Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The legislation sets out the enactment of the so-called Jake's law on speed limits in housing estates, drug driving and also the mutual recognition of offences across the Border in the Six Counties.

I will concentrate mainly on my county of Donegal and some of the very serious issues we have faced in recent years.

While a significant hike in the number of road deaths this year is being experienced in Cork, according to the Road Safety Authority, Donegal is consistently found to have one of the highest road fatality rates in the country and it is still above the average. The statistics clearly show that the last two years have seen a continuation of the trend, with Donegal having a higher than average road death rate. The last comprehensive study of the subject conducted by the Road Safety Authority in 2013 revealed that Donegal had the third highest fatality rate in the country. It's rate of 81 deaths per million population was twice the national average of 41. What has been remarkable during the years is the large number of multiple fatalities in single accidents, which has also made the county stand out. The research also found that while there had been a reduction of 41% in the number of road deaths in County Donegal between 2007 and 2013, it still lagged behind the rate of decrease nationally.

Speeding drivers are cited as being a particular problem in the county, with excessive speed deemed to have been a factor in 8.4% of all collisions between 2008 and 2012, a higher proportion than anywhere else in the country. An RSA report concluded that most speed-related crashes in the county occurred on regional roads in 80 km/h zones or national roads such as the N13. It is safe to say we have a problem with antisocial driving, of which speeding is an aspect. The most common profile of an antisocial driver is a young male who has consumed alcohol. However, if one looks closely at the causes of young men engaging in dangerous driving, there is a connection between antisocial driving and marginalisation. The persistent marginalisation experienced by young people can contribute to the actions of the mainly young men who engage in antisocial driving. I can safely say this is an aspect of the high rates of road collisions in County Donegal and the number of young men found on roads driving dangerously. This connection must be looked at and considered alongside the Bill. The fact that young men compel themselves to engage in dangerous activity, use a car as a dangerous experiment, disregard safety mechanisms such as the wearing of seat belts and abuse substances while driving tells us a lot about the value system young men have. Clearly, the value they put on their own lives and those of others is very little and a consequence of the lack of engagement with society as a whole. Marginalisation severs a person's relationship with society and creates a deep sense of worthlessness which leads to this disengagement.

I will talk a little about an innovative programme devised to address the causes of antisocial driving in County Donegal. It is called the Pro-Social Drivers Programme, a road safety initiative which was started in 2012 by a group of volunteers and which seeks to improve the driving behaviour of some of the higher risk groups of drivers. Candidates for the course are initially identified through the courts system and the legal system and commit to completing a course consisting of four three-hour lectures and classes. It has been found that it is personal factors that are the main causes of riskier behaviour in driving. For this reason there is a focus within the course on social responsibility, emotional control, driving under the influence and the consequences of antisocial driving behaviour. Those involved with the programme even work with reputable international experts in the areas of criminal recidivism and driver rehabilitation to further develop the course and advise on overall content and delivery. Pro-Social Ireland won the 2015 Social Entrepreneurs Ireland impact award for its work on the Pro-Social Drivers Programme and has also been honoured with an award from the Irish Road Victims Association for its work in road danger reduction. Programmes such as this are successful because they believe in rehabilitation, working with those who have previously engaged in dangerous driving. The programme has been so successful that it is being rolled out in some of the Border counties, which is important. We should look at rolling it out across the country. I think there are extremely low - practically zero - recidivism rates for participants in the course. Figures I saw late last year showed that out of more than 100 participants not one had appeared back before the courts for any driving offence. That is very important.

We need to look also at the greater context and consider the fact that there has been a reduction in the number of gardaí in the traffic corps. The number posted to it dropped by 5% in the 18 months to May this year. There were 711 officers assigned to it in May compared to 749 at the end of 2014. The RSA has repeatedly called in recent years for the Garda traffic corps to be strengthened in order to deter dangerous driving. The decrease is due to continuous budget cuts imposed on An Garda Síochána. The budget to be announced in October must seriously redress this issue and reverse the trend.

This week the Donegal road safety plan for the period 2016 2021 was launched. I welcome the report which was a collaborative effort by the Donegal road safety working group, an inter-agency group consisting of Donegal County Council, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, An Garda Síochána, the Road Safety Authority, Donegal Youth Service, Donegal Education and Training Board, ETB, the Pro-Social Drivers Programme and the National Ambulance Service. I hope this collaborative effort will help to reduce the number deaths on roads in the county, with similar efforts being made across the country.

On the larger and more complex nature of social exclusion and marginalisation, we need a targeted effort and greater political will to invest in programmes such as the Pro-Social Drivers Programme and repeat its success across a number of fronts. There have been many reports carried out on the marginalisation of men in Border counties. It is well established that young men suffer from marginalisation in rural counties, particularly along the Border. The Irish Central Border Area Network produced a report in 2008 entitled, Men's Health in Ireland, which referenced the issues affecting socially isolated men in rural communities - educational disadvantage, social isolation, weak employment opportunities and a lack of access to health care. It clearly stipulated the strategies needed to target this specific cohort. However, austerity has exacerbated the problem further and prevented vital projects from reaching out to more young men at risk.

Although the Bill addresses the policing elements of road safety, provides for the mechanics of how they can be implemented and increases offences and their reporting, they all happen after the fact. We should target the young people who feel marginalised and provide a programme for them to build their sense of social responsibility and take them back into society in order that they will not feel they are outside it. They should not view driving and the way they behave in cars fatalistically. If they offend, they should expect something to happen as a consequence. They should have a sense of their own value and the value they have in society. That would go a long way towards addressing many of the road safety issues that need to be dealt with.

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