Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The ETSC report acknowledges that road fatalities in Ireland fell by 10.9% between 2001 and 2006. More important, however, it does not reflect the fact that there has been a 25% reduction in road fatalities over the past 12 months and this downward annual trend is continuing.

Since the late 1990s, Government has adopted a strategic approach to road safety policy, with the implementation of two national road safety strategies between 1998 and 2006 and the development by the Road Safety Authority of a third national road safety strategy to cover the period from 2007 to 2012. Reviews of the previous two road safety strategies confirm the necessity of a continued integrated strategic approach to advance road safety. The primary target to reduce deaths and injuries on our roads by achieving substantial progress in the areas of speeding, drink driving and seat belt wearing is in line with best EU and international practice. The increase in the number of lives saved since 1998 can be attributed to this approach.

Significant initiatives realised over the lifetime of the two previous strategies and, in particular, in the past two years included, the extension of penalty points and fixed charges, stronger legislation, mandatory roadside alcohol testing, greater levels of enforcement and the establishment of the Road Safety Authority. The number of fatalities as a result of road traffic collisions in 2006, at 368, was the second lowest rate in 40 years.

I propose to outline some of the key measures the Government has implemented to date to achieve the reduction in deaths. The Road Safety Strategy 2004-2006 committed the Government to the introduction of a form of roadside breath testing which would address, in a positive way, the problem of drink driving. The introduction of a scheme was the subject of extensive consultation and legal advice. Legislation was introduced in the Road Traffic Act 2006 to provide for an appropriate form of roadside mandatory alcohol testing, thus providing for an increased deterrent effect. The Garda has successfully operated mandatory alcohol testing checkpoints since July 2006. The increased deterrent effect is now reflected in the increase in the number of lives saved and the fall in collision rates since August 2006. In the 12 months since the introduction of mandatory alcohol testing there have been 90 fewer road deaths compared with the previous 12-month period.

The establishment of the traffic corps was announced by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 2004. A dedicated management structure under an assistant commissioner ensures traffic enforcement matters feature at the highest management levels in the Garda. More than 800 officers currently serve in the corps and the planned staffing complement for the corps of 1,200 officers will be realised by the end of 2008.

The penalty points system was extended with effect from 3 April 2006. It features 35 separate offences, with the offence of using a mobile telephone while driving added from September 2006. Fixed charges now apply to almost 60 offences. The focus of the penalty points system is on driver behaviour. It highlights safety issues such as dangerous overtaking, failure to obey traffic lights and "Stop" and "Yield" signs and vehicles crossing centre white lines on roads.

Speed, in addition to drink driving, continues to be a major contributory factor in causing deaths and injuries on our roads. The best way to ensure greater levels of compliance with speed limits is a wider deployment of speed cameras. In this context, a much more widespread deployment of speed cameras than at present has been endorsed by the Government. Speed enforcement is suited to the use of cameras and other facilities which do not depend on the immediate presence of members of the Garda. For that reason, the road safety strategy commits the Government to the engagement of private sector interests in the operation of speed cameras.

To permit what hitherto has been a Garda activity, the Road Traffic Act 2006 contained provisions to support the operation of privately operated cameras. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is responsible for the tendering process, which is under way. In this context, the request for tender to deploy and privatise the operation of safety cameras was issued, with six companies being short-listed. They are being examined with a view to selecting the contractor by the end of this month. The national roll-out of safety cameras will commence early next year. Decisions on the locations at which cameras will be provided will be taken by the Garda in co-operation with the relevant authorities and will reflect both experience of speed related collisions and evidence of a history of speeding.

A high level group on road safety with representatives from various Departments and Government agencies has been working for some time to promote full co-operation on cross-cutting issues and an integrated approach in the development of the road safety strategy and its monitoring and implementation. In a signal that road safety is at the top of the political agenda, the Government replaced the officials' high level group in 2006 with a ministerial committee on road safety under the chairmanship of the then Minister for Transport and including the Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Finance, Health and Children and Education and Science and the Attorney General. The committee has met a number of times to pursue an integrated approach on all cross-cutting issues.

The Road Safety Authority was established on 1 September 2006 with responsibility for a wide range of functions with a bearing on road safety, including driver licensing and testing, road safety advertising and education, road safety research and the regulation of driver instruction. This provides a focus for a range of road safety related matters that were previously spread across the Department of Transport, the National Safety Council and the National Roads Authority.

The new authority enables a more integrated approach to road safety with one agency responsible for a range of road safety issues, including the development of a new road safety strategy. In this context, the RSA has prepared and submitted to me a new six-year road safety strategy to cover the period 2007 to 2012. With the RSA, I intend to launch this strategy in the coming weeks, at which time a range of new initiatives will be unveiled. I look forward to the support of all sides of the House in the implementation of the strategy's recommendations, even those that will be unpopular.

The effects of these measures are evident. The introduction of mandatory alcohol testing in July, the roll-out of additional penalty point offences, greater safety awareness and educational campaigns and increased enforcement have led to a decrease in the overall number of deaths on our roads, that is, a reduction from 396 road deaths in 2005 to 368 in 2006, the second lowest figure in 40 years. More than 90 lives were saved on our roads by the end of July 2007 compared to the same period to the end of July 2006. It is inappropriate to base trends on two months' statistics.

While I am conscious that the EU target of cutting road deaths by 50% over a ten-year period will be difficult to achieve, we are committed to and working towards that target and progress has been made in this respect. Since 1998, Ireland has seen an overall reduction of 20% in road fatalities despite a 51% increase in the number of vehicles. The number of licensed drivers is increasing, with 2.45 million licensed drivers at the end of 2006. There were more than 400,000 additional licenceholders on our roads in the five-year period from 2001.

The Road Traffic Acts provide that a member of the Garda Síochána may require a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle to provide a preliminary breath specimen where the vehicle is involved in a road collision. Garda discretion in the use of preliminary roadside tests in such circumstances exists, having regard to possible injuries sustained. Evidence of alcohol consumption is not a requirement in order for the Garda to use the powers available to it.

The Acts place an obligation on a person to provide a blood or urine sample in a hospital. This applies where an event involving a vehicle occurs and results in a person being injured, claiming or appearing to have been injured or where the person is admitted to or attends a hospital and a member of the Garda is of the opinion that, at the time of the event, the person had consumed an intoxicant. An intoxicant includes alcohol, drugs or any combination thereof.

Current legislation makes it clear that a garda may require a driver involved in a collision to provide a preliminary breath specimen. The discretion is provided in acknowledgement of the fact that urgent medical attention for seriously injured victims must take precedence over breathtesting. The Department is aware that the Garda has issued directions to the effect that it is expected that all drivers involved in serious road traffic collisions are tested unless there are overriding medical circumstances.

In recent months, a commitment has been given to the Public Against Road Carnage organisation to make it compulsory that all drivers involved in serious collisions undergo roadside preliminary testing for alcohol. My Department proposes to engage with the Office of the Attorney General to establish how the legislation can be amended to achieve roadside testing of drivers involved in serious accidents subject to overriding medical circumstances.

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