Seanad debates

Wednesday, 1 February 2006

4:00 pm

Photo of Joe O'TooleJoe O'Toole (Independent)

I thank my colleagues for sharing their time with me. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy de Valera, to the House and hope she will take our views on board. I wish to put a few simple points on the record. I listened with some care to the points made by my two colleagues who raised issues that can be simple matters. Certainly the higher the vehicle the more likely it is to cause serious injury, as made clear by Senator Henry. The reports are there to prove it.

The issues raised by Senator Quinn are also ones that can be moved forward. I wish to add a few more. Perhaps we can look at a simple issue. The condition of the roads has been mentioned by everybody as an important factor in determining safety. That is a cost issue and I will not develop it.

There is another issue that always interests me every time I drive on the Continent. On most of the main highways in France there are two speed limits, a wet and a dry speed limit. It is a simple matter and it is implemented. The wet sign indicates a speed limit of 90 km/h and the dry sign 120 km/h, 115 km/h or 110 km/h. That is the rule. It is sensible and practical. That is another thing we could learn.

The other issue has to do with side roads. Those of us who have been driving North-South all our lives used to like to get to the Border years ago because there were better roads in the North.

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