Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to contribute to this important debate on road traffic safety. I welcome the Road Traffic (No. 2) Bill 2011, which brings clarity to many areas. It relates to the production of a licence when a request is made by a garda and deals with the matter of mandatory breath testing. As many Deputies have spoken in detail on those matters, I intend to focus on some other areas.

I would like to reinforce the request made by many Deputies that some research be conducted on testing for drug-driving. Other countries have found there is a connection between the incidence of drug-driving and the number of road collisions and fatalities. I suspect that the incidence of drug-driving is increasing in this country. It needs to be tackled at an early stage.

I acknowledge that Irish road deaths fell to the lowest level on record in 2010. We are doing something right. There has been a major cultural shift throughout the country. Legislation can only do so much. We need to bring the general public with us and change mind sets. Improvements have been made in the wearing of seat belts, the use of child seats and the condition of cars. The advances made in safety technology in new cars have certainly helped.

I refer to the condition of our local, primary, secondary and national roads. Our national primary network has been improved significantly by the opening of new motorways. A great deal remains to be done, however. I raised the question of driver fatigue, which is the cause of one in five fatal collisions, with the Minister on a previous occasion. This country's motorway network does not have enough rest areas and service stations. There is no service station on the M9 between Waterford and Dublin, which I use regularly. This issue has to be addressed. Bus and lorry drivers and business people constantly complain that there is nowhere to pull in on that motorway. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the National Roads Authority say that drivers should go offline, but they will not do so because they prefer to drive directly from A to B, often with the assistance of satellite navigation systems. Drivers need somewhere to pull over for a rest before continuing their journey.

The issue of speed has been addressed by previous speakers. It is important that appropriate speed limits are set on our roads. Local authorities have a role to play in this respect. The new dual-carriageway ring-road that was built in Waterford city some years ago has a speed limit of 60 km/h. The narrow and windy rural roads that are adjacent to the ring-road and feed into it have speed limits of 80 km/h. The unfortunate perception that this is a revenue-collecting exercise is reinforced when people see Gatso vans on the ring-road. There needs to be some consistency in this regard. More appropriate speed limits need to be set.

I will speak about young drivers. I note the presence of many students in the Gallery. It is good that they are witnessing a debate on this issue. I commend St. Declan's community college in my constituency of Waterford. The school recently undertook a research project, at its own initiative, aimed at educating young drivers and addressing the peer pressure with regard to speed. The project has been recognised by the Road Safety Authority and the Aviva insurance company. The school has received national awards for its research in this area. I would like other schools to adopt similar initiatives. Peer pressure can cause young people to drive at excessive speeds. Research has shown that excessive speed causes one in three fatal collisions here. Equally, alcohol is the cause of one in three fatal collisions. I am not sure where drugs come into it. A significant improvement is needed in this regard.

I refer to the state of our roads. I have spoken about our motorways. We need to continue to invest in local and secondary roads. I would like improvements in the upkeep and maintenance of such roads. As overseers leave our local authorities, we lose a great deal of expertise and local knowledge about dangerous bends, dykes and gullies, and so on. The local authorities are managing our roads inconsistently. Our roads constitute a national asset. I would like an asset management system, like that used by ESB Networks, to be used as part of the management of our roads network. Every road should be given a value, based on its pros and cons; for example, how recently it last had maintenance work done on it. That value would be properly registered on an electronic database which could be accessed by any new overseer or engineer at the press of a button. The database would give him or her details of the full history of the road and its upkeep, maintenance and accident record. Such a system should be rolled out across the country. I urge the Minister to investigate the possibility of establishing such a project on a pilot basis.. It would lead to significant improvements in the safety of local roads and would represent a more efficient way of responding to maintenance demands.

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