Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on this very welcome Bill, which builds on the success we have seen in recent years in reducing road fatalities. I echo the remarks of the Minister and others in acknowledging the work done by Mr. Noel Brett, the first CEO of the Road Safety Authority, who is moving on to a job which I suspect will be no less challenging, which will be to represent the Irish Banking Federation. I do not believe the huge drop in road deaths is down to one man, but it was under his stewardship the Road Safety Authority spearheaded bringing about the fundamental changes we have seen in driver attitude and behaviour in recent years which has saved many lives.

Prior to the establishment of the Road Safety Authority and Mr. Brett's appointment, driver behaviour and attitudes were fundamentally different and we have forgotten this. Drunk driving was not just commonplace, it was largely socially acceptable. Seat belt usage was regarded as girly behaviour and car journeys were regarded as the perfect opportunity to make mobile phone calls and send text messages. All of this has changed and not because we are better people but because for the first time we have had road safety policy measures driven by the results of rigorous research and evidence-based measures operating in other jurisdictions. The Road Safety Authority is to be thanked for this. Legislation, regulation, enforcement, technology and engineering investment have in recent years had a solid justification based on this research. Many of these changes were not popular when they were introduced but no one can gainsay the results they have brought about in terms of lives saved and injuries avoided.

The results are also thanks, as has been mentioned, to the tremendous enforcement work done by the Garda and the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, and we should not forget our engineers in the public and private sector and in local authorities throughout the country who, in conjunction with the Road Safety Authority and the National Roads Authority - now the National Transport Authority - built a motorway network which has been a major road safety success, and they continue to implement road safety measures in counties throughout the country. These are funded as generously as they can be because it is recognised engineering makes a difference to road safety.

Deputies of all parties in the Chamber have been heartened by the falling number of road deaths and have always supported the many legislative changes, unpopular as some of them were, which underpin this regime. The legislation builds on the success of recent years and the regime which has so successfully influenced driver behaviour and attitudes. Notwithstanding the increase this year in road deaths, and one will always have years which will not follow the trend, the constant updating of the legislation will improve this and there is no doubt attitudes are changing. It is appropriate and necessary to review the road safety regime on an ongoing basis as well as providing for the measures included in the new road safety strategy.

By and large, I would welcome all of the changes envisaged here. In particular, I welcome the ongoing effort to ensure the testing of drivers following accidents, whether that driver is incapacitated or not. I fully appreciate the concerns that have been expressed about bodily integrity and civil rights but I believe the rights of drivers have to measured against the rights of innocent people on our roads to be protected from drunk drivers. I also welcome the provision for future roadside drug testing, notwithstanding the difficulties in finding an appropriate comprehensive testing device. It is important to pursue the testing objective when it is clearly demonstrated that the taking of drugs influences judgment and impairs driving.

I would broadly support the introduction of elements of the graduated driving licence for learner and novice drivers. These are absolutely justified by the disproportionate numbers of young people who are killed on our roads.

I welcome the changes to the penalty points system. I would sound a small note of caution on the danger of the whole system becoming so over-regulated that it becomes ineffective. All of these changes are worthy in themselves but they make demands on the administrative system as well as on enforcement resources. The reality is that the main dangers on the road remain speed, drink, fatigue and inattention. It is vital that enforcement focuses on those main causes of accidents and fatalities. My worry is that if we get bogged down in enforcement of minutiae, such as the contravention of rules for negotiating a mini-roundabout, logging driving hours and the like, we may lose sight of the wood for the trees. Of course, it is important that people know and observe the rules. None the less, I caution that we should not place such pressure on our administrative and enforcement procedures. We have limited Garda resources and I would not like to see these issues taking attention from the big-ticket issues which are the cause of accidents, particularly speed and drinking.

In all of the debate and literature around the legislation, the one figure that stood out and appalled me is that of the allocation of penalty points. More than 250,000 penalty points - that is, almost 40% of points - could not be issued because no licence holder was identified. I accept that some of these drivers are probably from Northern Ireland and some may be foreigners visiting us. However, the reality is that it must be down to the fact that there are so many untaxed cars on the road, because it is through the taxation office that the licence holder is located. If we are not locating them, this is down to untaxed cars. That 40% of penalty points may not reflect 40% of cars, but it could be very close to that. If these drivers can effectively drive with impunity, it makes a complete farce of the penalty points system and completely undermines its value in ensuring safe driving behaviour. To me, it is more than galling to find us in here legislating for a whole new panoply of penalty points only to realise they will only have application to maybe 60% of drivers, and that the rest are untouchable and will get off scot free.

The lesson here has to be that before we go chasing down drivers for minor infringements, we should concentrate resources on chasing down those untaxed cars. We have had great success in bringing down the numbers killed on the roads and a large part of that is due to the behaviour-changing impact of the threat of penalty points. However, if that threat only applies to a portion of drivers, then we are undermining the value of the system and all of the resources we devote to it. I believe we should be merciless in bringing those drivers and their cars into the enforcement system so that it applies to everybody. While these new measures in the legislation are welcome, to be really effective and, indeed, to have public acceptability among law-abiding citizens, they have to apply to everybody.

See this speech in context