Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and I concur with his concluding remarks. Everybody should be asked to drive more carefully. Recently, it was stated that if drivers reduced their speed by 5 mph, it would have a significant impact on road safety. I sympathise with all those who have lost relatives following road accidents over the past number of years and, in particular, over the month of January when 39 people lost their lives. That was the highest number of road deaths in January for five years.

The issues of road safety and, in particular, driver behaviour have been raised regularly in the House over the years. It it time to do something radical to change the behaviour of drivers. A code of conduct should be introduced for drivers because driving patterns in Ireland are not similar, for example, to England. As one drives on motorways or dual carriageways in Ireland, one is passed out regularly on the inside by other motorists. If one, for example, is travelling in the middle lane of a three-lane motorway, one could be passed on either side by other motorists. In England, the right hand lane only is used to pass other vehicles and if one is not travelling fast enough in that lane, one moves into the left hand lane.

In the early 1990s car ownership in Ireland was measured at 28 per 100 head of population while the European average was 56 cars per 100. Car ownership must exceed this now, as the number of cars purchases has increased significantly over the past ten years. While improvements have been made, our roads have not been improved enough while driver behaviour has also not improved enough. A great deal could be done in this regard.

The main road safety issues are speed, drink, drugs, mobile telephone usage, poor signage and driver frustration. The latter issue is significant. The Minister will add 31 offences to the penalty points system later this year. Under the new system if one drives on the hard shoulder, it will be an offence and penalty points will be incurred.