Brian Walsh (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has been most progressive in the legislation he has presented since he assumed office. This is the fifth road traffic Bill he has brought before the House. Any constructive legislative measures aimed at reducing the number of lives lost on our roads are to be welcomed and commended. The Bill is another step towards doing that.

Significant progress has been made in road safety in the past decade and a half. Between 1997 and 2012, the number of road fatalities in this country annually has fallen by almost two thirds. On this side of the House we are quick to criticise our predecessors for things they got wrong, but in fairness, we must compliment them on the work they did on road safety. I refer to the former Ministers Martin Cullen and the late Seamus Brennan, who did a huge amount of positive work, as the current Minister is doing, to improve the situation.

The positive trend we have experienced in the past decade and a half can be attributed in part to developments in the law pertaining to risk factors such as alcohol testing, the strengthening of the law on the use of seat belts, speeding, and the roadworthiness of vehicles. The reduction in fatalities and improvements in road safety have also been thanks in no small part to the vigilant enforcement of the law by the Garda, which is at the coalface of every campaign and legislative measure. Without the hard work and vigilance of the Garda in enforcement the measures might not have been as successful.

In addition, we have succeeded in fostering a new culture surrounding road safety in Ireland through awareness campaigns and education programmes under the auspices of the RSA. There has been notable success, in particular, in combating the prevalence and perceived acceptability of drink driving that there once was to disastrous effect. Most Members of this House will recall a time when the pilgrimage undertaken by both sets of supporters, such as last weekend's All-Ireland final, would have been punctuated by boozy pit-stops during which it would not have been strange to see the designated driver indulge in a few pints.

However, this culture has been consigned to the past and, accordingly, both the number of road fatalities and the proportion in which alcohol is a factor have been dramatically reduced.

As legislators, we cannot reflect on that reduction and consider that we have done enough. A single fatality is one too many and an increase in the number of road deaths to date this year should act as a warning against complacency. On listening to the debate this week, it struck me that it might seem callous to speak about road deaths solely in terms of statistics. It is important to remember that each one represents an individual, namely, a parent, a child, a sibling or a partner. With each fatality, multiple lives are irreparably damaged.

I have no doubt that the Bill will further the progress made by successive Governments in reducing the number of lives lost on the roads each year. To this end, the increase in penalty points for certain offences proposed in the legislation seems sensible and proportionate with the statistical correlation between those offences and their role in serious road traffic accidents. Among the new offences that will attract penalty points is the contravention of rules for the use of mini-roundabouts. While in principle I support this provision, I suggest that if there is to be regulation of the use of mini-roundabouts, there should also be greater regulation of the provision of mini-roundabouts and the form that they take. There has been some frustration among my constituents in regard to a series of new roundabouts constructed along Grattan Road in Salthill and along the coast. The area covered by the white paint demarking each mini-roundabout on the coastal thoroughfare is so small that it could easily be confused with something that might have dropped from a well fed seagull, rather than something designed to govern the flow of traffic. The mini-roundabouts are very difficult to negotiate properly and, in the case of larger vehicles, impossible to negotiate properly and represent merely a bump on the road. Perhaps some guidance for local authorities is required in this area if the law is to be implemented fairly and effectively, or, at the very least, elaboration on what precisely will constitute an offence under the relevant section of the Bill.

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