Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and I am pleased to speak on the Road Traffic Bill 2006. The spectre of road deaths looms larger than ever, which is disturbing, given that cars have never been safer and Irish roads have never been in a better condition.

As we all know, in 2005, there was an average of more than one death per day on our roads, while 2006 looks set to be worse. More people have died on our roads in the past nine years than died in the Troubles in Northern Ireland since 1969. It is in this context I welcome the Road Traffic Bill.

I draw the attention of the Minister of State to the newly-founded group, Public Against Road Carnage, PARC, which according to the Irish Independent of 29 May this year has collected more than 14,000 signatures in support of a campaign to make breath testing at the scene of an accident mandatory. I urge the Minister to consider making such a provision in the Bill.

In addition to addressing the problem of drink driving, I urge the Minister for Transport to consider immediate action to detect incidents of people driving while under the influence of drugs. I call the attention of the Minister of State to a recent UK drug driving survey by the RAC and Max Power magazine, which found that one in five young motorists drives in Britain every day while under the influence of illegal drugs. The study found that 59% of those surveyed had driven after smoking cannabis, and 37% after taking cocaine. Meanwhile 67% of them believed that drink driving was worse than drug driving and 46% thought they were unlikely to get caught.

A major UK road safety campaign in 2005 found that one in seven drivers stopped had tested positive for drugs — twice the number found to have been drinking. Drug driving must be addressed. Already we are lagging behind other countries. The South Australian Government has recently passed legislation for mandatory random drug testing for amphetamines and THC, and these tests are already performed regularly in other countries, and in Northern Ireland.

Ireland must not be left behind when it comes to drink and drug testing of drivers. It is a matter of life and death, and I implore the Minister to act now to stem the tide. I intend to introduce an amendment on Committee Stage which would legislate for mandatory alcohol testing at the scene of an accident and allow a garda to conduct a test for illegal substances should he or she have reasonable grounds to suspect the driver is under the influence of such substances.

I heard the plea made this morning for sympathy for people who are socially disconnected in rural areas. I have sympathy, but in my own personal experience, drinking and driving do not go together. Alcohol and driving do not go together. I know where Senator Wilson is coming from but this simply does not work. Once one takes a drink, one's reactions are influenced.