Tom Morrissey (Progressive Democrats)

I do not know if they are even taxed. There are thousands of them on the roads. I personally know of foreign nationals who fly home to bring back cars across the Continent from Latvia or wherever else. They probably have some type of insurance but I very much doubt if it is adequate.

I welcome the introduction of metric standardisation on road traffic signs. I hope for an improvement in the situation now that county councils will be given the responsibility for reviewing road traffic signs. There is a ridiculous situation on the Navan Road where I live. On the Ashtown end of this perfectly good dual carriageway the speed limit varies from 30 mph to 40 mph to 50 mph and 60 mph. I have been driving on this road for two decades and have yet to witness a car crash. However, I see gardaí on point duty on the 40 mph zone and 50 mph zone. We must examine how penalty points are imposed. Given that there is major concern about how the system is being implemented, perhaps the Minister of State would commit to seriously examining the issue. For example, penalty points are issued in groups of two in respect of speeding and so on; they are not applied in uneven numbers. If uneven numbers of penalty points were applied in respect of certain locations such as accident black spots throughout the country, it would have a two-fold effect in that the motorist would be informed that he or she is entering a more dangerous area and, more importantly, it would inform us how many groups of three penalty points were being imposed. We would then know if these areas are being policed or not, without the use of fantastic technology or great expense.

I urge the Minister of State to relax the imposition of penalty points in cases where motorists are caught travelling at 5 mph in excess of the minimum 30 mph speed limit. For example, if a driver was caught travelling at 5 mph in excess of the limit, he or she would not have penalty points imposed, but might instead receive a fixed penalty fine. At present, people are behaving like clock-watchers; they are watching their speedometers as they drive to see what speed they are doing and are braking and accelerating as they pass through different speed limits. We cannot continue through the two or three years of the remaining term of the Government while the numbers of road fatalities rise to see what will happen in a year's time. The Department will quite rightly state that it has passed responsibility for speed limits to local authorities. Nonetheless, there is a case to be made for root and branch reform and a stock take on where we are in this regard.

One could examine this issue another way in that, because of the increasing level of car ownership, the number of deaths should also increase correspondingly. In that context, our road safety strategy is working to some extent because the number of cars on the road has increased dramatically, while fatalities on the roads have not increased to the same extent. I urge the Minister of State to examine this issue. I am delighted to see that local authorities can now provide for new speed limits in the vicinity of schools and residential estates.

I listened to the Minister of State's speech and would like him to explain his remarks in regard to the unlimited liability in terms of car insurance. Where does that issue come from and how has it arisen? When I insure my car, will I be able to do a price check and request a certain level of unlimited liability?

I recognise that this Bill deals with many areas of activity. However, I have doubts and have made several public comments about the policing of penalty points and how they are imposed. At one point, I was told it would be too costly to correlate the time, zone and locations but that should not be the case. If we are to have confidence in the system, we need to be given that information. One of the reasons I am seeking to have introduced the imposition of odd numbers of penalty points is so that we can see that dangerous locations are being policed properly.