Dáil debates
Thursday, 30 November 2023
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed)
Road Safety
9:10 am
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to provide an update on road safety measures being considered and implemented, including a reduction in speed limits. [53039/23]
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State provide an update on the road safety measures being considered for implementation, including the reduction in speed limits across the country, in the context of the high number of road deaths recently? I understand that, yesterday, the number stood at 171 road fatalities so far this year. It is a tragedy that we are losing so many people on our roads. In that context, while efforts are being made, we need to re-examine everything we are doing.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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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.
9:20 am
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State. Regarding the speed limit reductions, when will we see the new signs being put up? It is well and good for us to talk about it, and the more conversation there is a around it, the more people are aware and it is hoped it will have an impact. The thing that will have an impact is when it is actually in place. When does the Minister of State expect local authorities to be putting up signs reducing the speed limits on many of those dangerous roads?
The other aspect of this issue has to do with enforcement. The biggest problem is that we do not have the levels of enforcement we need. This particularly applies to the road policing sections of An Garda Síochána. These have been cut in almost every county. This issue also needs to be examined.
I have raised the issue of the roads themselves several times. I note in the budget that €150 million was removed from road safety and put into active travel. I know there was an explanation of that decision, but when I speak to local authorities, there are concerns that when they look for money, they will not be able to get it for accident blackspots. In fairness, the Minister was in a committee this week and told me there would be funding available. Have local authorities been told when that funding will be available and what will be available?
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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We hope to have the guidance on speed limits prepared and finalised in quarter one of next year and the legislation passed as well. That will then issue to local authorities to allow them to conduct speed limit reviews. It will be a devolved function of local authorities to implement the new default limits and operate the guidance. That will progress through 2024. I have been clear that it will take 2024 to progress this. We have truncated the timeline when compared with the previous speed limit review. That took many years to be progressed. We are trying to sequence and synchronise this in a way that actually translates into reducing speed limits.
I agree that we need to strengthen enforcement. We are working with An Garda Síochána to ensure this. The Christmas road safety campaign is being launched today. The focus is very much on enforcement and on the issue of speed. I will come back on the roads investment point in the next contribution.
Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Regarding the speed limit review, I know the Minister of State sought for and succeeded in having pre-legislative scrutiny set aside for it. I was opposed to this because I felt we needed to look at it in more detail. I am always conscious when we bring in laws that, if they are considered by the public to be a little bit daft or a little bit silly or a little bit too far of a reach for them, people will not obey them. We have to be careful this does not happen, as has happened in the past in some circumstances. It also makes it very difficult for gardaí or for enforcement agencies to enforce those laws. That is why I felt we should have had a proper pre-legislative scrutiny. There should have been a discussion between all the stakeholders about what it was going to mean and what impact it was going to have. However, we did not, and that is okay. The suspension of the pre-legislative scrutiny is clearly not going to speed up the process. From what I have heard the Minister of State say, it will be at least the end of next year before we see these new speed limits being put in place. The Minister of State said it would be quarter 1 before the legislation will be finished and then it will be put out to the local authorities. They will have a lengthy process to get through that. I imagine that, at best, it will be the end of next summer and probably the end of the year before we see it in place.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The timelines are those I set out in September when I outlined what was in the speed limit review. Our intention was always to issue guidance to local authorities in quarter 1 of next year and then, through 2024, speed limit reviews would be undertaken by local authorities and new speed limits decided on. If we had followed through on the Deputy's proposal, we probably would have been waiting a year to get the legislation changed and we probably would not have seen changes to the speed limits for two or three years.
We have had strong stakeholder support from rural and urban areas. People have commented publicly on this. Recent polling data to be outlined today by the Road Safety Authority shows strong support for the reduction of speed limits. Many towns and villages have excessive speed limits which are really affecting vulnerable road users. We have had a really worrying increase in the number of pedestrians killed. This will make a difference when it is implemented. We are on track in the context of the timeline I set out in September on the guidance being issued to local authorities in quarter 1 of next year and then the local authorities implementing that over a period of months. Not waiving pre-legislative scrutiny would have delayed this by years and that is what would have happened under the Deputy's proposal.