Govt has no Road Safety Strategy - Daly

No speed cameras, no drug-driving test, only half penalty points

Fine Gael Kildare South General Election candidate, Cllr Richard Daly has said it is an incredible the Government now has no Road Safety Strategy as the 2004 to 2006 strategy has now expired following the death of 367 people on our roads last year.

“367 people died in road accidents last year. Each of these deaths is tragic and senseless. I had hoped that the Government would finally start taking road safety seriously in 2007. However, it has failed to make even the most basic provision for road safety, because it has allowed the Road Safety Strategy to expire.

"Key aspects of the outgoing 2004-2006 Road Safety Strategy remain unimplemented including
a nationwide network of speed cameras,
provisions for a drug driving test, and
a roadworthiness test for motorcycles.

The single most crucial target of the last Road Safety Strategy, to keep road deaths below 300, has not been achieved. Minister Cullen has asked the Road Safety Authority to draft the next Road Safety Strategy, but has also washed his hands of the issue. Yet as Transport Minister he should have full responsibility.

"There was an 18 month gap between the 1998-2002 strategy and the 2004-2006 strategy, during which time some 517 people died. There is now a very real danger of another lengthy gap, particularly given that so many aspects of the outgoing safety strategy have not been implemented.

They include -

Nationwide network of speed cameras: The Government still only has three fixed speed cameras under a pilot programme launched five years ago. The long-awaited nationwide system has not even gone out to tender. There was a promise to speed check 11 million vehicles per annum. The absence of a speed camera network and the under-resourced Garda Traffic Corps means that only three million vehicles will be registered speeding this year.

Drug driving test: A pilot scheme in Australia found that five times as many motorists tested positive for drugs than for excess alcohol. A similar test is also being piloted in the UK, yet Ireland does not even have the necessary legislation to launch a similar pilot because the Government voted against Fine Gael proposals.

Roll out full roster of 69 penalty points: Only 36 of the promised penalty points have been implemented, and there is no indication when the remaining 33 will be brought in.

Mutual recognition of penalty points with UK and Northern Ireland: Twenty per-cent of vehicles which incur penalty points cannot have points allocated because the vehicle cannot be identified.

Compulsory training for motorcyclists: Motorcycles represent only 1.6 per-cent of all vehicles on the road, yet 10 per-cent of all fatalities are motorcyclists. It is crucial that training becomes compulsory to stop this slaughter.

Discourage long-term reliance on provisional licences: 404,000 people are on provisional licences, with a shocking 27,054 drivers on their fifth licence which means they have been driving for eight years without passing a test.

"All of these policies could have been implemented in the lifetime of the 2004-2006 Road Safety Strategy, if the Government had shown some initiative. With no follow-on road safety strategy in sight, it is crucial that these outstanding policies are implemented as early as possible in 2007.”