Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 162: To ask the Minister for Transport the progress to date in effecting the National Road Safety Strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39890/08]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Primary purpose and aim of the Road Safety Action Plan is to save lives and reduce injuries on our Roads, by reducing fatalities to no more than 60 fatalities per million or 252 fatalities per year.

The 1 Primary Action of saving lives is supplemented by 125 other specific actions, designed to bring about the objective expressed in the primary action.

The Strategy is being successfully implemented. Thankfully, we have seen a marked reduction in the number of people killed on our roads in 2007 and to date this year, despite the fact there has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of drivers and a 70 per cent increase in the number of vehicles on our roads.

According to the European Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) programme, which is run by the European Transport Safety Council, (ETSC), Ireland is now ranked in the top ten best performing EU countries for road safety performance.

Action 83 of the Strategy is for the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to report to me each year on the implementation of the 126 actions in the Strategy, all of which identify the lead agency responsible for implementation and a target implementation date.

Both Minister Dempsey and I have received that report and the Authority has confirmed that all actions in the Strategy identified for completion in 2007 have been completed in full.

These include publication of a revised Rules of the Road, road safety awareness events, integration of RSA enforcement activity with An Garda Síochána and Customs and publication of various consultation documents including one on compulsory training for motor cyclists.

In the coming weeks Minister Dempsey and I will bring that report to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Road Safety which Minister Dempsey chairs. I envisage that the report will then be publicly available.

It is of course the case that work has already begun on other actions in the Strategy which have a longer timeframe for completion, for example the introduction of a lower blood alcohol level for drivers (Action no. 76), with target date of 2nd Quarter 2009, which will form part of the Road Traffic and Transport Bill, which I hope to see published early next year.

Provisions relating to mandatory alcohol testing of drivers at collisions (Action no. 75) will also be included in that Bill.