Road Safety Authority Bill - Second Stage - 16th May 2006

Road Safety Authority Bill - Second Stage - 16th May 2006

Mr. Norris: I, too, welcome the Minister of
State to the House. I wish to make some comments
on this Bill, which I welcome and I wish
the road safety authority success. There has not
been a glorious history of success in this area. The
Government has been confronted by the resignation
of Eddie Shaw who addressed the Joint
Committee on Transport of which I was a
member. He was fairly trenchant in his criticism
and he laid down a list of things he felt should be
done. I hope the Government will make available
to the incoming authority those recommendations
of Mr. Eddie Shaw because they would be valuable.
The Government should not discard the
work already done by a very able and honourable
man.
Unlike some of my colleagues here, I heartily
approve of the appointment of Gay Byrne. He is
an ideal person because he is well known and well
loved. He has a very keen and shrewd intelligence.
I worked with him on a few occasions in
broadcasting. He is one of the most efficient
people I know and a great disciplinarian. If he
is set a task he will make it his business to get
it done.
Acting Chairman: The Senator is saying nice
things about someone who cannot reply in this
House but I have had to stop people saying
unpleasant things so I cannot allow the Senator
to either praise or blame someone.
Mr. Norris: “The Moving Finger writes; and,
having writ, Moves on.” I cannot recall the verse
but I understand the Chair’s admonishment and
the reason for it.
The road safety authority is to be welcomed.
The primary aim must be to make Irish road
users respect the law. In order for that to happen,
we must give them laws they can respect because
this is not the case at present. Many of the laws
are a tissue of nonsense. Having centralised
responsibility for road safety, the Government
should go further and centralise control of road
management as well. I am sure the Minister of
State may find it in his heart to at least secretly
agree with me that there is a huge amount of
inconsistency regarding speed, for example. How
can anyone respect the speed limits? They are
inconsistent and capricious and are governed by
local authorities. It is completely absurd that as a
motorway passes through different jurisdictions
the speed limits change. We all know of instances
where the gardaı´ literally lie in wait under a
bridge in a place where the speed limit does not
meet the circumstances of the roadway. This is
like shooting fish in a barrel.
By some miracle I have not yet acquired any
penalty points although it may be tempting providence
to admit it. The Government needs to have
a coherent set of speed limits and this can only
be achieved through a centralised body. It is not
appropriate for every local authority in the country
to make its own decisions about roads that are
part of a national transport system. We are not
dealing with boreens anymore but with major
national highways which should be dealt with in
a professional manner.
Road humps are idiotic things which simply do
not work. As was explained to me by a resident
of an area where these things were put in, they
are supposed to stop kids speeding in what are
called joyriding cars but these kids get an even
greater thrill by driving at these humps and
watching the effect on somebody else’s car. Some
salubrious areas of Dublin have nice, mild little
humps that one would hardly notice while in
other areas, such as Londonbridge Road, they are
cliffs of brick which even if one drives at 10 km/h
will do some damage to a car. This type of flagrant
ignoring of the welfare of motorists can only
inculcate contempt. I ask for consistency and
coherence in this matter.
Even worse is the state of road surfaces. I have
raised this matter in the House on a number of
occasions. I refer to the inappropriate road surface
materials used by some county councils. I
have been asked not to name individuals and
families in the House but the record will show
that I raised this matter both in the House and as
a matter on the Adjournment. I refer to the tragic
case of a young girl who was driving carefully and
with no drink taken. Her car suddenly hit a patch
of road. She lost control of the car which went
into a lorry coming in the opposite direction and
she was killed.
The tragic accident involving a school bus near
Trim was exactly the same. The road surface
treatment was inappropriate. How many more
accidents of this kind will happen? Local authorities
are once again letting down the general
public. In some of these instances the local authorities
were alerted but even after the accident
did precious little.
Appropriate speed limits should be put in
place. It should be possible to drive in safety over
those road humps at the maximum prescribed
speed. A vehicle should be able to cross those
humps in safety at the maximum permitted speed,
otherwise the whole thing is a nonsense. These
two terrible tragedies involved an individual
driver and a party of schoolchildren. There
should be some central authority to take
responsibility for these matters as has been done
with regard to certain but limited aspects of road
safety in this Bill. We need to get road users to
respect the rules of the road and the condition of
the road. This can only be achieved by giving
them something to respect.
I will unburden myself of another grouse with
which the Minister of State, other Members and
members of staff may be familiar. If one turns left
having exited by the back gate of Leinster House,
one rapidly hits the junction of Clare Street, Merrion
Square and Merrion Street. This junction,
like many all over the city, has a yellow box. It is
a common occurrence for a double-decker bus to
land in the middle of the box and stay there until
the traffic light changes. Not one car can move as
a result. I ask the Minister of State to ask the
police to check this junction at rush hour over a
period of one week to see if I am correct and to
do something about the situation. Driving should
be taught in schools as is the case in Germany. It
should perhaps be a compulsory extra subject in
fifth or sixth year. They could be taught driving
skills and respect for the road.
The Minister of State is from County Donegal
and he must feel keenly the carnage on the roads
in that county. There seems to be a constellation
of circumstances in these accidents. The victims
are very often young people and it happens on a
Friday night and Saturday morning or Saturday
night and Sunday morning. There may be a few
drinks on board, too many people in a powerful
car and it is in the early hours of the morning.
This scenario is so often repeated as reported on
the radio and in the newspapers. We know what
are the elements that contribute to major road
accidents and we should do something about
them.
The proposal that members of the board
should make a declaration to the board is very
closet-like, in my view. Why are they not a bit
more open about it? We as Members of the
Oireachtas must make our declarations. I once
made a declaration which included a portfolio of
shares I had inherited from my aunt. The details
appeared in the newspapers having been
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act
and while it was reported that I was a decent fellow
and a good legislator, the reporter asked
whether would one buy a share from me given all
the crap I had in my portfolio. If I had to make a
declaration, why can members of the board not
be required to make a similar open and clear declaration?
What is the logic in disbarring Members of the
Oireachtas or members of county councils from
membership of the authority? I am not the
biggest fan of county councils, as Members will
know, but if we are to continue to allow them to
have responsibility for certain areas of management
in terms of roads and road safety, I do not
see why by being elected, we sometimes must be
penalised by being excluded from areas of
service.