Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House and congratulate him on his appointment and for introducing this legislation. He can be assured of my party's support in making Irish roads safer in the coming years and for many years to come. I recognise the contribution, as did the Minister, of his predecessors, Noel Dempsey and Martin Cullen, the various spokespersons on transport and the Road Safety Authority civil servants who worked on this most important legislation. I do not forget the campaign groups which kept pressure on all of us in respect of road safety.

As other speakers mentioned, next September there will be an introduction of lower blood alcohol concentration levels for drivers and drug driving enforcement, which I believe to be very important. There has been a greater emphasis on the involvement of drugs in accidents and this must be tackled. It is also important to say that in supporting the reduction in blood alcohol levels we must ensure the rural transport initiative is further enhanced. It is a very good scheme and although I would like to see more taxis available in rural Ireland, of which we do not have enough at present, there is a rural transport scheme in place which could be improved. I would like to see the Minister achieve that.

Other speakers noted we have a better road system now than we had ten years ago. One of the first motorways from Dublin was the one to Galway city which has been most successful. People in Ballinasloe, near where I live, always say they are nearer to both Dublin and Galway than they used be, which is a great boon for people in the area. I shall return to that matter because there are certain problems arising from motorways which lead to many accidents. We can be thankful there is very good driver behaviour on motorways at present but I am not satisfied we have enough service areas. I shall return to that.

Although my party supports the basic tenets of the Bill I wish to raise the matter of driver tiredness. One of the publications of the RSA offers advice for fighting sleep at the wheel, making the point this behaviour is as dangerous as driving over the legal alcohol limit. It gives three recommendations for a driver who wishes to continue driving even for one more hour. The first is to find a safe place to park; the second to drink two cups of strong coffee or stimulant drink with caffeine, the third to take a nap for no longer than 15 minutes. People who drive a great deal, as politicians do who live in rural Ireland, must be aware of that advice.

This raises the issue of service stations. Like many of my colleagues, I have been in contact with the National Roads Authority as to what can be done about them. There is a very good service station on the road I know best, at Enfield on the Dublin to Galway road but there is no other service station between that and Galway city, which is a problem. When I contacted the NRA I was given a great deal of detail about what is planned in regard to service areas. Seven are planned, one of them is in Athlone. Another was proposed for Rathmorrissey in County Galway as part of both the Dublin to Galway route and the motorway known as the M17, the proposed Galway to Tuam road, which was rejected by An Bord Pleanála. Perhaps the Minister might be able to get more information on this matter. I tried my best to promote the idea of a service station for that area. We hope the Gort to Tuam motorway will begin and I hope the Minister might press the issue with the NRA.

An interesting aspect is that some of these projects were done under the public private partnership mechanism, which is welcome. Is there a chance that private developers might be able to offer proposals for service areas? Many speakers noted that we do not need elaborate service areas, merely a basic place where people can stop. I do not mean anything as elaborate as some of the proposals made which are very expensive and would not be sustainable in the long term. The proposals made by some developers are fairly simple, basic and straightforward. I hope the Minister and his Department will look at this matter.

There is another issue concerning road safety, namely, the testing of cars. The people who carry out car testing, the NCTs, are very flexible. One can have one's car tested at the weekend, early in the morning or late in the evening. However, there appears to be a shortage of centres. For example, there is no centre between Athlone and Galway city. That is not the way to go - we should make the process much simpler. Towns and smaller places such as Ballinasloe or Mountbellew, for example, should have that facility made available. It would be simple enough to set up a test centre of that kind.

The other issue I wish to consider is research into driving with safety. There is a project called the safe drive system which I understand to be a monitoring system that will catch speeding and a company in Waterford, Big Bro Trackers, is very involved in this. Such a scheme would be most helpful to parents with young drivers in the house. It has featured in some of the research carried out. However, that is only one issue. I hope others will be examined by the Department and the Road Safety Authority, for example, the types of materials we use on our roads, the surface dressing. This issue has even been brought to Europe in consideration of safety. There are issues such as skid resistance and traffic growth predictions. There are many more cars on the road than there used to be. There are issues relating to green solutions and alternative energy sources, which the Ceann Comhairle was active in pursuing in the last Dáil. There is also the question of understanding driver behaviour. I hope such areas can be dealt with.

I was very encouraged by figures given to us by the Garda Commissioner last October, when he spoke about the change in driver behaviour. He made the point that in 2008, one driver in 150 tested positive for alcohol, in 2009 one driver in 200 tested positive for alcohol but up to October last year, one driver in 400 tested positive for alcohol. That is a significant improvement and I very much welcome it.

My next point relates to road development. I have been on a western inter-county railway committee with Fr. Michéal MacGréil, who Members know as one of the great advocates of rail. I mention this because I believe in a dual road and railway system, which is in place in parts of Ireland. A new service has operated since last year from Ennis to Athenry and I would like to see a dual system rolled out as far as possible along our motorways. It would be sensible to do so and I hope the section of the railway from Athenry to Tuam will also be progressed. Perhaps the Department will consider that in conjunction with the road network. We would have a very good system if we had both road and railways networks.

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