Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)

Yes, but we are still working as a Government. As Fine Gael spokesperson on transport in the Upper House I am pleased to welcome the Minister. I commend him and his Department for the excellent briefing notes we received prior to the Bill being put before the House. The Bill is the latest in a series of measures to improve road safety in Ireland. Many have said it may be seen as a missing piece of legislation rather than a stand-alone departure in its own right.

Given the legislative background, namely, the Road Traffic Acts 2010 and 2011, the Minister stated last year was the safest year on the roads since records began in 1959. While this is welcome news, the fact that 212 people lost their lives on our roads last year is a stark and tragic statistic when one considers the impact of a road death on the families, friends and communities of each of the 212 people killed. We must continue to introduce every possible legislative measure to safeguard life and limb on our roads.

The Bill amends the 2010 Act to introduce mandatory testing where a driver is or has been involved in a collision where a death or injury has occurred. I strongly welcome this measure. Addressing drink-driving is one vital component in improving road safety but other serious issues need to be addressed. Tailgating is a very dangerous practice, especially on motorways, and I hope the Minister addresses the issue in future legislation.

The approach taken to the driving test has a serious effect. The emphasis is on passing the test rather than being a safe driver. A safe driver is one who is considerate to other drivers and is conscious that a car is a dangerous machine that can not only kill or injure others but can also kill or injure its driver.

Tailgating is an issue that is not being dealt with satisfactorily in driving lessons or tests. It is a phenomenon that is most frequent and dangerous away from the ambit of the driving test - on the motorway. It is the vigilance of other drivers that prevents tailgaters from causing more accidents. In 2007 during a period of dense fog, the worst traffic pile up in the State's history occurred in Kildare during the morning rush hour. Even though visibility was nil, many drivers continued to travel at high speeds and without lights causing carnage on the M7 and M9 motorways. Some 27 people were injured with one critically injured following more than 40 collisions on a 5 km stretch of motorway. Many victims had to be cut from their cars and at least 23 ambulances travelled to the scene from five counties along with numerous units of the fire brigade. Thankfully we do not often experience dense fog, but the problem is that many people seem clueless as to how to behave if dense fog descends.

This comes back to the notion of driving lessons being geared to passing a driving test rather than being a safe and courteous road user. This ethos encompassing courtesy is the missing link in our drive to improve road safety. Driving instructors need to emphasise these points. The advertisements running on television at present are useful in this regard and I hope the initiative will continue.

Of course the reduction in the blood-alcohol level as provided for in the Bill is aimed at achieving safer roads. However, many rural people and rural publicans may feel they are paying a disproportionate price for the new levels as Senator O'Sullivan has said. Reducing blood-alcohol limits needs to be accompanied with a serious review of the rural transport programme. As both of these matters are under the remit of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, I ask the Minister to clarify whether they will be considered in tandem. Last week the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, was in the House to brief Members on matters including rural transport. In my contribution I stressed the need for the rural transport programme to expand its services. The emphasis tends to be on older people, which makes sense as this group is least independent in getting to shops and elsewhere. With ongoing changes to drink driving laws there is an opportunity for the rural transport network to analyse the market in terms of people who might like to go for a few social drinks in the evening.

In my local area Ring a Link provides a door-to-door bus service to rural people in three counties, Kilkenny, Carlow and south Tipperary. While I do not propose to change the name to "Ring for a Drink", the Ring a Link website states that the service is open to all the community with a modest charge in some cases and no charge in others, including for those with free transport passes. I imagine that many people are unaware that the rural transport service is available to them and considerable work needs to be done in promoting rural transport services. As Senator O'Sullivan pointed out, most of these services run during the daytime. These services could be run in the evening to help people in isolated rural areas to socialise, given that isolation and loneliness represent one of the biggest dangers we are facing, as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has pointed out. The recent CSO survey showing that more than 50% of people in rural areas believed that no transport was available shows that the rural transport network may need to reconsider its approach even in terms of making people aware of its existence.

Fine Gael has long been committed to the concept of a reliable and sustainable transport service for rural communities. As the party with the largest cohort of rural-based Deputies and Senators in the Oireachtas, we are very well informed on the importance of rural transport provision. We are also aware of the sense of loss felt in rural areas in respect of the revising downwards of drink driving limits and the consequent effect it has on community life in small villages and towns. Rural isolation is a very real problem and one the State must take seriously. Last week I referred to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul study which reported that loneliness was the biggest problem faced by older people. The report referred to the importance of rural transport in addressing the sense of isolation often felt by older people. I urge the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Kelly, to take all these matters into account when formulating transport policies.

At the other end of the age spectrum are young drivers. In my experience, while young people, especially young men, can often be guilty of driving far too fast, they tend to have a more sensible attitude to drink driving. They are more culturally attuned to the notion of a designated driver. Reducing the blood-alcohol level to virtually zero for learner drivers will further consolidate this cultural shift and I welcome this move. Similarly, it makes sense to have the same limits imposed on professional drivers.

I welcome the other measures in the Bill, including the offence of knowingly driving a dangerously defective vehicle, and requiring a blood or urine sample to be taken from a driver who has been treated in hospital following a collision. It is sensible to provide that anyone who refuses to produce a driving licence within ten days will be assumed not to have had a licence.

It goes without saying that to be safe roads require a proper surface. I, therefore, encourage the Minister to continue to prioritise the roads programme in his Department's strategy. The measures in the Bill provide for a logical tightening of the law. I congratulate the Minister on his achievements in the progression of a safer roads agenda. I hope the Bill will have the desired effect by keeping drivers safer.