Dáil debates

Wednesday, 13 May 2020

Covid-19 (Transport): Statements

 

6:15 pm

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy regarding deaths on the roads. It is disappointing. I am not sure whether I am going to answer his question because I agree with everything he said, so it is a bit difficult to respond. It is disappointing that in circumstances where there is so little traffic on the roads the road deaths have gone up. The explanations are difficult to understand. The statistics, sadly, show that a significant number of pedestrians have been killed. It is difficult to connect that with the fact that there are fewer cars on the roads. The evidence is that drink-driving is still going on, as is drug-driving. It may well be that more people are being caught and convicted because of there being more gardaí on the road. The RSA is looking into the matter and it is due to report to me shortly on why it thinks this is happening. It is almost inexplicable that deaths are going up given that traffic is down by approximately 70%. That is something we should find out about. The early indications are that a lot more people are out walking and a few more of them are, very sadly, getting killed, but that does not explain bad driver behaviour. I do not know at the moment, but we will get an answer to that shortly. We would expect the figures to be lower.

The Deputy is correct that social distancing is going to be as challenging for rural transport as it is on buses in Dublin. The maximum number a single decker bus can take is 12 and 17 can travel on a double-decker bus. We are talking about a situation where there are challenges, but the determination is there in all cases to meet the capacity wherever that is possible. Transport providers are aware of the situation and they are making the necessary arrangements. It is a difficult question to answer because we do not know what exactly the demand will be in any area of public transport, including rural transport, in the coming weeks and months because we do not know how many people will be afraid of getting on a bus and will travel in their cars.

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