Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

Notwithstanding the fact that some would try to portray the Bill as being the panacea for road accidents and road fatalities, I must disagree with some of my colleague's points. The Bill is part of a larger picture that must be seen in the context of what it can or cannot achieve. For the record, it is important that I lay out the purposes of the Road Traffic Bill. It provides for the reduction of the blood alcohol limit from 80mg to 20mg in respect of professional drivers and to 50mg in respect of all other drivers. It revises the associated penalties, including driver disqualification. It provides for the mandatory alcohol testing of all drivers of mechanically propelled vehicles involved in road collisions. It clarifies the minimum disqualification period that must be served before a driver may apply to the courts for restoration of his or her licence. It provides powers to assist gardaí in a crucial matter, namely, forming an opinion as to whether a driver is under the influence of an intoxicant, be it drink, drugs or a combination thereof, and allow them to carry out preliminary tests like coherency tests, etc. It consolidates and restates the provisions of previous Road Traffic Acts on intoxicated drivers and amends certain fixed charges and other minor issues.

Road safety comprises three main points, the first being better detection and enforcement of rules. This relates to speeding, alcohol excess, drug excess and general road manners and the enforcement of proper driving, pedestrian and cyclist codes. As many Deputies have mentioned, particularly those from outside urban areas, it is important that we provide road users with suitable alternatives. On the one hand, taxi drivers complain that there are too many taxis in this and other cities while, on the other, there is a dearth of alternatives to the car in many isolated areas, villages and smaller towns.

The third point is the provision of safe roads. When one delves into the statistics, accident black spots are undoubtedly not accident black spots purely because people who have drunk an excessive amount of alcohol decide to drive on them. Generally speaking, it is down to a combination of factors. Black spots are dangerous by their nature. They are located in isolated areas and tend to be at the end of faster, better roads. County Donegal's black spots have been well documented. As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle presumably knows from commuting to Leinster House for a long number of years, work on sections of the N11 in County Wicklow from the Beehive to Jack White's Cross, as it is called, was put on the long finger several times by the Minister for Transport's predecessor, the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Martin Cullen, when other roads saw fruition. One part of the N11 only opened yesterday.

All of these issues are relevant in our discussion on reducing the number of road accidents. Everyone is aware of the devastation caused by drink-driving. It is important to state that ours is not a country in which people developed overnight a love of going to the pub. In rural areas, it is ironic that one used to be required to live at least three miles from a pub to get a drink after hours. I could never understand the logic of this. It was before I was of an age at which I was allowed to drink.

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