Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The trends we are witnessing on roads this year are of particular concern and devastating, with road fatalities and serious injuries continuing to rise. We have experienced a growing trend in three of the past four years, this year being especially worrying. As a response to this trend, the Cabinet approved the drafting of a road traffic measures Bill on 17 October. My Department is working on this short and focused Bill, which will deal with a number of road safety issues.

The Deputy will be aware my Department completed the speed limit review in September. It contains many recommendations. Some will take time to implement, but our forthcoming Bill will address the crucial recommendation of reducing the default speed limit for three classes of road. Guidance will be issued to local authorities to commence speed limit reviews. The speed limit for national secondary roads will come down from 100 km/h to 80 km/h, the limit for local roads will be reduced from 80 km/h to 60 km/h and the limit for roads in built-up areas will be reduced from 50 km/h to 30 km/h. At a meeting of the Oireachtas joint committee, I set out the wider context of how this will operate. Speeding continues to be one of the main causes of collisions on our roads, and the speed of the collision can determine whether death or serious injury results.

The new Bill will make it mandatory for gardaí to test drivers for drugs after a collision involving death or injury. Currently, drug testing in these cases is optional. The new approach will be in line with alcohol testing provisions. It is hoped that, once the Bill's drafting process is finalised, it will be passed by the Houses in a timely manner so that we can curb this worrying change and not have a repeat of this year in 2024.

We are also continuing with a range of initiatives under the Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. The Deputy will recall that the strategy is divided into phases, with 2024 being the final year of phase 1. There are 190 actions, four of which have been added since the publication of the plan in response to emerging trends. I will come back to the Deputy with further information.

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