Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Road Safety Authority, Garda Síochána, Department, road users and everyone else involved in achieving a substantial improvement in the figures relating to road traffic fatalities in recent years. While one death on the roads is a death too many, we are on the right track. I am concerned, however, about what appears to be a spike in road traffic fatalities so far this year. This emerging trend should serve as a wake-up call for those involved with the road safety strategy and, in that regard, I welcome the Minister's statement that it is proposed to implement a new strategy.

When does the Minister expect the Road Safety Authority to publish a breakdown of the figures on road deaths for 2011 and 2012? Could new software or systems be introduced to speed up the publication of figures on road traffic collisions and fatalities, especially the latter? I presume the same template is used to present the figures every year. As far as I could ascertain from the 2010 figures, they do not include information on cases involving driver fatigue. It should be possible to extract figures on the distance road users have travelled prior to a collision. While this information may not be available in all cases, it would be helpful to have such figures included in the annual reports of the Road Safety Authority as they would indicate the extent to which driver fatigue was a factor in accidents.

I note from the 2010 figures that the majority of accidents involving fatalities occurred in dry conditions and on straight stretches of road. This is an extraordinary statistic. Fatigue is a major issue.

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