arrange for an appointment for a theory test and got through to a person in the UK who could not understand the applicant's accent. Perhaps people in the UK taking calls from Ireland should brush up on their Irish brogue. We could have a number of Irish people to take the calls instead. This seems to be causing a difficulty for many people applying for the theory test.

I will return to the issue of insurance. If we are to reform the system to have a proper, sensible driving test, there must be a clear incentive for people to pass their tests. Up to one quarter of the driving population are on provisional licences because there is no difference between it and a full licence in many circumstances. There must be an incentive built into the system. We need to examine fixed discounts per year for young drivers who have been accident free on their parents' insurance. The Director of Consumer Affairs must have the authority to ensure that insurance companies quote prices and that these prices are fair. The report in today's newspapers claims that, if people shop around, there is as much as €1,700 to be saved.

The difficulty here is that many young people cannot get a quote. If they are fortunate enough to get one, many insurance companies will pick a figure out of the sky to turn them away. This is why there is such a variation. Insurance companies are not looking for their business and are not providing a fair and reasonable offer to young people. If we are to make young people respect the rules of the road, they must see a benefit for themselves. If they are safe, competent and capable drivers who have passed their driving tests, there must be recognition of this when it comes to getting insurance. The insurance companies have much to live up to regarding young drivers and they still have not addressed the issue. These companies continue to load their decisions purely on age and ignore the experience of many drivers on their parents' insurance.

I also note in today's newspapers that some people are purchasing fake licences to try to get a discount on their insurance but I will focus on a larger component of this issue in that they are quite common at present. The driving licence can be easily copied with laser printers, scanners and colour photocopiers. Some of these copies are extremely good and are many in number. While today's newspapers claim they can be bought for €100, they can be bought for much cheaper. Our driving licences must be modernised and we must use the ID systems that other European countries have. Now that we must by law carry our driving licences, they must be in a form that is easy to carry around.

I mentioned a number of problems with the current system. I note the consultants' report mentioned an increase in the cost of the driving test from €38. If the cost is to increase, we must get our act together about the lack of standards. There is a 20% variation in the pass rate throughout the country. Nine out of every 20 people who sit the driving test fail. One could shop around to find the location with the shortest waiting list and the highest pass rate. These anomalies must be addressed if we are to have a system over which people can stand. No one could stand over the current system.

I mentioned yield junctions versus stop junctions earlier. The Minister indicated yesterday that he has issued guidelines to local authorities on speed limits outside schools. However, the Minister of State, Deputy Callely, went on radio and said local authorities were not getting their act together in regard to the 2 mph speed limit increase outside schools on national primary roads and the 1 mph speed limit increase in urban areas and that the Department had not issued the guidelines to them. Given that the new measures were put in place last January, why has it taken until April for the guidelines on speed limits outside schools to be issued? The situation is farcical and should not be tolerated.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach said in the House that up to one in seven accidents on Irish roads are caused by road conditions. Will the Minister seriously consider establishing a road accident investigation unit independent of the National Roads Authority which currently compiles statistics? It is not in the NRA's interest to highlight that road conditions are part of the problem. We all know of accident blackspots which are not officially designated as such because Garda statistics are not available to back it up. There should be an independent unit in the Garda, in this authority or in the expanded road safety agency mentioned by the consultants to carry out an independent evaluation and state how many accidents are caused by road conditions.

I would like the Minister to travel on the N5 between Tulsk and Ballinagare because it is not wide enough for two heavy goods vehicles to pass. One HGV must pull into the side to let the other pass. It is a miracle there has not been a major tragedy. If the Minister is travelling to the west, I will point it out to him. It is a national scandal that should not be tolerated, is putting lives at risk and is a genuine threat to those who use that road.

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