Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Over the past while, the issue of road safety has been much debated. It is important to consider some of the issues underlying this. It has become a political football. I was a Member when the Government changed from one side of the House to the other. At the time, I had tabled amendments to road safety legislation to give local authorities the power to implement minimum speed limits on roads. It was supported by my then colleagues on this side of the House. Two months later when they were on the other side of the House, they opposed it. I take some Senators' views with a grain of salt.

I must admit I do not have a great record with dealing with speed limits. This is not a holier-than-thou speech but one of hard experience. I believe the driving test format is appalling because it does not test certain essential driving skills. There is no requirement on learner drivers to show any understanding of speed or distance for overtaking purposes. The fact that there is no overtaking manoeuvre in the driving test is criminal. It is the single most important manoeuvre in the course of driving and it must be included in every driving test.

The same applies to motorway driving. Learner drivers need to have some simulated motorway driving. I would be happy, as happens in some countries, for learner drivers to do a simulated motorway driving test on a machine. Very often one sees a driver with three quarters of a mile of road in front of them. When a driver on the other side of the road overtakes a half a mile away, the oncoming driver starts flashing lights and blowing the horn. That is bad driving. These drivers consider themselves the safest on the road but they do not have any concept of space or distance required to overtake safely.

The legislation I referred to earlier contained a provision which enabled the State to require all drivers to carry their driving licences. At the time, I said it was somewhat unrealistic but was pooh-poohed out of it. I was informed it was only an enabling matter and would never be introduced. It was introduced five years ago. I made the point that in order to ensure people comply with the law, it is important drivers have a durable driving licence. I suggested a plastic, credit card-sized driving card be introduced with all the information required by the Garda contained on a small chip. I raised it with the then Minister for Transport who told me there were problems finding EU agreement on the matter.

Regardless of any agreement, it must be introduced in Ireland, even if it means having two licences. It is not rocket science. An IT student could design, develop and produce such a card format in a month. It could be introduced in Ireland with the next 25 years spent getting the EU to agree to the format, rather than the reverse.

We should also examine signage. The finger signs unique to Ireland are incredibly dangerous. A significant number of the accidents involving foreign nationals in this State are caused by the daft signage which makes no sense to anyone who was not born and bred here. Even then it is difficult to figure them out. In every country in Europe, a driver will see substantial signs on both sides of the road pointing to a turn, not a small sign pointing in its general direction. We should have done this when we moved to the metric system.

Senator Wilson said that the fourth most common driving offence involves uninsured cars. It is a disgrace. I only found out last week courtesy of Senator McCarthy that it is possible to tax a car on-line by inputting false information on insurance because the system does not read it. The Minister for Transport should not listen to those who say this is a problem, it is not. It is a simple link where if someone inputs the name of an insurance company and a number, it is sent to the mainframe of that insurance company and comes back as valid or invalid. It takes about 20 seconds for Michael O'Leary to determine if he is getting the right credit card number. This is not new. I will be vocal on this because I know what will happen. Ministers do not like to look stupid so the Minister will ask a few questions. He will listen to what he is told and will accept it. He is being told lies if he is being told this cannot be done, it can. It should be sorted out straight away.

The problem with speed cameras is that someone decided that a man on a bicycle must drive up to every speed camera every day to renew the film or the battery. There should be no need to open them except for an annual service. They should send the images back to a mainframe computer and the system should work from there. There should be no need for anyone to go near them. That should have been in the initial specification.

There should also be a speed camera at every accident black spot in Ireland. In many European countries, there is a warning before every camera. That does not appeal to us in Ireland because we like to catch people, like the school inspector long ago, ducking his head under the window so he was not seen arriving. If people are told cameras are in place, they will act more realistically. We should not be trying to catch people, we should be trying to slow them down.

Right turns should be banned from all national roads. The Department of Transport film which seeks to train people in road safety suggests that drivers should leave their wheels pointing straight ahead if waiting to turn right. That way, if they are shunted from behind, they will be shunted straight ahead rather than into oncoming traffic. That is wise but it would be easier to say right turns are not allowed, drivers must turn left and come straight across, with a loop on the other side of the road for entry. Other countries do that and so should we.

It makes no sense to have the same speed limit on a sunny day like today as when there is a torrential downpour or fog. All over Europe there are two speed limits on signs, one for wet and one for dry. That is too complex for us apparently. We should erect these and let the courts decide on them. This is not rocket science, these are simple ideas that we should put in place.

There is no bonus for those who buy cars that are safer than others. It should be reflected in some way. These things should be done immediately. The speed cameras should be installed. It is possible to buy cameras for less than €100, this is all cheap technology. A speed camera should be in place at every black spot and we should ensure that no one can tax a car on-line without a check on the insurance policy. There should be no right turns, different speed limits for wet and dry conditions and the abolition of finger signposts.

There should be some semblance of uniformity across Europe for road signs. At sea, a pyramid shaped buoy has a different meaning from a spherical buoy. In many European countries the same applies. In either Poland or Latvia there is a system where a round sign denotes an imperative but the opposite is the case here. Brussels should try to achieve some uniformity, it does not have to be absolute.

If I am driving on a thoroughfare which also has a bus lane at 7.01 p.m. and I drive into someone, should I have crossed the heavy white line on the dot of 7 p.m. when the bus lane finished? How does the requirement to drive in the left hand carriageway apply to bus lanes? I do not expect the Minister of State to have the answer because I have asked senior officials the same question. Are cars supposed to move in at 7 p.m. precisely or should they continue in the wrong lane? We have no answers to these questions.

There must be a review of the areas covered by the driving test. According to the driving test, a car should be parked with the handbrake on and the gears in neutral. Those of us who learned to drive in the dim and distant past, when handbrakes were a luxury, parked in the lowest possible gear to ensure the car could not be moved. Can someone explain why it is safer to park in neutral instead of first gear? This makes no sense. I do not understand many aspects of the driving test. People who learn to drive over the course of a year are complying with rules and regulations that make no sense in the real world.

I wish to see credit card-sized driving licences. Overtaking should also be added as a manoeuvre tested in the driving test. No one should be allowed on the roads until he or she knows how to overtake. We do not want people who need three quarters of a mile to pass the car in front. The problem is never the car drawing a caravan, it is the driver in the car behind who does not know how to overtake.

I would like to see a speed camera at every black spot and to see on-line road tax organised in such a way that car insurance is checked automatically. We should put an end to finger signs on roads and put proper European signage in place, speed limits should be different for wet and dry weather and there should be an end to right turns. These changes, along with some of the other suggestions I have made would provide us with a nice agenda I would like to see carried out.

It is appalling that people do not have a difficulty with the fact that a Member of the Oireachtas may not be a member of the road safety authority. There is no reason that should be so. I disagree with the point made by Senator Wilson that if they were to be allowed, they should be nominated. Why? There is no reason Members are not allowed on the authority apart from the fact that this is what the drafts people put into every piece of legislation. We should get rid of that stipulation. We are as trustworthy in this regard as anybody else.