Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 308: To ask the Minister for Transport the percentage of drivers involved in traffic accidents in which death or serious injury occur, who possess full driving licences provisional driving licences or no driving licence. [38775/05]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 309: To ask the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to research which suggests that up to 50% of fatal car accidents here involve cars from four particular manufacturers; if his Department has similar statistics assessing the death rate by manufacturer and by model; and the way in which he intends to disseminate this information to the public in order that they can use it when making purchasing decisions. [38803/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 308 and 309 together.

I am not aware of the research that the Deputy is referring to. Statistics relating to road accidents, based on information provided by the Garda Síochána, are published by the National Roads Authority, NRA, in its annual road accident facts reports. The most recent report, entitled Road Collision Facts, relates to 2003 and is available on the NRA website. Reports relating to previous years are available in the Oireachtas Library.

The reports do not provide a breakdown of the licence status of drivers involved in traffic collisions in which death or serious injury occur nor do they contain details of the makes or models of vehicles involved in road traffic collisions. They include an analysis of factors contributing to collisions in 2003, where such factors were listed by members of An Garda Síochána on collision report forms. This analysis indicates that driver error accounted for some 86% of all contributory factors identified while the figure for vehicle factors was only 0.3%.