Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

This motion is welcome. In addressing road safety, the House must have regard to the dangers posed to school children in this regard. It is nothing short of scandalous that school children's lives are being put at risk every day by motorists speeding past schools on primary, secondary, regional and country roads. As matters stands, such drivers can legally fly past schools at speeds of up to 100 km/h, which is approximately 63 mph. It takes 80 yards for a vehicle to come to a halt when travelling at 100 km/h on a dry surface. The corresponding distance is 137 yards on a wet road. It is difficult to control children at the best of times due to their youthful exuberance. It is extremely irresponsible to allow uncontrolled speeding to continue outside national schools where children congregate and interact in a robust manner.

In my constituency, a school may be located across the road from sporting facilities, which further endangers the lives of school children. It is frightening for groups of children to have to cross a main road from their school to a football pitch when motorists are travelling at up to 100 km/h. I can imagine no other country where a Government, particularly a Minister for Transport would allow the lives of school children to be put at risk in such a callous manner. Nonetheless, it appears that this reckless situation will not be dealt with immediately. This is because measures to ensure the safety of our school children are delayed to allow designers to produce new road signs.

A circular has been issued by the Department to local authorities informing them that a standardised sign is being designed. Consequently, local authorities will have to wait for the new design to be unveiled before manufacturers can start to produce the road signs. While awaiting the arrival of the new signs, our school children's lives are put at risk. There is no justification for further procrastination. I urge the Minister to ensure that local authorities can proceed immediately to create controlled speeding zones outside national schools.

See this speech in context