Seanad debates
Wednesday, 18 December 2019
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Road Safety
10:30 am
Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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There are concerns about the lack of adequate regulation for road haulage in Ireland and I have raised the fact that road haulage gets a special tax relief with the Minister for Finance and others. This relief is on the purchase of diesel at a time a carbon tax is being brought in and many others are being asked to pay more for fuel. The relief has been increased in next year's budget. In early December, the road haulage sector invited a number of Fine Gael Members to a patrons' reception. It is an unusual and strange framing for this. The Government needs to consider a more robust and regulated relationship with the road haulage industry and particularly engage on the issue of heavy goods vehicles, HGVs.
HGVs comprise 3% of the European vehicle fleet and 7% of the driven kilometres across Europe but are involved in 18% of fatal accidents. Those are figures from 2008. According to more recent figures, more than 4,000 people have been killed in crashes with trucks and HGVs and of those fatalities in excess of 1,000 were vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians. A friend of mine was killed by a HGV on the quays in Dublin a few years ago. The approach so far has seemed to be more roads. There are some European regulations and I am sure the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with responsibility for Europe, will comment on the new regulations due to come into effect on 1 September 2020 for a new design of cab for HGVs. Will she press to ensure they are the only kind of vehicle we see on our streets and moving through the city? There has been a long push on the issue of blind spots. Many people will have seen the shocking video from the UK circulating this week about a blind spot in a truck where a car was not seen. I think it was on the A40. There is a concern that cars are obliged to have clear vision but HGVs are not. The lead-in on the EU regulation is up to 2028, which is an extraordinary and dangerously long period for action on this. The Minister of State will also be aware that all new vehicles should be required to have intelligent speed assistance technology because given the fact that the blind spots have been addressed too slowly, speed is one of the factors we can address and it is one of the issues that contributes to the large number of fatalities involving HGVs.
On the issue of toll roads and bypasses, there are safety concerns because people feel they cannot allow their children to cycle or they cannot walk safely because of the number of HGVs going through small towns. In many cases, the response is another bypass and another road, even in areas where there are already many roads. For example, there is discussion of a bypass of Slane yet the M1 is nearby. In many cases, drivers go through Slane because they are made responsible for paying the tolls by their employer. In the road haulage sector in which drivers are underpaid, and where terms and conditions are not as strong as they should be for them, all moneys matter. Drivers are avoiding the toll in Drogheda by taking a route off the M1 onto the N2 and going through Slane. Some people have talked about no tolls but that may not be an option. If there was an annual toll or fee attached to the HGV not payable by the driver, who may pass once or twice through this country and through other countries, instead of an instance-by-instance fee, there would no longer be an incentive for HGVs to avoid tolls and take narrower routes. Every day 2,000 HGVs pass through Slane. A large number of those HGVs do not need to pass through but do so to avoid tolls. I am looking for an overhaul of the toll system and a new approach. It is not always a question of new roads but of incentives for those on the roads and how we manage our toll system.
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, who cannot be here this morning because he is attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport. He sends his apologies. The Senator has raised a number of matters and I will try my best to answer them. Where she has any suggestions to highlight that are not in my response and that I cannot address, I will certainly convey them to the Minister.
I offer my condolences to the Senator on the loss of her friend and to anyone who has lost a loved one or relative in a road accident. Our entire objective throughout all of this and the changes we have made at European and local level is to try to bring down the number of road deaths. We have set ourselves an objective of reducing road fatalities to 120 annually by 2020. Unfortunately, last year, we lost 142 people on our roads. We need to address that slight increase. A huge volume of work has been done particularly in respect of HGVs. Much of this has been done at EU level and been implemented locally. Manufacturers of HGVs must comply with requirements for a range of compulsory safety features and this is part of the EU's type-approval regime. This regime sets the safety, environmental and technical standards for motor vehicles that must be adhered to in order for those vehicles to be placed on the market and registered in EU member states.While some high-end vehicle types already have a variety of high-tech safety features as standard, it is important that such systems are progressively introduced into all vehicles across the board. In order to achieve this goal, a new European regulation, as the Senator has mentioned, replacing what is known as the "general safety regulation", is due to come into effect shortly that will introduce a new range of mandatory safety features, particularly for HGVs. These features will be gradually introduced over the next number of years, I suppose to allow those who need to upgrade or to install them within their vehicles to do so in a cost-effective manner. An example of the new safety systems includes pedestrian and cyclist collision warning, particularly for those in towns and cities. I note there has been a five-axle ban from Dublin City Council within the city since the opening of the port tunnel but, obviously, there are those who have a licence to come in. Given the amount of construction happening within the city centre, hopefully, this is something that will help to protect pedestrians and cyclists. Further examples of the new safety systems include: blind spot information, direct vision, tyre pressure monitoring, emergency stop signal, alcohol interlock installation, drowsiness and attention detection and event or accident data recorders.
These mandatory safety features will be gradually introduced into the type-approval regime on a phased basis over a period from 2022 to 2029. They are being heralded by the European Commission as having "the same kind of impact as when the safety belts were first introduced", and one will be aware that thousands of lives have been saved. The Commission expects the proposed measures will save 25,000 lives and avoid at least 140,000 serious injuries across all vehicle types by 2038. There is a considerable amount of work being done in that regard.
Briefly at the beginning, the Senator mentioned the climate agenda. In recent years, the diesel rebate scheme was introduced to support an industry given that Ireland is an island, we export 90% of what we produce and we need to make sure that it is feasible for our hauliers and for these companies to work and continue their job. At the same time, we are clear that the future fuelling of any freight operations over time needs to transition to cleaner greener fuels and that is something that has been included as part of the new cross-Government strategy to try to reach our 2030 emissions target but also, as we agreed at a European level this week, to ensure that we are climate neutral by 2050. That will certainly include this industry.
In relation to tolling, the Senator mentioned Slane. As a resident of Slane and somebody who has worked on this bypass before even being elected, I am aware that a considerable amount of work has been done on showing why toll bans, specifically, for the M1, do not work, and why all of these other measures in terms of banning HGVs have not worked. There has been at least two or three years' work done by the local authority to show why a bypass is necessary. I take the Senator's reasoning that not everywhere needs a bypass but the village of Slane has had countless needless deaths, not only along the bridge which, although not quite from the time of King James I, has been there so long it needs to be upgraded. A bypass is the only way that we can prevent the trucks from coming through because much of it is down to habit or knowing particular routes. This is why, particularly also given that the M1 is almost reaching capacity as well, we need to see an upgrade along that route.
In terms of the tolling, and this is a question that I have asked around, there is a difficulty for people paying tolls when there is the M3 in Meath as well. There are two tolls between Cavan and Dublin as well. Unfortunately, the Department I represent today, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, has responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme but individual national roads come under Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TIl, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Any issues the Senator has raised regarding this regarding this, including toll roads and the establishment of a system of tolls, are within the remit of TIl. Like the Senator, I think these issues will continue to be raised within the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. I will come back to the Senator on any specific issues she has.
Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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The issue of tolls, while affecting local authorities, requires a national strategy. An example of a bad hostage to fortune that was given, for example, is the idea that the State now compensates for whenever there are not vehicles on roads as well as when there are. There is a concern. It was an example of poor policy.
Similarly, in terms of poor policy, the idea of the diesel rebate scheme needs to be re-examined. It is extraordinary that we would not be just giving an exemption. Ideally, we should be pressing for fuel efficiency as part of these European directives. We should be asking for them to move forward. Clearly, the road haulage industry is an effective lobbyist but the fact is we cannot afford the lives lost to this industry by poor practice. We should be looking for more fuel efficiency in the vehicles but, nonetheless, to incentivise and refund the purchase of unclean fuels is an extraordinarily regressive step. That is one that we need to revise.
I accept we will be under pressure with Brexit. I do not believe that companies will stop delivering goods to Ireland if they have to pay the same price for diesel as anybody else. I think that they will continue in that regard.
I look forward to engaging with the Minister of State. I appreciate the Minister of State's engagement in relation to Slane. I understand the situation. I note that sometimes extra roads are added, as when an extra road was added through the centre of Kilkenny, and doing so does not reduce the vehicle traffic. In that case, what we saw was more vehicle traffic. We suddenly had two roads which had the same number of vehicles. There is a concern, not specifically in terms of Slane, that the research internationally has shown that providing more roads does not automatically reduce traffic. What it tends to do is incentivise and send the signal that roads are the main mechanisms. In fact, freight haulage, which is something which Ireland has neglected and which is another issue I raised in the past with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, is somewhere that we will need to look in terms of long-term sustainability as we depend increasingly on the ports and on land travel and that connection between rail and port down the line.
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I will highlight another few areas, particularly in terms of the overall emissions, to show that a considerable amount of work is being done.
The rebate was introduced at a time when the industry was under particular pressure. It was needed to try to ensure that individual businesses did not go under and that they were sustainable. It was acknowledged that they were still in significant difficulty.
In terms of the range of new alternative fuel solutions, they are emerging across the HGV fleet spectrum. Electrification is slow but gas-fuelled trucks are available right now. We have a number of incentives in place to encourage gas use in freight. For example, we have a low excise rate for natural gas and for biogas. We have an accelerated capital allowance scheme for investment in trucks and refuelling infrastructure at the Department. They are also working on a grant scheme which will be introduced next year. Gas Networks Ireland is rolling out the refuelling infrastructure - the gas filling station - at Dublin Port. It is now open. The low-emissions vehicle task force recently finished its work on the potential role for alternative fuels, including compressed natural gas, as a pathway to biomethane, biofuels and hydrogen in the freight sector. All of this will take time.
Only last week, the new Commission President, Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, published and launched the new green deal, which is intended to cross all spectrums and all industries, sectors and business, such as freight. The focus of the new green deal was not the loss of jobs. It was not to place a burden on people. It was to be innovative, to help produce jobs and to help sustain industries and sectors. The HGV sector will certainly be one benefiting from that.
Finally, in terms of Slane, I would hope, particularly given that the route was announced this week, that the ban on HGVs, as well as the proposal of the bypass, will allow for the village - which has been destroyed with HGVs over recent years - to be able to flourish and grow given its considerable potential as such an historic and important village next to our oldest and most important structure of Newgrange.
I thank the Senator for her question. I certainly will relay the Senator's concerns to the Minister.