Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

How does one follow Deputy Bernard J. Durkan?

The technical nature of this Bill should not confuse people because, ultimately, it is a matter of road safety, something on which we should never compromise. It is good that we can rectify the error and bring forward this legislation early. It is important to put things in context because we have come a long way on road safety and driver behaviour. How many of us would travel in a car without wearing a seatbelt? How many of us would contemplate driving without motor tax and insurance? How many of us would drive without having our tyres checked? These are things most of us now do automatically and it is welcome that it is a driver's responsibility to ensure a vehicle is safe and roadworthy.

It is important that we have greater transparency in the operation of the national car test, NCT, because, anecdotally, all of us have been told about issues regarding the availability of test centres. It seems that there is a lack of flexibility in how people are looked after, particularly taxi drivers who rely on their vehicles to earn a livelihood. It is important that they have certainty in this regard.

Members have spoken on the issue of speed cameras. I have reservations about the locations of some speed cameras in my constituency. We need a proper debate on the reason for speed cameras because the real purpose is supposed to be deterring speeding and a reduction in the number of fatalities, but it sometimes seems to be like a revenue-generating measure. I know that road safety is a priority of the Minister's, but the number of fatalities is a source of concern because it rose last year for the first time since 2005. Those of us who drive the route every week know that the motorway from Cork to Dublin is probably the safest in the entire road network because driver behaviour is pretty good, the road surface is very good and the engineering is good. The only major issue one generally faces on it is the backwash spraying towards one's windscreen from lorries on wet nights. However, when one leaves the motorway and traverses country roads, issues arise. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan referred to the issue of road maintenance. We need a real debate with local authorities, the National Roads Authority and the Road Safety Authority on keeping the road network fit for purpose. We all have examples of roads with huge potholes, but such information is useless to those who have died and been injured on the roads. It saddens me greatly that my own county, County Cork, recorded the highest number of fatalities in car accidents last year.

We must get the message across that the most dangerous time of the day on the road is between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., according to the evidence available to me. This period covers the school rush and some driver behaviour around schools creates bedlam. We must educate parents and, in particular, children on road safety. Equally, people take chances in rush hour traffic by breaking lights, speeding and doing things they should not in order to get home. We must educate drivers to be more mature because most fatalities occur among drivers from 18 to 35 years of age.

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan touched on the speed limit review. I welcome the decision of the transport committee to examine the issue of speed cameras. Speed limits should be reviewed because they make no sense on some of the roads in my rural constituency. The limit is too low in some cases and too high in others; many roads have an inappropriate speed limit of either 80 km/h or 100 km/h. The purpose of speed limits is to reduce speed, but we need to question what we are doing in this regard because speed limits are failing in their purpose. In some parts of my constituency people race to beat the traffic lights or take certain turns in the road to cut driving time.

We have to be honest with ourselves. We need to have realistic speed limits that deter speeding and that are not dangerous to the road user.

I was travelling on a road last Sunday from Abbeyleix to Carlow when a motorist passed out two cars at once on a particular stretch. It was the will of God nothing was coming. There as no way he could have seen any oncoming traffic. It was the will of God that the person in that car was not hurt or killed. Yet the limit on that road was 100 km/h. To me, that made no sense. For part of the journey on that road the limit was 80 km/h. The car in question was going so fast that my car and the car in front went down to 30 km/h because we got such a fright. All of this concerns me because I do not think we get the message about education yet, although I know we have made changes to the penalty points, and that is important.

The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald, has referred to the issue of transparency in penalty points and said that we are in a new era. I welcome that. I have always held the view, as a person and a politician, that if a constituent got penalty points then he deserved it, and if I got them then I deserved it. I had them once although, thankfully, I do not have them any more. I was attending a conference in Tralee before the 2007 general election. When I was coming out of Farranfore and heading home to go canvassing, I did not observe the speed limit. A garda stopped me and I got a fixed charge notice and penalty points. That was fair enough. I learned my lesson. It was a built-up area and I should have slowed down. The speed restriction applied on the road until the sign indicating a speed limit change, and that is fair enough. I learned from it, and that is important, because driver behaviour is something we should always educate people about.

I have often thought that although we have all passed our driving tests, we should consider how we drive now. I am not advocating that people should have to do a refresher course, but I often wonder whether we could bring people in for a spot check to see how they behave on the roads. I am 47 years of age, which means I am 30-odd years with my driving licence. Has my driving behaviour changed? I know it has, but have we challenged ourselves about how we use our cars on the road? What if we picked ten licences per year and brought those people in to do the test again? It is not that they would have to re-sit the test, but they could do it as a trial to see how they get on. We cannot become complacent about road safety. I know the Minister shares this view.

I commend the Minister on his initiative to introduce this change quickly. We can never allow a situation to develop whereby a lack of money for the Garda Traffic Corps is tolerated, if that is the situation. I am unsure whether there has been a reduction in the Garda Traffic Corps presence. Anyway, particularly at this time of year, it is important that we remain vigilant regarding the issue of alcohol and alcohol consumption. My final appeal is to those who are contemplating consuming alcohol and driving. I urge them not to do so. This is about our lives and the lives of people we love and cherish. That is why it is important always to keep road safety to the forefront of what we do.

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