Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the 17 Members who contributed to this important discussion on road safety. I thank them for contributing in a non-partisan, non-adversarial manner. We are all committed to road safety and bringing about improvements because, as we all realise, road safety affects everybody. The statistics are about people. Tonight, as we gather here in this Chamber, it is disturbing and shocking that families across our State are grieving over the unnecessary loss of the lives of loved ones and people we know in our communities. Equally, it is a question of catastrophic injuries that can lead to life-changing complications on which we have to work with families to offer support. Families have had to change their whole lives. I begin by thanking Senators Donovan and Costello because they are right. This is about collective responsibility. I smiled as I listened to Senator Kyne because we were all that soldier trying to get home faster and beating the next car home when we were younger drivers. Then maturity sets in and we recognise, as Senator Kennelly said, that levels of speed have profound implications. That is something we must work at, in terms of reducing road deaths and serious injuries. This can be achieved by debates like this one when we highlight the importance of road safety and promote conversations in our homes, with our families and friends, in our places of work and in our communities. As legislators and citizens, we must make a commitment to road safety as a priority. As Senator Noonan and others referenced, this is about the loss of life in car accidents. On behalf of the Government, I reiterate that we are committed to delivering a road safety strategy with the goal of halving the number of fatalities and serious injuries on our roads. We are also committed to meeting our Vision Zero target by 2050.

In my opening contribution, I made reference to the fact that there were four predominant factors in road fatalities, namely, speed, intoxicated driving, the non-wearing of seatbelts, although we have improved in that area, and distracted road use, all of which come down to personal responsibility on the part of the road user. If I were to go back to the Department and the Road Safety Authority tomorrow, I would take with me the opening contributions of Senators O'Donovan and Noonan about their experiences. What they said was far more profound than anything many of us will say. I thank them for that.

The human factors are something that we can control. The Government is committed to a multifaceted approach in terms of education, enforcement, engineering investment and legislative reform. There is no one size fits all but rather a combination of all of these elements, which is why the Government is working to address this in a variety of ways. A road safety strategy is only one element. We are following international best practice and are aligned with EU targets. All of this is based on a safe system approach. An action plan for the next two years is under development, in collaboration with the different agencies and stakeholders, with a formal adoption process to be done shortly. To support this work, the Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority have established a new road users safety forum comprising road safety advocates and road users, representing a range of interests and perspectives, to serve as a consultative body for the emerging action plan. That is important because it is giving people an opportunity to get involved. Equally, in terms of the legislative programme, the commitment to commencing outstanding provisions of the 2023 and 2024 Acts will be met as soon as possible. The programme for Government commits us to legislating for graduated penalties, speed education courses and collision data sharing. The Government will progress this legislation to make these changes. As well as introducing new legislation, work has been underway since last year to consolidate the existing canon of road traffic law, which dates back to 1961, and put it on to a new legislative basis. A dedicated team of experts in road traffic legislation is now carrying forward this important work.

In this debate, we have heard about the importance of changing behaviour. That is a challenge but it must be done. We all know that speed is one of the main causes of death and serious injury on our roads. The speed limit changes that were introduced on 7 February, backed by legislation passed last year, are part of our response to systematically addressing the most dangerous behaviours. We will use the experience gained from this phase, which is based on the speed limit review of 2023, to inform the roll-out and timing of future phases addressing national secondary and urban roads. Again, I stress the importance of new technologies like speed cameras, including average speed cameras. The idea of having speed cameras at the entrances and exits of towns and villages is something we will have to get used to in this country. We see it in other jurisdictions and, as Members here have said, it works.The Government is committed to investing in this element of the road safety strategy. This is demonstrated in the Department's hierarchy of investment priorities as articulated in the national investment framework for transport in Ireland. We will ensure that the foremost priority is given to maximising existing assets in a safe condition. The emphasis on protection and renewal is also reflected in the national development plan. I will bring the issues raised by Senator Dee Ryan back to the Department. Senators Ryan and Maria Byrne both raised a particular junction in Castletroy. It is an important junction with a high volume of traffic.

As part of the budget for this year, and as an interim measure pending the broader reform of the RSA, €18 million has been ring-fenced for investment in RSA public awareness, education and research activities. This will ensure that increases in communication activity in late 2023 and into 2024 are sustained this year, helping to deliver a targeted programme of public interest work to deliver behavioural change. Reference has been made to young people. We have a very important revised transition year programme in road safety matters, which was launched last year. This enjoyed huge success in phase one, with 149 teachers representing 138 schools attending in-personal professional learning in places such as Swinford, Athlone, Portlaoise, Dublin, Cork, Galway and Donegal.

Many Members, including Senators Duffy and Scahill, raised the issue of safer routes to school and made very important points with which I agree. We need to do more here and we need to have a greater roll-out of those programmes because many of our rural schools are on main roads where people speed and fly past. Perhaps it is time, as Senator O'Donovan said, to have a plan that we all buy in to. As a former teacher, I know that the transition year programme is about knowledge, skills and attitudes. I hope the students of tomorrow will not be 38 years of age when they are learning to drive. I accept Senator Harmon's point that the waiting times are too long but we have recruited 70 new testers. Senator Kyne made reference to many of the different schemes and he is right that this is about the safety of our children at school drop-offs, especially the rural areas we mentioned. Senator Harmon mentioned the Matthew Hill, Lehenaghmore, scheme. I am glad the Government is committed to funding that road. I know that, as a councillor on Cork City Council, Senator Harmon played a role in that regard and I thank her for that. I look forward to working with her to ensure that the road is enhanced, improved and made safer.

The transition year programme is just one piece of the jigsaw. Senators O'Reilly and Tully made reference to the issue of darker clothing and made some good points about communication around making our roads safer. Senator Noonan is right that it is not just about the car. We all share road space, whether as cyclists, pedestrians or car or lorry drivers. Roads are shared spaces now with active travel. Reference was made to Cork City Council and a briefing held last Friday. There is a need for the Government, in conjunction with the local authorities, to improve pedestrian access points and footpaths in both urban and rural areas. Senator Clifford-Lee made reference to the RSA in the context of north County Dublin and I will take her point regarding waiting times back to the Department.

Enforcement is a crucial deterrent to those who might violate the law on our roads. The Government is committed to collaborating with its road safety partners in Transport Infrastructure Ireland and An Garda Síochána on rolling out additional safety cameras and the development of a national road safety camera strategy. This strategy will be structured to allow for further scalability to detect and prosecute offences as needed. This is in conjunction with the approved increase in GoSafe hours, which has been extended to October 2025 and which I am sure all Members welcome. The points made by Senator Kennelly about average speed cameras are valid. This is about changing the culture and changing mindsets. We are all acutely aware of deteriorating driver behaviour. On "Prime Time" recently, we saw red light breaking, the non-wearing of seatbelts and the use of mobile phones, all of which contribute to the rise in fatalities and serious injuries on our roads.

I am hopeful the actions we are taking will bring change and a reduction in road deaths. People have a critical role to play in all of that. As I said, no one factor or intervention will solve this but the Government has a detailed plan.Work is proceeding on multiple fronts on a range of road safety priorities. However, if we do not get buy in from people, we will be going nowhere. We saw it with seat belts; we saw it with drink-driving. When I young fella the advertising was "Two will do" and now it is zero tolerance. Senator Byrne is correct about the roads in County Wexford. I will talk about that with him further again. It is about ensuring under the programme for Government that the road safety strategy will legislate for graduated penalties, bring in speed education course, bring in collision data sharing; and work in a variety of ways to ensure that we move to closer to Vision Zero. What is at the heart of what do is ensuring people do not get killed or injured and can travel the roads safely and that we address what the Acting Chairperson and Senator Brady referenced about the N4 and issues other Members have raised. Senator O'Reilly made reference to issues in County Cavan about the roads there and I will bring them back.

The important point is that we must enhance our roads. We must have road safety. We do need enforcement in a variety of ways. As Senator O'Donovan said, the days of gardaí being on every road are gone. That is why we must use new technology. It is about road users, including the pedestrian, cyclist and motorist. It is a shared space and road safety is about driver behaviour. If we can have debates like this, go into our schools and if we can educate people and commit to having more people having their driving test done in a more exponential manner, it would be absolutely fantastic. Senator Keogan made reference to the issue of insurance and drivers not being asked for their certificate. I will give the House two pieces of information. On the second week of January and the third week of February, An Garda Síochána had dedicated weeks to check car insurance and driving licences, which shows that there is a plan by An Garda Síochána.

I thank the Acting Chairperson and Members for their contributions. I hope we will come back again to this matter in this House. Road safety is something that we are all committed to. The Government is very much committed to ensuring that we meet our targets, but also that we reform the RSA because the review shows that we need to do that. I commend An Garda Síochána on the work that they do and thank them most importantly for what they do for us in keeping us safer. I thank the Chair for letting me go over time but it is a passionate subject that I am involved in. I am grateful that Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, are equally as committed to this, as is the Government.