Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. From listening to the debate, it is clear that road safety is something that affects everybody who embarks on a journey every day - those who commute to work, take children to school or just go out for a walk. We know these everyday activities can turn into life-altering tragedies. It is important to remember the loss of life we have seen this year. The reason we are having the statements today is that we are looking at the trends going in the wrong direction. It is not just the loss of life of the individual but their families, friends and communities who are devastated by those losses. We know that a quarter of road deaths have been pedestrians and a third are young people under the age of 25.

We are all here making suggestions as to what we can do to reverse the trend and to bring down those numbers. It is not the case in the debate today, but in the narrative a disproportionate amount of responsibility has been placed on vulnerable road users like pedestrians and people on bikes. Campaigns by the likes of the Road Safety Authority are framed in terms of responsibility for those vulnerable cyclists and pedestrians to protect themselves. There is a whiff of victim-blaming by some of the campaigns. Cyclists are told to wear helmets, reflective gear and to be aware. The campaigns are rarely about the terrible infrastructure that puts road users at risk or the dangerous drivers or vehicles who are actually responsible for the accidents. If we go to any other European country that has proper infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists and we will see they are not dressed up like they are going to war, as we see in Ireland. It is not necessary to wear all the high-vis clothing, helmets and all of that safety equipment when adequate infrastructure for cyclists is put in place. In Ireland, when we read between the lines and look at the advertising campaigns by car manufacturers, the narrative is that if individuals want to be safe, they need to place themselves and their families in a large SUV. Of course, these small tanks are very expensive and not affordable for the vast majority of the public. Their widespread uptake is coming at a detriment to other road users. This is a factor in what we are seeing now in the road safety statistics, with a correlation to be drawn with the popularity of SUVs. A crash involving an SUV and a pedestrian is much more likely to result in more serious internal body and head injuries due to the vehicle's high bonnet compared with traditional sedans. It was really disappointing to hear yesterday at the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action that there is no ambition, either at national or EU level, to tackle the trend for cars to have these high bonnets, which mean drivers cannot see children in front of the vehicle. They are higher than buggies. SUVs are more likely to cause fatal injuries than are older cars, which were more likely to cause leg injuries. The lack of ambition in this regard is deeply disappointing. If there is no ambition at EU level to tackle the issue, we certainly need national regulations to deter people from buying SUVs who do not need them. It is fine if such a vehicle is needed by people in agriculture or who keep horses. However, we do not need to see large Land Rover Discovery and Range Rover vehicles being driven around Dublin city. They are completely inappropriate and unnecessary and are taking up a huge amount of road space from pedestrians and cyclists.

There must be enforcement of existing law. It is all well and good to talk about introducing new legislation on road safety but we also need to focus on enforcement. Every day as I cycle into Leinster House, I see a number of people using their telephones while driving and a number of drivers breaking speed limits. As we know, motorists treat speed limits as speed targets. Some park in cycling lanes. There is no enforcement of that in this city and I am sure it is the same in towns around the country. People feel they can park in a cycle lane while they go into a shop or even for a longer period, thereby forcing cyclists out into the middle of the road. Some motorists park on footpaths, which endangers pedestrians. We absolutely need to see enforcement of the existing laws.

We do not necessarily need to have gardaí doing all the enforcement. There is a lot of technological innovation happening. In New York city, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA, has fitted buses with cameras to detect cars in bus lanes, with automatic fines for those motorists. I tabled amendments to the Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023 to allow Dublin Bus to do the same but, unfortunately, they were rejected by the Minister. There were legislative issues blocking the more widespread roll-out of camera detection but that legislation has now passed. The roll-out needs to be delivered as a matter of priority to free up gardaí to work where we need them, on road traffic law enforcement, by introducing technology to assist them in that role.

I have raised as a Commencement matter the issue of availability of data on traffic collisions. The Garda collects incredibly detailed data on incidents, which are sent to the RSA. Frustratingly, however, the authority made a decision in recent years not to share those data with researchers. The number of incidents is probably the best indicator we have of road safety. There could be black spots that are going undetected because researchers do not have access to that information. We keep hearing the excuse that the RSA cannot release the information because of data protection requirements. That does not stack up when we look at the evidence. In other jurisdictions, including up the road in the North, it is possible to log onto a portal and obtain such information for the past month. In France, where the general data protection regulation, GDPR applies, it is likewise possible to get those real-time data. Researchers need that information to ensure we are making policy on road traffic and road safety with our eyes fully open and with all the data to hand. As I said, I have raised the issue before in the House that the RSA is hiding behind the GDPR. The Minister has powers in this area under section 77A(8) of the Roads Act 1993, as inserted by section 46 of the Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023. I was told that a draft direction under section 8 was being prepared by the Department. I am interested to know how that is progressing and when researchers will have access to those data.