Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I wish to share time with Deputy Cuffe.

According to the Department of Transport the new authority's primary responsibility will be to deliver a more efficient driver testing service. No one doubts there is a need for that improvement. The average waiting time for a test is 39 weeks, with the longest wait being 61 weeks and 14 the shortest, which is unacceptable. This compares unfavourably with our counterparts in Northern Ireland where the wait is only four weeks. Some people put their names on the list before they are ready to be tested because they know they must wait a considerable time.

The agency will also have a general duty "to promote the development and improvement of driving standards" and make recommendations to the Minister. It will have scope to be innovative and develop services to encourage better driving. While that is useful and important, does it go far enough? A recent article in The Irish Times stated that improving driving standards is more complicated than simply imposing more stringent methods or improving the efficiency of the testing service in general, something with which we all concur.

The consultants' report commissioned by the Department of Transport states that the legislation to centralise the operation of driver testing does not go far enough. It advocates an integrated and multidimensional approach to driver testing and safety.

It does not matter how well a driver is tested if there is not a concerted effort to tackle, for example, accident black spots. A graphic in a recent newspaper showed a cluster of black spots which was well documented. It does not take a newspaper to tell us this because local authorities plot the incidence of accidents reported to the Garda Síochána and marks them on a map. A significant quantity of data is taken which in turn becomes part of a report by the National Roads Authority. Applications are made to the Department of Transport, and perhaps also to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to address some of those. I was involved in the transportation SPC in Kildare and we were trying to see what could be done on the issue of road safety and road conditions. From that it appeared there was a small number of low cost schemes allowed for each authority in a year. That does not take account of a county with a high level of congestion which in turn has a higher number of accident black spots. A more concerted approach will have to be taken to the issue of black spots. Often there will be a cluster of accidents involving material damage and then a fatality. One can anticipate that a fatality will not occur if there is intervention.

Given the cost not least to the individual who has the accident, it is important to identity the clusters because it may be possible to avoid fatalities rather than respond to them when we see a graphic with many clusters at the same time. While the focus of attention is on fatalities, given the dramatic nature of accidents, one is more likely to have an accident between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. during peak time traffic. The congestion caused by the M50 and the roads surrounding it results in a high level of accidents. When considering the cost of changes to the M50, and hopefully removing the tolls, the costs resulting from accidents should be factored in.

According to the consultants' report commissioned by the Department of Transport, the new authority was charged with reducing the long waiting times learner drivers face for tests and improving motorists' skills. They say its scope is too limited to bring about a significant change. We have to pay attention to people when we invite them to give of their expertise. They recommend that the Minister urgently consider establishing a new road safety authority rather than the envisaged driver testing and standards authority.

During the Second Stage debate in March, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, indicated he would be willing to assign additional functions on road safety to the agency on Committee Stage. I am concerned that may be a piecemeal approach rather than a broad concept of what is required but I hope serious consideration will be given to a comprehensive number of new functions. Even if this is not the ideal it can be improved and it requires a broader remit. According to the consultants, because the new authority is not being established there is an opportunity to change the remit by amending the Bill, which I hope will happen.

On the question of attitudes and driver training, in Mondello, County Kildare, a group of transition students is taken for a training programme and a talk is given by a person who has had a family member killed in a road traffic accident. He or she speaks of the impact of that tragic event on the lives of the members of his or her family. It is important to work into the mindset that there is a responsibility once one gets behind the wheel of a car to think of other people. It is useful to see that built into driver training. It is an excellent and enlightened approach.

The article talks about not hiding speeding cameras. On a Saturday or Sunday one will almost certainly see the Gatso van on the widest part of the N4 that can accommodate a higher speed limit. A resentment builds up instead of having people on one's side. It is important not to build up a resentment where a road is built for a higher speed limit than the speed limit apportioned to it. If one was fit and had a good push bike one could, on the straight stretch, get up to 37 mph or the equivalent in kilometres. There is no danger of reaching those speeds during the week, particularly at peak times, due to congestion.

The article which was useful referred to the issue of signage and road markings. Often local authorities do not pay half enough attention to replacing very cheap road markings. Given the cost of putting a new road in, it is outrageous that the road markings cannot be seen on a wet night, a regular occurrence. Intelligible uniform signs would be a useful asset. I do not envisage that happening in the absence of an overall approach. Perhaps the Minister will examine this.

In his press release the Minister said the authority would be established outside the normal Civil Service structures and should be in a position to deliver a more focused and flexible service. That is positive because people live busy lives. It is important to reduce the length of time learner drivers are on the road. The argument that I and others make is that the authority will not have the power to influence some of the critical factors in terms of road safety.

A provision that is not in the Bill, and never will be, but one that would contribute to road safety in urban or rural areas is a comprehensive public transport system. By reducing the need for people to travel independently in cars such a system would contribute to road safety. I refer, for example, to late night taxis and the Nitelink services. We should not lose sight of the fact that there are issues other than driver testing that have an impact on road safety.

See this speech in context