Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I advised them to walk. This is typical of what happens in every pub in every town, and we must change. The attitude of a nod and a wink and accepting avoidance of enforcement is a culture that does not help us.

A "Prime Time" programme shortly before that had shown a young man who was crippled for life in a road accident. He would spend up to 50 years in a wheelchair and his family would have to support him for this period. It was a heartbreaking scene but one that could have been avoided. The excessive level of accidents on our roads should not be tolerated. To reduce it we must change the attitude that we turn a blind eye by telling people coming out of a pub which way gardaí have gone. We must enforce our traffic regulations or we will continue to have young men and women in wheelchairs for life or killed. For this reason I support the Bill.

On an average three mile trip one makes approximately 450 decisions, many of which are made subconsciously. One makes decisions when one sees another driver considering overtaking and moving out. Out of 450 decisions, each of us will make one mistake. The vast majority of mistakes do not lead to collisions but on average, of every 50,000 km we drive, we will make a mistake that causes a serious collision. Anything we can do to reduce the number of mistakes is a positive development. Drinking alcohol drastically changes the number of mistakes made at the lowest level. Driving with a mobile telephone in one's hand alters the number of mistakes we make and will lead to increased carnage if we allow this to continue.

While enforcement and education are needed, good engineering is also required. Outside the gates of this House, there is no safe way to cross from Buswell's Hotel to Leinster House. The pedestrian crossing arrangements are unacceptable. We must concentrate on that if we are to take road safety seriously.

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