Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I intend to speak about road safety, driver education and dangerously defective vehicles.

I support the calls made by a number of speakers for standardised speed limits. A significant number of substandard rural roads have speed limits of 80 km/h or 100 km/h. Joined-up thinking is needed in regard to the implementation of speed limits. Perhaps the Minister can consider this issue in the context of the next road safety Bill. The manner in which speed limits are applied by local authorities should also be reconsidered. In my own constituency, a dual carriageway near the airport has a speed limit of 50 km/h. Drivers are accustomed to speed limits of 100 km/h on dual carriageways and the road in question is perfectly capable of handling such speeds. We also have rural roads with speed limits of 80 km/h or 100 km/h despite sharp bends and blind corners.

I am particularly annoyed by the issue of heavy goods vehicles occupying the overtaking lane of motorways. The spine of Dublin North is the M1, which allows me to drive the length of the constituency in approximately 20 minutes. During rush hour periods heavy goods vehicles tend to drive in the overtaking lane at their speed limit of 100 km/h. While that is safe and acceptable in terms of the speed at which the vehicles can travel it presents difficulties when driving conditions are not ideal because trucks can fly out in front of cars to get ahead of slower vehicles. A ban on heavy goods vehicles from overtaking lanes on motorways would be welcomed by the majority of car drivers.

The Bill provides for mandatory testing and allows gardaí to use their judgment and experience in deciding whether to demand a blood or alcohol sample. This toughening of the legislation is welcome. The blood-alcohol limit in 2011 should be lower than that which applied heretofore because we know about the dangers drink driving present in terms of the carnage that occurred on our roads over many years. Every year between 400 and 500 people have died on our roads. While I commend the Road Safety Authority and the Department on the steps it has taken in this area, one road death is too many.

Drug driving is an issue we should consider further when we come to draft future legislation. Drugs are, unfortunately, all too available. It is a regular occurrence for younger drivers to avail of such substances and it is almost impossible to test for them.

The previous speaker, Deputy Connaughton, referred to education. I support the approach of starting to convey to schoolchildren at a young age the requirement on them to learn the rules of the road early, perhaps even in primary school and throughout secondary school so that when they reach the age of 16 or 17 and they apply for their licence and learn to drive they are aware of the incredible dangers that exist. I imagine virtually every family in this country has lost an extended family member. I did in Castleknock almost 30 years ago. It is a heart-wrenching experience. Today, as always, a member of the Garda Síochána is present in the House. I cannot imagine that when they leave Templemore they relish the unfortunate duty of having to call to the home of someone who has died to inform a mother, father or brother that their loved one was involved in a road traffic accident especially when alcohol or speeding are involved.

I had the pleasure of attending a couple of road safety road shows in Fingal in 2008 when I was mayor of Fingal County Council. They were held in the auditorium of the Helix theatre in DCU. Such road shows are a worthwhile endeavour. An insurance company, AXA, is involved and the Road Safety Authority spearheads the programme. They bring in schools, predominantly fourth year classes, and show them footage of accidents and the knock-on effects. We should continue that approach as a tactic in the battle against the carnage on our roads.

I wish to address the issue of dangerously defective vehicles. I live close to the M1 motorway. As a recent father I am up a lot in the middle of the night and I hear cars flying up and down the motorway. I refer to modified vehicles in particular, predominantly exhaust additions to make them louder, as mentioned by previous speakers. In the Laois-Offaly Garda area, gardaí had some success prosecuting or cajoling young drivers into removing these after-factory modifications to their vehicles under legislation which, I think, dated from the 1960s. This was a couple of years ago. I would like to see a robust attitude towards the modification of vehicles purely for the purpose of increasing the noise they make. I have seen many young drivers driving around in imported Micras with huge expanders on them that make them look ridiculous. They are noisy and most distracting especially in residential areas.

I commend the NCT regime. I accept it has received a bit of stick in recent times but if we have a robust car testing system in place which is trusted by the public and that can alleviate any fears road users have about the safety of vehicles on the roads then we will take a step closer towards ensuring that we do not have further deaths on our roads. Fundamentally, the Bill is about saving lives in one way or another which must be welcomed.

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