Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister and, as Senator Wilson said, his heart is in the right place. Not only is he a hard-working Minister but he is also determined to achieve success in this respect. I sought this debate, as did a number of my colleagues. In a report yesterday, the National Safety Council stated: "Tragically, approximately 250 people will set off on a journey between now and the end of the year and never make it home to their families." That is a startling figure but we can do something about it and it has been on my agenda for some time. On 5 February 2003, I moved a Private Members' motion in the House congratulating the Minister for Transport on the initial success of the penalty points scheme. The first three months that followed the introduction of that scheme showed very impressive results. We were upbeat about it and full of congratulations for the Minister. In those three months, 67 people were killed compared to 112 in the corresponding period the previous year. That 40% reduction in road deaths was a great success. The change could only be described as massive and it followed the Minister's introduction of the penalty points system. Unfortunately, however, as we have seen, the improvement was short-lived. In the first quarter of this year, the death toll came to 96, compared to 74 in the same period last year. By comparison, during the first three months of 2002, in other words, before penalty points were introduced, the figure was 102 deaths. It is clear therefore that after an initial massive drop, the figures have now bounced back to more or less the same murderous level they were at before penalty points were brought in. That is the true picture to which we should be paying attention.

Comparing the overall period of 17 months since the introduction of penalty points with the preceding 17 months is misleading because the overall period masks rather than illustrates the true trend. I am not suggesting that penalty points have failed. At the very beginning they definitely had an effect, but they are no longer having the same deterrent effect. In seeking to find a way forward, we should examine closely why this has happened. The truth is that at the beginning people took seriously the risk of being caught speeding and the possibility of losing their driving licence. For the first time in many years, they formed the impression that the Government was at last becoming serious about tackling speed on our roads. As a result, drivers changed their attitudes and behaviour on the road. This altered behaviour was reflected in accident statistics, producing the happy result we were celebrating this time last year.

A document from the National Safety Council stated that "The primary choice of death and injury is our own behaviour". In fact, the council claims that 96% of all road deaths and injuries arise from the behaviour of drivers. I am involved with an awards scheme run by the National Safety Council. One of last year's awards went to a company called "How's my driving?", owned by Mr. Tom O'Sullivan. Members may have seen the slogan on the back of trucks, which reads "How's my driving?" and provides a telephone number for respondents. One of my colleagues was coming up from the country the other day and saw the slogan for the first time. She was impressed by it because the truck driver in front was pulling in to the hard shoulder to allow cars to pass. She telephoned the number to compliment the truck driver. This is a positive step, because drivers know if they have this sign on the back of their truck they will get rewards if people telephone to compliment their driving. If they are driving badly, they will be criticised. Those are little things we can do to change our behaviour.

What has happened since last year? People have reassessed the risk of being caught. The penalty points system worked very well at first but as time went on it became clear that the level of enforcement was very low. Some people were caught, and we have heard figures on that today. A few people were caught repeatedly and built up their number of points, but others very rapidly came to the conclusion that despite all the hype, the enforcement animal had not changed his spots. They decided, rightly or wrongly, that the risk of being caught was no higher than it ever had been and they adjusted their behaviour accordingly, as one would expect. It was back to the same old bad habits.

What this shows is that the principle I have often heard from criminologists applies just as much to bad traffic behaviour as it does to any other kind of crime. The principle is that what acts as a deterrent is not the severity of the sentence but the likelihood of getting caught. No matter how severe the sentence, the criminal will still base his behaviour on what he assesses as the risk of being caught. If that risk is high, he is deterred, but if that risk is low or if he thinks it is low, he will try to get away with it. I make no apology for comparing bad road traffic behaviour with that of common crime. It is not just because the consequences are so serious although often they are more often serious than those of ordinary crime. Road traffic misbehaviour is a matter of life and death and the Minister outlined some horrific figures. However, it is becoming clear that the task of changing attitudes and changing behaviour is a far more intractable one than in some other situations.

For instance, over the past few years we have passed legislation which has radically changed people's behaviour on two separate occasions. I refer to the law on plastic bags and the more recent regulations on smoking in the workplace. In both cases we succeeded in changing attitudes, and therefore behaviour, virtually overnight. My business was involved with the plastic bag levy and attitudes changed overnight. While my business does not involve smoking, attitudes on smoking seem to have changed overnight also. In both cases we did this far more smoothly and completely than anyone could have predicted.

I do not know exactly what mechanisms produced success with plastic bags and smoking in the workplace. Perhaps the change was driven in these cases by the basic wish of most people to respect the law. In these cases we can rely on people to enforce the law themselves. This is very fortunate from the Government's point of view, because enforcement in such situations is relatively cheap.

Whatever it was that produced those successes, we must face the fact that when it comes to changing road traffic behaviour, the real issue here, different mechanisms are at work. When it comes to driving, some people are prepared to flout the law day in and day out, as we have seen. I was delighted Senator Wilson mentioned the Northern Ireland penalty points system. I was in Belfast last week and it was clear north of the Border that cars were staying within the speed limit. However, as soon as they crossed into Louth they passed us out. I did not pay much attention but I presume the opposite was also happening, that those with penalty points down here suddenly started going faster because they felt free to do so, although I did not misbehave. There must be a way to tie these systems together. We have spoken about this before — Senator Brian Hayes made the point originally — but if we have North-South co-operation in areas like food safety and tourism, then there should be North-South co-operation on traffic. I gather that penalty points in the North do not apply in the rest of Britain, although the Minister may correct me. I understand they only apply in the North, so if one collects penalty points in Northern Ireland they do not apply in Britain or south of the Border, where one's chances of being caught are slim. We can do something about that.

When it comes to driving some people are prepared to flout the law day in, day out, and the law-abiding principle, which can be so powerful a means of self-enforcement, seems very weak in this case. Another issue, which is not directly related to penalty points, is the length of time it takes to get a driving test, 60 weeks in some parts of the country. There must be something we can do about this. One can continue to drive without a test; one member of my family drove for some years on a provisional licence having failed a test, although she has since passed her test.

The conclusion I am driven towards is that if we really want to change road traffic behaviour, we must be prepared to put resources into enforcement. Penalty points are part of the solution, but only if the system is properly enforced. Where road traffic behaviour is concerned, all the evidence points to the fact that there is no free enforcement. If we want these laws to be effective we must pay the price for enforcing them properly. Legislation of this kind carries an inevitable price tag. There is very little we can do with the stroke of a pen to change that.

However, the good news about the price that has to be paid is that it is a very good investment. I have astounding figures from the study carried out by the economist Peter Bacon in 1999. He calculated that money invested in road safety had a pay-off ratio of 8.3:1. For every euro we invest in road safety, the community benefits to the extent of €8.30. Anybody in business would jump at the opportunity to invest €1 to get €8.30 back. It makes business sense to spend money on enforcing the penalty points system.

Enforcing road safety properly is not a matter of adding to our public spending. It is a matter of reducing public spending by an amount that is far from insignificant. We are therefore presented with an offer that, as a community, we simply cannot refuse. It is a mafia offer if ever there was one, as we are making an offer that cannot be refused — invest €1 in road safety and get €8.30 back. On the one hand we can save money, while at the same time saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing the utterly pointless and unnecessary human misery that is represented by the toll on our roads. Would any person, community or Government refuse an offer like that?

The Minister's heart is in the right place and it is interesting to see the work that is being done. When I talk to the National Safety Council it has concerns about the traffic corps and other issues mentioned today. However, I return to the point I made earlier, that 250 people will set off on a journey between now and the end of the year but they will not make it back to their families. That makes the investment worthwhile. For every €1 we invest, we get €8.30. Let us ensure we do not turn down that offer. The Minister's heart is in the right place but we must ensure we strengthen his backbone and resolve in enforcing this.