Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

I join with Senator Browne in welcoming the Minister. He has been here on many occasions over the past year, including relatively recently to discuss the Government's attitude to road safety. I welcome his coming here today with news of two forthcoming Bills, which will be of immense benefit in the Government's stance in continuing to take a strategic approach to road safety and working towards the reduction of road accidents.

There has been a considerable amount of comment in recent weeks about road safety. Some critical comments have been made in the media and among the Opposition on the concept of penalty points. There appears to be a suggestion from some quarters that penalty points are not working. The introduction of the penalty points system was a significant measure by the Government in addressing the whole issue of road safety. At no time were penalty points put forward as the only element of the Government's strategy in terms of reducing the number of deaths or serious accidents on the roads. Some people tend to overreact and panic because of what has happened in recent months. There has been a distortion to some extent by virtue of the fact that a large number of people were fatally injured in some accidents, which is a distorting factor. This distortion should not be allowed to affect our view on penalty points. We must recognise the system has the capacity to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads.

We would like the Government to continue its strategic approach to road safety. The Road Traffic Bill and the driver testing and standards agency Bill will do this, together with the publication of the Government's strategy. The penalty points system has worked. The response was probably much better in the first months when there was a dramatic increase in the number of lives saved. Ultimately, when there is a greater basis on which to do the comparisons, it will become clear that they will continue to work well into the future.

Concerns have been raised in recent weeks about enforcement, which needs to be considered. The Road Traffic Bill will address this issue, particularly the freeing up of Garda time in respect of the outsourcing of the collection of fines and other elements in the legislation such as the capacity to monitor speed. There has been some criticism of the gardaí in the media and other areas, which is unfair. The gardaí, by and large, are trying to bring about a change in culture. It is not fair to say that just because one is caught exceeding slightly the speed limit in what is considered to be a relatively safe area indicates that the gardaí are taking the soft approach. The monitoring of speed has more to do with bringing about a culture of safety on the roads which ensures that people are mindful of their responsibilities in regard to their safety and that of others. Regardless of where the monitoring or enforcement is carried out, it will seek to bring about this culture.

There is an issue in regard to speed limits. The Minister referred to changes in this area and he made some announcements in the past. There are problems in respect of sections of road where the surface, width and quality of the road is of such a high standard that there is no need to have the lower speed limits enforced. This is a matter which needs further attention. There is also an issue regarding entering and leaving populated areas. While usually the road markings are the same entering and leaving these areas, the point where the limit kicks in and out are the same. This needs to be examined because when one is leaving a built up area there is no reason to keep within a 30 mile limit. This is more important on the way in.

Reducing the number of road deaths has a knock-on effect on the health system and the accident and emergency units of our hospitals. Many people think that all we are doing is saving lives on the roads. However, reducing the number of fatal road accidents also results in reducing the number of non-fatal road accidents, which has a huge knock-on effect on our accident and emergency rooms. There have been debates in this House on accident and emergency facilities. We all recognise that many of them are over-burdened to a large degree and anything that can be done in that regard will be of great benefit.

There is an ongoing battle to identify the cause of accidents, many of which Senator Browne has identified. An argument could probably be made to establish an accident investigation unit. Trying to understand why accidents occur will obviously lead to a better approach to the development of the strategy to prevent accidents. There are a number of well aired issues in terms of the causes of accidents. It would be worth setting up an accident investigation unit which would put the same effort into the investigation of road traffic accidents as is put into light aircraft accidents. If a light aircraft is involved in an accident, a plethora of individuals will visit the scene and carry out detailed investigations. I am not trying to demean air accidents but in many instances just one or two people are killed as a result, whereas many road accidents result in multiples of that number being killed.

Some people suggest that the penalty points system did not have an effect on drink driving. I do not think this was ever expected to be the case. People found to be drunk while in charge of a vehicle always faced immediate disqualification from driving, therefore the penalty points system was not about dealing with drunk driving. The measure in the forthcoming Bill of random testing will have a greater input into this.

There is probably also a greater role for community policing in targeting some of the young people involved in accidents late at night who are intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. A greater presence of gardaí on the streets of villages and towns on Friday and Saturday night, in particular, may prevent these journeys taking place. Young people who are intoxicated often travel through back roads and side roads throughout the length and breadth of the country, which sometimes leads to very serious accidents. The traffic corps, which will be a welcome development, would have to be on a very large scale to monitor the many back roads and by-roads throughout the country. It would probably be better served by focusing its attention in the villages and towns. One of the benefits would be dealing with the regular disturbances that occur in many of these areas over the weekends, which would have a knock-on effect in preventing some accidents. The speed of vehicles on poorer roads cannot be monitored effectively by the police because it is never possible to cover them all. Has any consideration been given to the introduction of tachographs, similar to those used in commercial vehicles? It has implications in the context of the EU and is an issue which the Minister may have considered as President of the Council of Ministers but it may be worth investigating further. Many different gadgets are available and Senator Browne referred to some of the technology. The tachograph is technology which is already used on trucks and provides for the ongoing monitoring of drivers' behaviour. The use of tachographs could lead to significant developments in respect of monitoring other drivers' behaviour.

The Minister has also referred to the wearing of seat belts on many occasions, which has great capacity for saving lives as is borne out by research. Senator Browne referred to the issue of fatigue and we were shocked to hear that up to 20% of fatal accidents are caused by driver fatigue. I am not so sure that the technology to which Senator Browne referred is the way forward. Due to the changing nature and development of our road infrastructure, something will have to be done in respect of the design and build of these roads to include road stops and rest areas, which have not been a feature to date from my vantage point.

These features may only come into play now as we see the completion of the stretch of M1 motorway and the other routes detailed as inter-urban priorities, particularly the Dublin to Portlaoise, Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Limerick routes. All of these are particularly long stretches of road and certain considerations must be taken into account in that context. Many of us who travel these roads late at night on an ongoing basis realise that in many cases there are no safe structured areas for drivers to stop and park or get access to facilities which would help in terms of fatigue.

Another area which requires ongoing consideration in the context of the deliberations on the road strategy is the approach to young male drivers whom, based on some of the statistics, are a major cause of carnage on our roads. We will have to take a dramatic and serious approach to this and there may be a justification for setting limits on the size of engines certain groups of people are permitted to drive and modifying the engines of cars used by people under a certain age or with certain categories of licences. We have all seen the horrific crashes, particularly in County Clare and along the west coast, in which young drivers were involved, some of whom had full licences but were still only 22 or 23 years of age and had not yet built up the capacity or responsible nature to use the road as it should have been used. We must go beyond the standard approach and look to modifying the engines of cars that such people are permitted to drive.

The Minister's work is welcome and I want him to continue in this vein. His approach in terms of the strategic nature of responding to road safety is the correct way forward. It would not be responsible to react based on certain trends or accidents that take place, despite calls for that in many instances. I welcome the forthcoming publication of the strategy and the measures which the Minister has outlined give us an idea of what he and his Department are thinking in this regard. When the strategy is published, it will provide a blueprint for the future. The legislation will be most welcome and I understand the Minister is endeavouring to have it published before the summer. I am sure the House will assist him to that end and pass the Bill as quickly as possible.