5 February 2003
Dr. Henry: I second the motion.
I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him and his officials on bringing forward the penalty points system at last because it had been mooted for so long. It seemed that only the thought of the loss of one's licence would improve people's behaviour and that has been shown to work within these three months. I can but hope it will continue.
I have the benefit of having seen in today's edition of the Irish Examiner an article by Cormac O'Keeffe on a report to be published soon. The statistics are compiled by the National Safety Council and show the alarming fact that trucks are involved in 20% of fatal crashes. This is the first time I have been able to find that out because it has been difficult to get details about exactly what happened in crashes. I have tried and been unable to get them. Therefore, it is wonderful that we are at last getting some of the figures. One frequently heard on the news that a truck was involved in a crash and now we have statistics from the NSC that show this is the case.
The figures show that 494 died on roads in crashes involving trucks between 1996 and 2001 out of a total of 2,622 road fatalities. Of those 494 deaths, 72 were truck drivers, amounting to 15% of the total. This is understandable because one is much more protected driving a truck than in another motor vehicle, on a motorbike or walking. Some 85% of fatalities were other road users. Car users accounted for 51%; pedestrians, 19% - which is very high - motorcyclists, 7%, and cyclists, 6%. Mr. Pat Costello, chief executive of the National Safety Council, points out that it is not saying truck drivers were responsible for these accidents but that they were involved in a high number of fatal crashes which most survived, although 85% of the others involved in the incident were killed.
What depresses me about the report is that, according to Superintendent Liam Collins of the Dublin metropolitan traffic unit, many truck drivers blatantly break the law. He says trucks have speed limiters that kick in once the truck passes the limit but some drivers have got around this. I expected that, with the new speed restrictions, trucks had improved their level of compliance because they are professional drivers for whom losing a licence would be a disaster. However, that is not the case - they have made little difference in the speeds at which they travel. The article states 80% of articulated lorries exceed the 50 miles per hour limit on motorways and that more than 90% exceed the speed limit in 30 miles per hour zones. That is incredible.
There are factors which must make truck drivers incensed at the pace of traffic like the huge hold ups in cities, small towns and on roads with road works. The fact that they have to deliver under the just-in-time system operated by many supermarkets and other businesses - where the goods have to be brought to the shelves immediately and must arrive at a particular slot and be in the yard at a particular time - is not a good enough excuse. We also export goods which have to make it to the ferries but the fact that one is rushing to make a ferry does not mean one can put lives at risk. I am glad the Minister of State is here tonight because he will know from his practice that morbidity rates for those involved in crashes involving trucks are appalling. This must be taken into account.
Motorcyclists, too, fare proportionately badly in their contretemps with trucks with a 7% mortality rate. It is a serious problem that we do not have a test for motorcyclists. It is not only motorcyclists who are in such a vulnerable position, so are pillion passengers. I am a member of the board of Peamount Hospital where we have a unit described as being for the chronically sick young. It would be better termed the unit for the injured-from-motorbike young and their pillion passengers because they have no protection. They are made into mincemeat when they come off their bikes.
The most amazing thing is that we have no test. Someone told me recently that he asked an official who issued licences in a town in Cork how he decided whether one should get a licence. Apparently, there is a block of shops in the town around which the official sends the applicant on his motorbike, and if he comes back on it he gets a licence. I suppose it is his own form of test. Even I know that one is supposed to lean into the corner on a motorbike, but people are leaning in the other direction. It is amazing that so many people manage to stay on their bikes. Measures should be introduced immediately to counter this problem.
All the cases of Ministers or their families in speeding cars are very disappointing. I was delighted that someone said, "Whatever about the rule of the land, the laws of physics still apply to the Taoiseach and Ministers." If they are supposed to lead by example, it is shocking that they should be in speeding cars. I saw a report in The Irish Times by a reporter who tried to follow the Taoiseach during the election campaign, but who had to give up when he was doing 85 miles per hour on country roads. I think the reporter was wise.
Mr. Dooley: That was hearsay.
Mr. B. Hayes: It was not. It was disgraceful.
Dr. Henry: It is what the reporter said. Another Minister strongly defended the pace at which the Taoiseach was travelling and spoke of good roads, good drivers and so on. That was very inadvisable, especially coming from a Minister for whom I have great respect. I was astonished because, whether one is a Minister or not, one kills people if one advises one's driver to go faster. I advise the members of the Cabinet to try to lead by example because, as I said, the laws of physics apply to Ministers and their cars.
It is probably much easier to have a Garda patrol on the Arklow bypass than on more dangerous roads so as to catch people doing 50 miles per hour when they think the law ordains that they can do 60 miles per hour. One can understand my feelings on that matter. The Garda should try to patrol the most difficult and dangerous parts of the roads, sometimes at least, so it will catch people who are driving seriously in excess of the speed limits. I know one can have an accident on motorways, but as far as I can remember from statistics I have read, motorways are the safest roads. The Garda should concentrate on areas of the roads where accidents occur.
An excuse once given to me by some gardaí was that they felt they might cause more accidents by being present with their equipment. I do not know about that; I am sure there is some way in which the matter could be resolved because one really needs to prosecute people when they are at their most dangerous.
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