Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 360: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of fatal accidents which occurred in each of the past three years on regional roads outside the 30 to 40 mph speed limit; the number which occurred on national secondary roads for the same period and on national primary roads; if he has satisfied himself that all regional roads are unsafe for 100 km/h speed limits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3414/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Statistics on road accidents, based on information provided by the Garda Síochána, are published by the National Roads Authority in its annual Road Accident Facts reports. The most recent report for 2002, along with those relating to previous years, are available in the Oireachtas Library.

The road accident reports include data relating to the number of fatal accidents on each of the national primary and secondary routes. The report also includes details relating to the number of fatal accidents inside and outside built-up areas on these roads. For the purpose of the report, a built-up area is regarded as an area with a 30 mph or 40 mph speed limit. Data relating to the number of fatal accidents inside and outside built-up areas on non-national roads is available from the report but no breakdown is available as between regional and local roads.

The following table gives the breakdown of the number of fatal accidents outside built-up areas on national primary and secondary routes along with the number of fatal accidents outside built-up areas on non-national roads in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Over the three-year period, the number of fatal accidents on national primary and secondary roads accounted for 35% of the total.

The working group established in 2003 to review speed limit structures and policies recommended that the general speed limit that applied in respect of rural roads other than motorways should be replaced by separate default speed limits for the rural national and rural regional and local roads. The provisions in the Road Traffic Act 2004 establishing the default speed limits for roads generally reflects that recommendation by providing for the introduction of a default speed limit of 100 km/h for rural national roads and 80 km/h for rural regional and local roads.

The determination of different default maximum speed limits for national and non-national roads in rural areas is based on the premise that the regional and local road network is of a lower infrastructural standard in terms of design, road engineering and maintenance than is the case with the national network. This is supported by the engineering advice from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to the effect that 80 km/h is the most appropriate maximum speed limit for the greatest part of the regional and local road network.

The Road Traffic Act 2004 empowers county and city councils to make special speed limit by-laws for the purpose of applying special speed limits. Where a county council determines that a speed limit of 100 km/h can be deployed on a regional or local road, it may facilitate that determination through the inclusion of an appropriate provision in by-laws. Equally, a county council may apply a maximum speed limit lower than the default speed limit in respect of a regional and local road and, subject to the consent of the National Roads Authority, in the case of a national road, where they consider it would be the best road safety match.