Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this Bill which gives effect to policy decisions taken in the Road Traffic Acts of 2010 and 2011. Although the previous Government was responsible for them, I acknowledge that a strong cross-party approach was taken on all sides of the House and across the political divide. The Minister may rest assured that from my perspective, this will continue while he continues to introduce appropriate legislation to continue the efforts to save lives on the roads. I share with the Minister the sense that it is not acceptable that 200 people still die on the roads. However, in an historical context, the performance over the past ten years has been exceptional when one takes into account the increased number of vehicles on the road, as well as some of the challenges encountered on foot of the influx during that period of drivers from outside the region in which people are familiar with driving on the left side of the road. This posed a challenge and certainly was responsible for some of the patterns of death on the road. Nevertheless, the numbers have borne up well and continue to move in the right direction.

We cannot be and the Minister will not be complacent. This process certainly will become more difficult because as with any aspect of life, the principle of a diminishing return for the investment one makes holds true. Consequently, it will be harder to achieve further incremental reductions in the number of road deaths and will take much greater effort and a more sustained approach right across the various different heads.

The Minister has set out clearly the measures, both legislative and in terms of investment, that have taken place over the past ten years. As I believe they have been supported by virtually all Members, I will not go back over them. However, we need to continue our work on the motorway network, an issue I have raised in the House in the past. There is a deficiency in terms of the rest stops, which I have discussed with the NRA. We will need to be more imaginative in how we can develop the truck and car rest stops along motorways. There is evidence that people's habits require them to keep moving to the next point at which they can stop, effectively at a service stop on the road. People show resistance to exiting the motorway even though the services are available 50 yards beyond the end of the off-ramp. Unfortunately we need to work on driver behaviour to convince people that if they are tired or feeling slightly sleepy they should take the appropriate stop. Some of the work has been done. Since we raised it here before, we have seen some of the rest areas without services that are now available and open but sadly we need to do much more to ensure services and facilities are available. It does not need to be the full gambit of services and does not need to be a €3 million facility but something very small that can provide coffee and tea, and an appropriate rest area with the appropriate lighting so that people feel secure and safe particularly at night if they decide to come off the motorway.

Obviously there will be great challenges in terms of the Minister's capacity to invest in the road network. He spoke about the economic situation in which he finds himself, for which I have some sympathy. We all would have liked to have seen the road network developed in line with the National Roads Authority projections, but that will not happen and will impact on the Minister's ability to continue the effort to reduce death on the road. It will be necessary to take that into account when decisions are taken regarding resolving some particularly bad stretches of road. Priority should be given to the ones that have the best chance of delivering a reduction of deaths on the road.

It is important not to be complacent. I regard the three pillars of road safety policy being legislation, enforcement and education - notwithstanding investment in the road network. It will become more difficult to identify legislative matters that will require primary legislation. Obviously some of that will be dictated depending on how challenges appear in court. As we are reaching a point where enough legislation will be in place, we need to look at the other two areas. Enforcement is critical and it is obviously a challenge particularly following the Government's decision to reduce the number of gardaí by up to 2,000 which will impact on the capacity to enforce existing legislation. I hope the Minister uses his good offices to put pressure on bringing Garda numbers back to where they were because without that level of staffing it will not be possible to enforce the legislation we pass here and ensure offenders do not avoid detection. The threat or risk of getting caught is a far greater incentive than the knowledge that a driver is breaking the law. Some people will still take a chance regardless if they feel they will not get caught. On the one hand the Minister is doing good work by adding to the volume of legislation, but on the other hand if it is obvious to the patron of the local establishment that he or she can get away at night or whenever without detection we are sending out the wrong message and will not be helpful in the quest to reduce deaths on the road.

The Minister has seen the statistics and knows the phenomenal cost of each death on the road, not just in monetary terms but also to individual families' lives and the pressure it puts on the health service, which also has challenges as a result of the economic situation in which we find ourselves. We need a more aggressive approach to enforcement, which is not to suggest that the gardaí are not doing their jobs - they certainly are. However, with reduced numbers we have a problem.

The third pillar is the education of drivers. The Road Safety Authority is doing much more to ensure that young people start by understanding that driving is a privilege that brings with it responsibilities and the necessity to understand the destruction that can be caused if they decide to drink and drive. While relatively good work is being done in that regard, I am not sure we are communicating in the way we did in the past. The national broadcaster was very helpful at a stage when on a monthly basis it produced the statistics of those who had died during that month. That was at a time when approximately 30 people were dying per month. That was very chilling and was very helpful. Surveys at the time indicated it assisted people in taking the decision not to drink and drive. Anything that can be done in that education and communication area will back up the body of legislation.

As the focus shifts from legislation and as the pressure comes on enforcement there is a greater requirement to put more effort into educating and communicating the message, not just in terms of driver behaviour and culture, but bringing home to people that they are putting their own lives at risk. Many people do not see it that way and the Minister can make considerable progress even in a financially constrained environment.

The next item is the elephant in the room to a certain extent. While we all want to share in the positive progress made in reducing deaths on the road, there is a rural dimension to this which has been echoed by people in the Minister's party and mine during debates on previous Bills which made it more difficult for certain people in rural areas who believe very much part of their social existence is the capacity to drink a pint or two and be able to get home. It is not about driving, but about being able to get home. It is about being able to have that social interaction in a rural environment where there is not access to public transport, footpaths and lighting which would be available to those living in an urban setting. I know discussions took place under the previous Government, led by the former Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, who had responsibility for rural development. I ask the Minister to give further consideration to the rural transport initiative to find a way to give support to communities through expanding the existing transport network through the RTI which represents very good value for money.

Failing that, some particularly responsible publicans have made efforts to purchase vehicles and have set up schemes to assist them in maintaining their business by providing that service. While I am not sure what further measures could be taken, perhaps some taxation changes could be made in the budget. The Minister might consider introducing appropriate assistance by way of either tax deduction or changes to allow such people to provide that transport service. The bigger ones clearly can do so because they have the turnover and see it as an investment in the community. In the more isolated rural areas it is more difficult to provide such a facility to get people home.

I assure the Minister of our continued support for his work. I wish him well with this legislation which we will not oppose and we will not delay its passage. While we look forward to its introduction, I ask the Minister to consider introducing appropriate measures to assist those in rural areas to have access to the social engagement to which they have become accustomed and which is very much part of their lives.

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