Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I have to speak with a low voice as I do not have a great record in terms of limits arising from the Road Traffic Act over a number of years. I am not speaking from the high moral ground. One of the two amendments I tabled at that time, both of which were rejected by the Minister, Deputy Michael Smith, sought a minimum speed on certain roads. People who drive at a speed which is unsafely slow cause huge frustration – forgive my inelegance of language – and this should be examined in terms of legislation. The other issue which I had great difficulty with at the time – it is interesting in terms of what has happened in the meantime – was the provision in the legislation which required drivers to carry their driving licence at all times, which I felt was an unfair demand. I was assured by the Minister at the time that he could never see a situation where a genuine Irish person driving their car and minding their business would ever be penalised for not having their licence with them. That position has changed radically in the past while. It is no great problem that the position has changed but it is an inconvenience.

I raised an issue on this with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in another forum. The requirement to carry one's driving licence is common in other jurisdictions. I wish to make a modernising and progressive proposal which has been discussed in another place, namely, that licences should be credit card size. In that way it would be much easier to carry a licence with one all the time as it could be in a wallet with other items. That has happened in other countries. One can get a photograph built into such a card with the information either on a chip or a strip. Our driving licences are not appropriate for carrying around and were never intended to be carried around all the time. If one takes it out of the plastic folder or it falls somewhere it will not survive. There is no reason it should not be in a credit card size format with the appropriate information on a chip or a strip.

On some of our major roads, particularly the motorways, the speed limit could be marginally increased. I am aware the Minister intends rounding it up for kilometric purposes and I welcome that and I hope he will not be dissuaded to reduce it to a lower figure by others. It is all about safe driving.

On the issue of safe driving, the national car test should be biased more towards safety. Some of the demands are not safety driven. I support the national car test for the reason that any time I have spoken on the issue of safe driving I have always bemoaned the fact that people with the safest car in the world in terms of pedestrians and drivers get no credit whatever. At least the national car test requires people to have safer vehicles on the road, which is hugely important. For those who fail the test for something small there is not enough flexibility inasmuch as they have to pay for a full test all over again. That is unfair and brings the test into disrepute.