Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and this debate, which I called for some weeks ago. Yesterday, the report of the annual national survey of motorists' behaviour and attitudes to road safety was published. The survey of 1,100 drivers nationwide was carried out by the Smurfit business school, UCD, in partnership with FBD Insurance and Advance Pitstop. It provides startling and eye-opening results. A total of eight out of ten drivers surveyed admitted to knowingly speeding, while 44% admitted to drinking and driving, frequently having consumed three or more drinks.

The report also found that general driving behaviour has worsened considerably over the last 12 months. The authors asked respondents what would make them abide by the law. They found that the only measure that would stop drivers from continuing to break the law is more Garda enforcement on the roads. Drivers are comfortably flouting the law because they believe they will not be caught.

The report's findings must be placed against the backdrop of 354 deaths and an estimated 2,800 serious injuries on our roads in the first ten months of this year. These figures are quite sickening and it is clear that current policy is not sufficient. We are failing in our roads policy. If gardaí are not visible, there is little deterrent for those who flout the law and put their own lives and those of others at risk.

I note that since its launch last year, just over 500 gardaí have been deployed to the traffic corps. The Minister has promised that the corps will reach its full strength of 1,200 by 2008. However, 500 gardaí equates to less than 20 traffic corps officers per county, which is far from satisfactory, given the extent to which people are flouting the law. The traffic corps should be expanded as quickly as possible.

Speed cameras should be rolled out nationwide but, more importantly, they should be fully functioning. The introduction of penalty points for speeding was very effective initially. Drivers were made very aware of the penalties for speeding and were conscious of a Garda campaign to crack down on same. However, we have seen a clear reduction in consideration of speed limits on the part of drivers. This has occurred because of the lack of a visible Garda presence, well-reported questions over the legality of certain speed cameras and the fact that some cameras are not functioning at all. As I said a number of weeks ago in this House, I drove from Dublin to Athlone one evening and did not meet anybody, travelling in either direction, who was obeying the traffic regulations and keeping within the speed limits. Everybody on the road that evening was flouting the law, even when entering country towns and villages on the route.

Drink driving is something I find particularly abhorrent. Random breath testing should be the norm in this country. A potential drink driver should be fearful of being caught, rather than drinking and driving at will, as the survey results appear to indicate. Again, deterrents and a Garda presence are key, especially in proximity to public houses.

We are also failing in our courts. A judgment was handed down recently in the case of a man who killed two others on the road. The court heard that the man was so drunk that he had unknowingly forced a car off the road. The drunk driver was fined €2,000 and banned from driving for ten years. He then walked free, with not even a suspended prison sentence. If we are failing to provide a deterrent on our roads in the form of visible gardaí, the sheer leniency of this sentence illustrates that we are also failing to provide a judicial deterrent in cases of drink driving, causing harm. We are failing on both fronts and the lives of those who have already perished on our roads will have been in vain if we, as legislators, do not ensure that the law of the land is respected and upheld.

This is not a political but a moral issue. I want the Government to do more to tackle the carnage on our roads and to do so as soon as possible — not later, or over a phased basis. This is a crisis.