Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I assure the Minister of State that I did not drive while I was keeping my feet off the floor. I accept that vehicles are safe with regard to their engineering maintenance and care. There are greater numbers of roads today, which are safer than before. However, newspaper headlines from the last two days indicate that our driving is getting worse. According to an NRA survey relating to 2003, 86% of cars exceeded the 30 mph speed limit in the urban arterial 30 mph zone. The NRA trumpeted the fact that this figure was a considerable improvement because the figure for the previous year was 99%. I do not dispute the fact that the 2003 figure represented an improvement. The figures from the survey showed that 75% of cars exceeded the speed limit in the 40 mph zone. A total of 96% of rigid vehicles and 92% of articulated vehicles exceeded the speed limit in the 30 mph urban national zone. There was no difference between the figures for articulated vehicles in 2003 and 2002, while the figures for rigid vehicles in 2003 represented an 11% increase on the 2002 figures.

Figures relating to motorways are even more alarming. A total of 85% of articulated vehicles exceeded the speed limit on motorways in 2003. The average speed of these vehicles was 53 mph, which is three miles above the maximum speed limit. Articulated trucks are forbidden from driving above 50 mph. Only 23% of cars exceeded the speed limit on motorways, while 83% of rigid vehicles exceeded the speed limit, with an average speed of 55 mph. Articulated vehicles must have a governor fitted which prevents them exceeding 55 mph yet the vehicles in the survey managed an average speed of 53 mph. One does not need to be a mathematical genius to work out that if such vehicles have an average speed of 53 mph, a considerable portion of them must be exceeding this speed. An articulated vehicle travelling at over 53 mph is exceeding what it is supposedly able to do. As I have stated previously in this House, I have begun a guerilla war against articulated trucks. While I am driving during the day, I note the name of the company which owns the truck that is exceeding the speed limit and telephone my secretary because I am unable to write down names while I am driving. My secretary then keeps a record of the name.