Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

The presentation of the subject of road safety for discussion today and tomorrow allows me an opportunity to outline the progress the Government and other agencies engaged in road safety are making in pursuing our plans on an ongoing basis.

The current rate of road deaths provides the general background to the motion tabled by Fine Gael. It looks in particular at the number of road deaths in October. I have no intention of minimising the concern society rightly has when it witnesses the deaths of 43 people over a period of one month. That concern is shared by the Government.

It is disturbing that the rate of progress achieved in reducing road deaths in 2003 has not been maintained or improved upon. However, I express some caution in looking at data relating to road deaths over short time periods. Dependence on the consideration of data over short periods, such as monthly totals, masks the fact that such data can be influenced by particular tragedies that result in multiple deaths and injuries. Of far greater relevance is the establishment of trends that are sustained over relatively long periods. Provisional data for this year reveals wide variations on a month-to-month basis. Road deaths in October were at a level that was nearly double that of the previous year. However, it is a fact that in other months this year the numbers of fatalities were significantly lower than those experienced for the same months in previous years.

Looking at data for the years since the introduction of the first road safety strategy, it is clear that there has been a measurable decrease in road deaths compared with preceding years. The Government will not be complacent, however, by suggesting that we are content with the situation. We are not and our aim is to see that major reductions in the current levels of road deaths are sustained over the long term.

Road safety is a multidimensional area of public policy. It engages a range of Government and other agencies which must work together to achieve concrete, lasting results. That is why in 1997 the Government adopted the national road safety strategy. This represented the first time road safety planning and initiatives were placed within a distinct policy framework. That framework featured a set of specific goals based on the delivery of progress across a range of areas. Previously, road safety policy had been fragmented and initiatives were pursued on a singular basis.

The adoption of a more strategic approach was pursued, in the first instance, against the realisation that the persistent growth in vehicle numbers and negative trends in road casualties required a concerted and integrated response. An immediate focus of the consideration of the response was the realisation that, internationally, those states where the greatest level of success had been achieved in reducing road casualties on a sustained basis, had adopted strategies that were planned nationally and pursued against a background of the realisation of specific targets.

It is likely that if we had not adopted a similar approach we would have seen the maintenance of the level of casualties that had been prevalent through the 1990s. In the period between 1990 and 1997 the average annual number of road deaths was 442. This compares with an annual average of 400 since the adoption of the first road safety strategy. In the past three years, the average number of road deaths was 362.

Given the focus of the motion from Fine Gael, it would be appropriate to reflect briefly on the delivery on the commitments made over the past eight years within the framework of the first strategy.

In the area of drink driving alone we have seen the delivery of a range of major initiatives. In 1999, the roll-out of evidential breath testing was completed. Through the Road Traffic Acts 2002 and 2003, the circumstances by which a driver can be required to undergo a preliminary roadside breath test were extended. In addition to the situation where a member of the Garda Síochána forms the opinion that a driver has consumed alcohol, any driver who has been involved in a collision or who may have committed a traffic offence may be required to submit to a roadside breath test.

The 2002 Act also featured the first comprehensive review of monetary penalties for road traffic offences since 1984. A major feature of the 2002 Act was the introduction of the penalty points and fixed charge systems. The initial effect of the application of penalty points to speeding offences was a dramatic reduction in the rate of road deaths. While the scale of reductions realised in the months immediately following the introduction of the system has not been maintained, the number of road deaths annually over the past three years is significantly lower than the levels recorded in preceding years. It is clear that the system has made a positive contribution to road safety since its introduction.

The Road Safety Strategy 2004-2006 also presents commitments to pursue major policy initiatives across a number of key road safety areas and progress is being made in the metrication of speed limits, the establishment of a Garda traffic corps, the further roll-out of penalty points, the engagement of private sector interests in the operation of speed cameras and the pursuit of an appropriate form of random breath testing for drink driving

It is accepted that excessive speed is both a primary reason for many road collisions and a major contributing factor in determining the degree to which the collision gives rise to casualties. A review of our speed limit structure against the background of the adoption of metric values was targeted as one of the central legislative initiatives to be pursued as part of the strategy.

The process that underpinned the adoption of the new metric speed limit system was supported by the passage of the necessary legislation in December 2004, which was followed by the provision of some 58,000 signs showing the new speed limit values. The latter exercise was completed by local authority personnel over a short period leading up to 20 January, when the new system took effect. Not only did this system see the adoption of metric speed limit values, it also saw a reduction of 16 km/h in the speed limit applying to the rural regional and local roads.

The new legislation confirmed the central role of the elected members of county and city councils in making determinations for changes to the speed limits applied under the legislation and gave them the capacity to deploy a greater range of speed limit values, including the 30 km/h speed limit. The legislation also allowed for public engagement with local authorities making speed limit changes.

The establishment of the dedicated traffic corps last year by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform with a distinct management structure under the command of an assistant commissioner addresses a particular commitment given by the Government. The Minister has achieved his commitment to increase the strength of the corps to 563 members by the end of 2005. When fully staffed, the corps will make significant gains in road safety through consistent high levels of traffic law enforcement. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has in recent weeks reiterated his commitment to rolling out the traffic corps and announced the deployment of additional Garda resources to Donegal given the number of tragic collisions in that region in recent months. By the end of 2008, traffic corps strength will more than double to 1,200 gardaí.

The establishment of the dedicated traffic corps will not impact on the capacity of all other members of the Garda to address road safety issues and pursue those who breach traffic laws. However, the growing presence on our roads of a dedicated highly visible corps of officers will be a greater deterrent to the type of behaviour that leads to road collisions.

One of the key policy initiatives proposed in the original road safety strategy was the introduction of the penalty points system. The system was applied to speeding offences in 2002 and has subsequently been rolled out to the key offences of not using a seat belt, driving without insurance and careless driving. The significant downturn in road deaths recorded in late 2002 and into 2003 reflects a reaction to the deterrent effect of the penalty points system. That effect has dissipated somewhat since then. I share the frustration of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, that we are not yet in a position to extend the application of penalty points. However, we intend to extend penalty points to a range of additional road safety related offences as part of the next phase of the system's overall roll-out as quickly as possible. This extension will depend upon and be supported by the application of the necessary information technology support framework which is being developed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Garda.

The road safety strategy commits the Government to engage private sector interests to deploy and operate speed cameras. A working group, established to examine the general framework for this proposal, acknowledged that it will be necessary to engage private sector interests if we are to reach the critical mass required to meet the enforcement targets for speeding offences in the road safety strategy. Legislation will soon be brought forward to provide an appropriate statutory basis for the pursuit of this proposal, initially through the development of an appropriate tendering process which will be informed by the key recommendations set out in the report of the working group.

The report of the working group, which will inform our pursuit of this initiative, presents a template for its operation grounded in road safety. The Garda will have a general supervisory role in the management of the initiative and, with the assistance of the National Roads Authority, will be responsible for choosing sites for the placement of cameras. Sites will be selected by direct reference to collision history and prevalence of speeding incidents. The group has recommended that there be no connection between revenue collected from detections by privately operated cameras and the funding of the operation.

The road safety strategy provides that random breath testing should be in place before the end of 2006. This is seen as a particularly successful element of road safety policy in many states. In pursuit of the commitment given in the road safety strategy, my Department has engaged in a detailed examination of the possible approaches that could be adopted in this country to give the Garda greater powers to impose roadside breath tests. This has been informed and supported by the receipt of independent legal opinion and the opinion of the Attorney General. Our policy in this area must be pursued in the knowledge that significant legal challenges have been presented to the current drink driving laws. The Minister, Deputy Cullen, has invited the Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and the transport spokespersons of the political parties to meet him next week to discuss the adoption of a policy in this area that will command cross-party support.

The process of establishing the road safety authority is well advanced. Its legislative basis is the Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 which has completed Second Stage in the Dáil. The principal purpose of the Bill is to establish a driver testing and standards authority whose primary responsibility will be the delivery of the driver testing service and the regulation of driving instructors. The authority will also have a statutory duty to promote the development and improvement of driving standards.

During the Second Stage debate the Minister indicated that establishing a separate public sector body to deliver the driver testing service and take responsibility for other functions connected with the testing and control of drivers provided an opportunity to assign other general road safety functions to that authority. As a consequence, the Government decided to amend the Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill 2004 to enable it to assign other functions to the authority. This will ensure that the authority can play an important role in improving road safety in general. In view of these amendments, it is proposed to change the title of the driver testing and standards authority to the road safety authority and that of the Bill to the road safety authority Bill.

The road safety authority will be a single agency with responsibility for a wide range of functions which have a bearing on road safety and will be in a unique position to co-ordinate and advance the road safety agenda through delivery of road safety programmes such as the testing of drivers and vehicles, driver education and the promotion of awareness of road safety in general. The authority will play a significant advisory role to the Minister in the development of road safety policy.

To facilitate the road safety authority, the road safety functions of the National Safety Council will be transferred to it.

As the Bill already provides that the authority will have a general duty to "promote the development and improvement of driving standards" it is appropriate that the educational brief of the NSC, together with its brief for the promotion of road safety, be transferred to the authority.

In the road haulage sector the authority will take responsibility for the functions currently exercised by my Department regarding driver hours and rest periods, including the tachograph, the working time directive for mobile workers in the road transport sector and the implementation of EU requirements regarding bus and lorry driver vocational training. In addition, the authority will also be enabled to enforce the relevant regulations in these areas as well as the conditions applying to licensed road haulage operators. Responsibility for implementing new requirements under EU directives on professional driver training in this area will also be assigned to the new authority.

While the Bill already provides for vehicle testing to be transferred to the authority, it is proposed to also transfer other functions relating to the standards that apply to vehicles sold or used in Ireland, as required by EU directives, and all related matters. Work in this area includes EU vehicle type approval law, standards for in-service vehicles, commercial vehicle testing and oversight of the NCT.

Major improvements in Irish road safety have taken place over the past 30 years. The annual road death toll had reached into the 600s during the 1970s, whereas between the early 1990s and 2001, it stood in the 400s. Since 2002, the highest annual number of road deaths experienced was 376. This significant improvement has been achieved in the face of increasing traffic volumes and road travel.

A range of factors has contributed to the delivery of this improvement. It is no coincidence that the improvements have coincided with the adoption of a strategic approach to road safety policy through the implementation of road safety strategies. However, the Government is not satisfied with the current situation. We recognise that the achievement of the overall target in the road safety strategy is a major challenge. We are fully committed to meeting that challenge and to continue to advance road safety in a concerted and co-ordinated manner. I commend the amended motion to the House.

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