Dáil debates

Thursday, 28 April 2005

Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed).

 

3:00 pm

Photo of Pat BreenPat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

I am delighted for the opportunity to speak on the Bill. In taking the helm at the Department of Transport the Minister has put the issue of road safety at the top of his agenda and I will give him every support in this regard. I might differ with him in terms of aviation issues, particularly with regard to Shannon Airport, but road safety is top of his agenda. This should be true for all politicians given the increased number of vehicles on our roads.

The Celtic tiger has resulted in an average of two to three cars per household, so there is much more traffic. The roads have not been upgraded as quickly as they should have been and have to cope with this increase.

As somebody who travels up and down the country on a weekly basis, I see at first hand the volume of traffic, particularly with regard to heavy vehicles and the amount of cargo and goods being transported. One mistake while driving a lorry can cause much carnage. I was travelling to Dublin via Limerick last week and a truck overturned on the new bridge. This caused terrible consternation in Limerick city and traffic was delayed for almost half the day. It took two hours to cross the city, a trip which normally takes ten to 15 minutes. Fortunately, nobody was injured in that incident.

Our attitude must change with regard to road safety. We should no longer accept that events just happen and are unavoidable. Accidents can be prevented and a reduction of road deaths can be achieved if the proper strategies are in place. While some advances have been made in recent times to reduce the number of road fatalities, these efforts are not working and it is time for us to seriously consider road safety.

Deputy Deenihan referred to the number of road deaths in the past three years and stated that 2004 was the worst year since 2001 representing an increase of 13% on 2003, which is of concern. As many previous speakers have mentioned, to help tackle the carnage we need better driving education, an improved, reformed and modern driving test and an environment that encourages good driving and punishes those who endanger the safety of others. In the past ten years approximately 5,000 people have lost their lives on Irish roads. In addition to the misery and suffering of the families, the cost to the community runs into billions of euro. We do not realise the astonishing scale of the problem. In 2001, one person was killed on the roads every 21 hours and one person injured every 52 minutes. Young people are at most risk as they drive faster than more mature drivers. One young person is killed on the roads every two days.

While the Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 tries to address these problems, it has some flaws. The Bill proposes to establish an authority, which will be responsible for the delivery of the driving testing service. The new authority will have responsibility for testing and control of driving instructors and vehicles. The legislation also gives the authority the power to outsource these functions. While this may be fine in theory, I do not know how it will operate in practice, given how central government works. I note that the Minister said last night in the Seanad that he was prepared to make amendments to the Bill, given that his Department recently commissioned a survey by Farrell Grant Sparks, which was published in yesterday's edition of The Irish Times. I question whether the Minister will go far enough with his amendments.

I understand the consulting company stated that the scope of the new authority, charged with reducing the long waiting time for learner drivers to be tested and improving motoring skills, is too limited to bring about significant changes. It recommended centralising all aspects of road safety. The Minister should reconsider his proposals for the Driver Testing and Standards Authority to see how road safety can be improved. Deputy Ring referred to the self-financing of the authority and the costs for those involved in tests. Driving tests will increase in price from €38. We all know that learning to drive is a costly business. Driving lessons are quite expensive. A learner may need to sit the driving theory test on many occasions and those who repeatedly fail will need to take more lessons. This is in addition to road tax and insurance.

On cost grounds the Minister is proposing to reduce the number of test centres from 54 to 35. Under this plan each county will have a testing centre with the larger towns and cities having additional sites. Today County Clare has three centres, the main centre in Ennis and other centres in Shannon and Kilrush. I hope these centres will be retained. While the Shannon centre is very important, as a Deputy coming from and representing west Clare, I know the Kilrush centre is important for the people of west Clare and I hope it will remain regardless of any changes the Minister might propose.

I know the report the Minister commissioned found that the computer systems in the Department and the test centres are outdated with a high risk of system failure. They need to be updated and replaced as soon as possible. I know the Minister had a difficult experience with computers for electronic voting in his previous job at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

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