Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

I welcome the Bill. It is important that Bills should deal with the need for road safety, regardless of what aspect of road safety is being dealt with. We are dealing mainly with the driving test aspect here today.

Deputies on both sides of the House put forward proposals here today with which the Minister cannot deal in this legislation. Some great ideas were put forward on both sides on how to the take the necessary steps to ensure our roads are safer, namely, to change the mindset of the Irish people. If the Minister can walk out of the House today and say he has achieved this goal, he will have done an enormous amount of good. It is not possible in the short term. In the long term, however, this legislation, plus impending legislation, can be of assistance. Ultimately, it is all about changing people's mindset to get young people, adults and even senior citizens to recognise the importance of road safety, protecting oneself, one's neighbour or a complete stranger. Unfortunately, one could be involved in a fatal accident and families who are complete strangers to each other could suffer the loss of a loved one because of someone's lack of competency, understanding or knowledge of the basics of road safety.

As someone from south Kildare, I am aware of some tragic accidents in recent years. Three people were killed in one accident, four in another and three pedestrians were killed. I could go on and on about such accidents. I have no doubt the same could be said for other Members of the House.

We appear to blame gardaí for remaining in one spot with the speed gun, which is not a logical response. If gardaí sat in the one dangerous spot about which Deputy Wall told the local superintendent, would it change things? I doubt it. Once people become aware of what is going on, they reduce their speed on that stretch of the road because they know where gardaí are positioned. I am sceptical about the criticism of gardaí taking the handy option because people continue to exceed the speed limit on motorways and so on. If someone is caught for speeding, he or she should be penalised, irrespective of where he or she is caught.

We are putting too much emphasis on the fact that gardaí are taking the soft option. People want to know where gardaí are positioned so that they can break the speed limit when gardaí are out of sight. People are often aware that a garda will be positioned at a bad junction or an accident blackspot because the superintendent has succumbed the pressure from people in his area and decided that a traffic corps should be situated in the area. I no longer agree with this idea. We must change people's mindset. We must educate young people so that they will benefit if they obey the rules of the road. If we succeed in getting people to read the road signs, we would be halfway towards changing their mindset. If we all read them, would we not be halfway towards changing that mindset? When I am travelling on a dual carriageway at the speed limit, which is 100 km/h, I must move over frequently to allow cars to pass. Otherwise I would be cut off the road by people who do not or do not want to recognise the signs. These are the people who say gardaí are not in the right spot. Gardaí should be at the blackspots but also at the good spots at which the signs are clear and where one should not break the rules of the road. People break the rules every opportunity they get.

This Bill will assist in addressing this problem. Other Members referred to increasing the level of driving instruction given to the young. We must do this. Deputy Keaveney mentioned television advertisements. There is nothing wrong with these advertisements. They are tough and strong. We have seen advertisements warning against the dangers of smoking and drinking and driving dangerously. I have always maintained that there should also be advertisements showing what drugs can do to a young person's life and their effects on his or her family and friends. There is nothing wrong with taking a tough line in this regard to highlight the tragedy that can be caused by one stupid act upon the road, for example.

There has been a great increase in traffic recently and this is generating problems with road surfaces and drainage. Perhaps the National Roads Authority and the local authorities have a different opinion on this than me. The great volume of traffic is leaving a coating on the roads which results in a slick surface and problems with water spray. It is a nightmare driving in proximity to large trucks on wet days. They travel at the same speed on wet days as on dry days. One wonders whether something can be done to reduce the speed at which people drive on wet days to protect drivers. The coating of rubber and oil prevents drainage which would allow roads to dry quickly.

The legislation is to change the format of the driving test at driving centres. There are three driving test centres in my area: Portlaoise, Carlow and Naas. There is a considerable backlog at each because of the population increase in this area of the midlands. There has been a considerable population increase in all major towns and even in the villages in counties Kildare, Laois and Carlow. This means young people who apply for driving tests must wait for long periods before they are tested, and therefore they have difficulty obtaining insurance because of the high costs involved.

A youngster who attended my clinic some days ago said he received a quotation of €6,000 for insurance. He could not even consider this and was anxious to determine what could be done about it. One must ask whether people in this position will take the chance of driving on the roads without insurance. One must also consider the effects of doing so.

I am concerned about the high failure rate in driving tests. Between 35% and 55% of candidates fail their tests at various centres. This reflects on driving schools' ability to transfer their knowledge of the rules of the road, given that they know exactly the route a driver must take with the tester on the day of his or her test. Drivers attending these schools may take five or ten lessons. If one goes to an area with a driving test centre, one will be sure to see teachers from one or two schools of motoring teaching people on the route of the driving test. Consequently, one must ask why the failure rate is so high.

Deputy Naughten said that if the leaving certificate failure rate was as high as that pertaining to driving tests, there would be cries of amazement. Certainly steps must be taken to reduce the high failure rate. Section 4 states that one of the functions of the new authority will be to regulate driving instructors. This is necessary because the failure rate is such that major questions must be asked. Showing a driver the route of the driving test is the equivalent of giving examination papers to a leaving certificate student before he sits his exams. Driving instructors have the equivalent of the examination paper in their hands to give to applicants for tests, yet the driving test failure rate is between 45% and 65%. This problem should be alleviated. I hope that when the new authority comes into being, one of its first tasks will be to put in place a mechanism to ensure that driving instructors are properly qualified.

Some Members spoke about speed limits outside schools, making reference to both national and county roads. I attended a meeting with a school board of management some nights ago at which it was stated that motorists not only disobeyed the speed limit outside the school but also ignored the lollipop person when he or she signalled to them to stop. If this is the case, the Garda should certainly address it. If a driver were to disobey a lollipop person, it could have catastrophic consequences.

When an applicant presents himself to a driving examiner, he is often refused a test for seemingly insignificant reasons. In such cases, he must go to the end of the waiting list for a retest, which could take months. If the applicant needs to renew his insurance in the meantime, it can be terribly costly.

I received a phone call during the week from a young man who went to a test centre to sit his test but was not allowed to proceed with it because the glass in the car was tinted. This implies there must be something wrong with the car. If so, why do we allow cars with tinted glass on the road? If the applicant was breaking the law such that the examiner would not allow him do his test, he and his parents, who owned the car, must have been doing so on a regular basis. There is a need for leeway to be granted when a car is roadworthy and safe mechanically. Some leeway should be afforded for a minor problem such that the tester notes the problem and tells the driver that before the certificate is issued, he or she must return with a letter stating the problem has been rectified. The driver should not have to go back on the waiting list for six or seven months for a new test because of a small matter that does not affect the roadworthiness of the vehicle.

Deputy Keaveney said that people involved in accidents do not have to give samples. Someone told me recently that because his general practitioner was not available, a sample was not taken. I do not know whether that is true. Out-of-hours services such as KDoc provide only one doctor after 6 p.m. Thus many GPs are not available to their regular patients. This is a grey area. I am not sure it is true that a person involved in an accident can insist on having his or her GP present before giving a sample. If it is the case, this should be addressed to ensure that those involved in accidents do not get away with driving under the influence of drugs or drink.

There is a continuing problem with regard to drink driving. At certain times of the year, such as Christmas and Easter, the increased vigilance of the traffic police is advertised. I would prefer increased vigilance without a public announcement. When it is announced for bank holiday weekends and so on, people are on the alert. To change the mindset of these drivers we must make them suffer. I do not suggest that I am pure and everyone else is wrong, but when we inform people this will happen at a particular weekend, we diminish the force of the examination of drink driving.

The licensed trade must also take responsibility. There is a continuing problem in that regard. Publicans know that a person who has taken drink has a vehicle outside their premises but make no effort to deal with this by asking the person's friends to drive him or her home.

It is difficult to change attitudes to speeding and drink driving. I hope this legislation may increase the chance of young people being tested, improving their driving skills and seeing a benefit by way of a decrease in insurance premiums. In that way we can make Ireland a safer place for all those using the roads.

The final issue is that of the area licence or the problem of a senior citizen in an area who is unable or too frightened to go for a driving test. I do not have a solution to this problem. It is difficult to see how an area licence would function given the increase in traffic in rural areas. It may not be feasible. I understand, however, the case made that if one partner in an elderly couple who always drove the car were to die suddenly, it would be difficult for the surviving partner to access the local town, shops or friends owing to the lack of public transport.

I wish the legislation well. Some people will criticise it but legislation moves an issue to the foreground and this Bill has made proposals which provide food for thought. I hope the Minister for Transport will take some of our comments on board. If he cannot include our suggestions in this legislation he may find a way to do so in further legislation or by amendments to existing legislation.

See this speech in context