Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to welcome the Minister back to the House. We all support his efforts to improve road safety in every way possible.

As someone who drives approximately 1,000 km per week, speed is the single biggest factor in road accidents. Thankfully, I have never been involved in a serious accident and I do not have penalty points. In addition, I am able to drive from Dublin to Kerry in a reasonable time and without breaking the speed limit. I am no slouch but I become infuriated when I am overtaken by cars that are obviously being driven at in excess of 150 km/h, sometimes on motorways and on other occasions on roads that are just not suitable for accommodating vehicles travelling at that type of speed. This is my personal view and it is obvious that drink, drugs, etc., are also factors. However, I remain convinced that speed is the single biggest factor in road accidents. We must invest more in combating motorists who drive at speed. There are occasions when I would love to have some form of device in my car to allow me to record other vehicles as they speed past. Even though we Irish have a difficulty when it comes to informers, I would have no hesitation in reporting cars and other vehicles being driven at excessive speed if I got the opportunity to do so and if action could be taken on the spot. Given the age in which we live and in view of developments in electronics, perhaps the day will come when I will be in a position to do so.

I received a large amount of unsolicited correspondence on the national car test. One individual informed me via letter that significant delays at NCT testing centres had placed him and, he is sure, many others at a disadvantage. He also referred to the fact that as a result of changes to the road traffic legislation, it is no longer acceptable to show proof of a booking for an NCT when stopped by the Garda and that driving with an out of date disc means automatic penalty points. The man in question indicated that he tried to book a test online at the beginning of February but that the earliest appointment he could obtain was for mid-May. His letter is typical of other communications, including e-mails, I have received. I am sure other Senators received similar correspondence. There is a need for us to focus on the problem that exist.

We accept that the Minister has strengthened the position and tidied matters up in a number of areas and we look forward to the introduction of the new road traffic Bill, which will facilitate the bringing forward of further safety precautions and procedures. However, the primary issue at present relates to the gap that exists. The Minister is going to have to increase the efforts being made to reduce the waiting times relating to the NCT. While waiting times at some centres are below the maximum 28 days, in several parts of the country motorists seem to be experiencing waiting times of three months and upwards. This is unacceptable, particularly in view of the fact that motorists are liable to a fixed penalty notice and three points if they are not in possession of an up-to-date NCT. The figures the Minister provided indicate that of the order of 200,000 people are driving around without valid NCT certificates.

The second, and perhaps more worrying, issue relating to the operation of the NCT system relates to the significant variations in the pass-fail rate for cars at different centres throughout the country. According to an investigation carried out by The Irish Timeslast month, the most recent figures show a variation of almost 30% in pass-fail rates across the 47 test centres nationally. One of the highest pass rates, 67%, was recorded in Cahirciveen, County Kerry, while one of the lowest, 39%, was recorded at Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim. This variation between centres is extremely worrying because no one could state that there is any great difference in the quality of the roads at the two locations-----