ROADS/TRANSPORT
Each speech listed here is an edited speech. If you'd like to see the speech or debate in full, please go to the Oireachtas website and click on "Seanad Eireann" and then "Seanad Debates" and click on the relevant date as listed with each speech on this page.
Road Safety (07/02/08)
Irish Driving Licences (12/12/07)
Uninsured Drivers (12/12/07)
Road Safety Authority Bill (10/05/06)
Increase in Penalty Point Offences (05/04/06)
Decline in Rail Freight Transport (22/03/06)
M50 Toll Bridge (08/02/06)
Road Safety (01/02/06)
Road Safety
07/02/08 - It should be recognised that simple things can be done to improve road safety, but they are not being done. It does not take rocket science to do some of them. The current driving test does not involve an overtaking manoeuvre. We are putting people on the roads whose overtaking abilities have never been tested, in effect. It is complete madness that the test does not cover night driving, or driving at speeds of more than 40 km/h. All kinds of problems are being created on our roads as a result.
I would like to mention some related issues, which I have raised previously. It is clear that there should be separate speed limits for wet and dry road conditions. One sees two speed limits on road signs all over the Continent - one for wet weather and one for dry weather. Why can we not do the same? Most countries do not allow drivers to turn right off a main road. Perhaps we should no longer have traffic lights which go amber before they go red. Alternative traffic light sequences should be provided for night time, when a significant number of accidents take place. People who know they have the right of way sometimes collide with those who have broken the lights while travelling in the opposite direction. I suggest that traffic lights on all sides should flash amber throughout the night, so everybody approaches every junction carefully before passing through.
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Irish Driving Licences
12/12/07 - On a related issue, for almost ten years I have been calling for the introduction of credit card type driving licences. I made this request time and again when Senator Callely was Minister of State at the Department of Transport with responsibility for traffic. On each occasion, he assured me the European Union was working on the issue and I pointed out that, having taken 29 years to decide on the colour of our passports, I dreaded to think how long the European Union would take to introduce credit card sized driving licences. Ireland should proceed immediately to introduce such licences and adapt them, if necessary, should the European Union legislate on the matter. If we carry a driving licence at all times, as required by law, it will fall apart within months because the current licences are not suitable for this purpose. This is a simple matter which should be addressed in a technologically advanced society.
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Uninsured Drivers
12/12/07 - I hope the House will express outrage about an issue in which the Leader has taken a special interest, namely, uninsured drivers. I will relate a simple story. It is now widespread practice to have one’s car taxed on-line. To do so, one must fill out an application on the www.cartax.ie website. An applicant may enter any insurance policy number he or she wishes. In other words, by facilitating a system which allows people to obtain a tax disc without insurance or a national car test, we are putting dangerous vehicles and uninsured drivers on the road every day. I raised this issue last year and the Leader discussed it during his time as Chairman of the Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. Having understood that the issue was being addressed, I am outraged to learn that uninsured drivers of unsafe vehicles continue to have their cars taxed.
When one hears of road traffic accidents and collisions, one often wonders about the roadworthiness of the cars involved, if their brakes were functioning properly and so forth. Questions are often asked about accountability. Someone should be brought to book for allowing the outrageous practice by which drivers of unsafe vehicles log on to a website to obtain a road tax certificate to continue. Rectifying the problem is a simple, technical matter. I want two steps to be taken. The Minister for Transport should explain immediately when he will address the issue and every single on-line taxation transaction undertaken in the past year should be reviewed to determine how many of the drivers in question entered false insurance numbers. Every insurance company has a databank it can use to generate the relevant information in seconds. All that is required is to have two technologies communicate with each other. It is outrageous that this practice is allowed to continue.
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Road Safety Authority Bill
10/05/06 - I believe the driving test format is appalling because it does not test certain essential driving skills. There is no requirement on learner drivers to show any understanding of speed or distance for overtaking purposes. The fact that there is no overtaking manoeuvre in the driving test is criminal. It is the single most important manoeuvre in the course of driving and it must be included in every driving test.
The same applies to motorway driving. Learner drivers need to have some simulated motorway driving. I would be happy, as happens in some countries, for learner drivers to do a simulated motorway driving test on a machine.
We should also examine signage. The finger signs unique to Ireland are incredibly dangerous. A significant number of the accidents involving foreign nationals in this State are caused by the daft signage which makes no sense to anyone who was not born and bred here. Even then it is difficult to figure them out. In every country in Europe, a driver will see substantial signs on both sides of the road pointing to a turn, not a small sign pointing in its general direction. We should have done this when we moved to the metric system.
The fourth most common driving offence involves uninsured cars. It is a disgrace. I only found out last week that it is possible to tax a car on-line by inputting false information on insurance because the system does not read it. The Minister for Transport should not listen to those who say this is a problem, it is not. It is a simple link where if someone inputs the name of an insurance company and a number, it is sent to the mainframe of that insurance company and comes back as valid or invalid. It takes about 20 seconds for Michael O’Leary to determine if he is getting the right credit card number. This is not new. I will be vocal on this because I know what will happen. Ministers do not like to look stupid so the Minister will ask a few questions. He will listen to what he is told and will accept it. He is being told lies if he is being told this cannot be done, it can. It should be sorted out straight away.
Right turns should be banned from all national roads. The Department of Transport film which seeks to train people in road safety suggests that drivers should leave their wheels pointing straight ahead if waiting to turn right. That way, if they are shunted from behind, they will be shunted straight ahead rather than into oncoming traffic. That is wise but it would be easier to say right turns are not allowed, drivers must turn left and come straight across, with a loop on the other side of the road for entry. Other countries do that and so should we.
It makes no sense to have the same speed limit on a sunny day like today as when there is a torrential downpour or fog. All over Europe there are two speed limits on signs, one for wet and one for dry. That is too complex for us apparently. We should erect these and let the courts decide on them. This is not rocket science, these are simple ideas that we should put in place. These changes, along with some of the other suggestions I have made would provide us with a nice agenda I would like to see carried out.
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Increase in Penalty Point Offences
05/04/06 - I ask the Leader for a sensible, rational, ordinary person’s debate on the extraordinary 31 items which will attract penalty points in the future. They have received wide acclaim in the media and from politicians. I would like to have them explained. Somebody who drives the wrong way down a dual carriageway does not need two points, but rather committal to a mental hospital or a prison. The same is true of somebody driving the wrong way around a roundabout.
Widening the scope of penalty points avoids the issue. The real issue is revealed by the figure published yesterday. One third of all road fatalities are caused by drink. If we want to do something serious, it is not about the accumulation of points for silly misdemeanours. What needs to be done, as called for by groups such as Alcohol Action Ireland and others, is random breath testing. If such testing were put into operation we would at one blow solve one third of the fatalities as a result of road traffic accidents.
While it is not politically correct to say so, I believe introducing 31 new offences brings politics into disrepute. I defy anyone to understand all the offences. Some issues are inexplicable. References are made to road markings which do not exist on many roads here. This is a simple media outing. There is a simple thing we could do. We could introduce random breath testing, which would eliminate one third of the fatalities. It would make sense and have an immediate impact. Let us see the political will to do so and disregard the nonsense. People accumulating points for silly misdemeanours will do nothing to save lives on the road.
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Decline in Rail Freight Transport
22/03/06 - A recent report by the European group based in Paris which examines rail transport pointed out that the growth in the number of passengers using Irish railways is the fastest in Europe. On the other hand, it indicated that the record in Irish freight transport is appalling, and usage is reducing. I recall Senator Mansergh discussing in particular the trans-Munster freight line which was mooted for a while before the new bridge was built in Cahir. That is merely a side note.
Guinness announced yesterday that it would move its transport of beer kegs completely from rail to road. Approximately 1.5 million kegs will be moved from rail to road transport. This is not the transportation of tissue boxes, but heavily-laden trucks careering unnecessarily over roads, causing traffic congestion, great danger and pollution. This also reduces a rail service which is there to be used. It makes no sense whatever.
What is Government policy on the matter? Some 18 months ago, I raised the issue of the reduction in the usage of rail freight services provided by CIE. I wish to know what is happening. Is the reduction coming about because we do not have an easily accessible system of transferring freight from trucks to rail, such as moving containers from one to the other? What is the difficulty? This reflects a problem which can be dealt with. People ask what we are doing about traffic congestion, and this is a classic example of a problem. How many trucks will it take to carry 1.5 million kegs of beer, not only on the main arteries but on every road in Ireland where there are pubs or Guinness depots?
It is a crazy scenario caused by backward thinking, and it is causing great difficulties on the roads. I would like the Minister for Transport to appear in this House so we could explain that it is unacceptable to wind down transport and rail infrastructure when we talk of opening the western corridor and giving more attention to the Rosslare to Limerick line, etc. We should oppose this strongly.
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M50 Toll Bridge
08/02/06 - Much as we dislike what is on the M50, one cannot object to the point made by the Minister that a watertight contract has been signed. We can solve the other problems at one stage or another but there is no solution to that. We are stuck with the contract.
Let us focus on that and how it came about. Tribunals have been running in this country for years, dealing with a couple of million euro here and there. This contract involves about €1 billion. Somebody signed it on behalf of the State and somebody signed it on behalf of the county council at a cost of €1 billion to the Irish people. That should be examined. Who negotiated it? I know who signed it but I will speak about them shortly. What contact was made? We should examine the tendering process and hear from the State’s lawyers and other lawyers about the validity of that contract and how it came to be concluded at that time.
The two people who signed it were the former Minister, Padraig Flynn, and George Redmond, the former Dublin assistant city and county manager, whose names arose in another context in recent times. That is worth examining. I would like to be reassured as to how that contract was concluded. I cannot believe it is a coincidence. I believe a wrong has been done on the Irish people. We can argue about traffic forever and we might resolve some of the problems, but we cannot resolve the contract. We are stitched into it so we should try to find out how it was concluded. Who is responsible for making the decisions on tendering, drawing up the contract, signing it and so forth?
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Road Safety
01/02/06 - I wish to put a few simple points on the record. There is an issue that always interests me every time I drive on the Continent. On most of the main highways in France there are two speed limits, a wet and a dry speed limit. It is a simple matter and it is implemented. The wet sign indicates a speed limit of 90 km/h and the dry sign 120 km/h, 115 km/h or 110 km/h. That is the rule. It is sensible and practical. That is another thing we could learn.
The other issue is the overtaking manoeuvre. The number of people who cannot overtake a car is infuriating. They cannot judge the speed of an oncoming car. With half a mile of road ahead they cannot overtake the car in front. These are people who have full licences. The simple reason for this is that there is no overtaking manoeuvre in the driving test. It would be hypocritical as the test is normally done in a 30 mile speed limit area and they will never get the opportunity to overtake. People should not get a driving licence without being able to show they appreciate the speed of a car and of an oncoming car and that they can overtake with safety. That is an essential requirement.
The Minister will not accept the logic of the argument I am about to make and I need a good deal of time to develop it, but I will state it in about four sentences. One in four of the fatalities that have occurred in Ireland in the past year have involved immigrants. Similarly, every year, and over Christmas, we have seen the tragic deaths of Irish people on the Continent. We are driving on the wrong side of the road and that is causing a problem. I have looked very closely at this matter. I spoke to a man from the west of Ireland who was in Sweden on the weekend in 1963 or 1973 or whenever it was that they changed over from driving on the left to driving on the right. I accept that the Swedes are far more disciplined than we are but they did it in one weekend. We should do it, take the pain for a year and move on. We should drive on the right like the rest of the world.
In terms of drink driving, I would welcome a requirement on all people who run public houses to take responsibility for getting a taxi or a hackney cab for anybody who looks for it. People go to the pub with good intentions of taking a taxi or a hackney cab home but when it becomes difficult they get into their car and drive. It is happening all the time and it is an important issue. This is a small thing which should be taken up with the hospitality industry, as it now likes to call itself.
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Seanad debates are available in full on the Oireachtas Website
Each speech listed here is an edited speech. If you'd like to see the speech or debate in full, please go to the Oireachtas website and click on "Seanad Eireann" and then "Seanad Debates" and click on the relevant date as listed with each speech on this page.
Road Safety (07/02/08)
Irish Driving Licences (12/12/07)
Uninsured Drivers (12/12/07)
Road Safety Authority Bill (10/05/06)
Increase in Penalty Point Offences (05/04/06)
Decline in Rail Freight Transport (22/03/06)
M50 Toll Bridge (08/02/06)
Road Safety (01/02/06)
Road Safety
07/02/08 - It should be recognised that simple things can be done to improve road safety, but they are not being done. It does not take rocket science to do some of them. The current driving test does not involve an overtaking manoeuvre. We are putting people on the roads whose overtaking abilities have never been tested, in effect. It is complete madness that the test does not cover night driving, or driving at speeds of more than 40 km/h. All kinds of problems are being created on our roads as a result.
I would like to mention some related issues, which I have raised previously. It is clear that there should be separate speed limits for wet and dry road conditions. One sees two speed limits on road signs all over the Continent - one for wet weather and one for dry weather. Why can we not do the same? Most countries do not allow drivers to turn right off a main road. Perhaps we should no longer have traffic lights which go amber before they go red. Alternative traffic light sequences should be provided for night time, when a significant number of accidents take place. People who know they have the right of way sometimes collide with those who have broken the lights while travelling in the opposite direction. I suggest that traffic lights on all sides should flash amber throughout the night, so everybody approaches every junction carefully before passing through.
Back to top of the page
Irish Driving Licences
12/12/07 - On a related issue, for almost ten years I have been calling for the introduction of credit card type driving licences. I made this request time and again when Senator Callely was Minister of State at the Department of Transport with responsibility for traffic. On each occasion, he assured me the European Union was working on the issue and I pointed out that, having taken 29 years to decide on the colour of our passports, I dreaded to think how long the European Union would take to introduce credit card sized driving licences. Ireland should proceed immediately to introduce such licences and adapt them, if necessary, should the European Union legislate on the matter. If we carry a driving licence at all times, as required by law, it will fall apart within months because the current licences are not suitable for this purpose. This is a simple matter which should be addressed in a technologically advanced society.
Back to top of the page
Uninsured Drivers
12/12/07 - I hope the House will express outrage about an issue in which the Leader has taken a special interest, namely, uninsured drivers. I will relate a simple story. It is now widespread practice to have one’s car taxed on-line. To do so, one must fill out an application on the www.cartax.ie website. An applicant may enter any insurance policy number he or she wishes. In other words, by facilitating a system which allows people to obtain a tax disc without insurance or a national car test, we are putting dangerous vehicles and uninsured drivers on the road every day. I raised this issue last year and the Leader discussed it during his time as Chairman of the Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. Having understood that the issue was being addressed, I am outraged to learn that uninsured drivers of unsafe vehicles continue to have their cars taxed.
When one hears of road traffic accidents and collisions, one often wonders about the roadworthiness of the cars involved, if their brakes were functioning properly and so forth. Questions are often asked about accountability. Someone should be brought to book for allowing the outrageous practice by which drivers of unsafe vehicles log on to a website to obtain a road tax certificate to continue. Rectifying the problem is a simple, technical matter. I want two steps to be taken. The Minister for Transport should explain immediately when he will address the issue and every single on-line taxation transaction undertaken in the past year should be reviewed to determine how many of the drivers in question entered false insurance numbers. Every insurance company has a databank it can use to generate the relevant information in seconds. All that is required is to have two technologies communicate with each other. It is outrageous that this practice is allowed to continue.
Back to top of the page
Road Safety Authority Bill
10/05/06 - I believe the driving test format is appalling because it does not test certain essential driving skills. There is no requirement on learner drivers to show any understanding of speed or distance for overtaking purposes. The fact that there is no overtaking manoeuvre in the driving test is criminal. It is the single most important manoeuvre in the course of driving and it must be included in every driving test.
The same applies to motorway driving. Learner drivers need to have some simulated motorway driving. I would be happy, as happens in some countries, for learner drivers to do a simulated motorway driving test on a machine.
We should also examine signage. The finger signs unique to Ireland are incredibly dangerous. A significant number of the accidents involving foreign nationals in this State are caused by the daft signage which makes no sense to anyone who was not born and bred here. Even then it is difficult to figure them out. In every country in Europe, a driver will see substantial signs on both sides of the road pointing to a turn, not a small sign pointing in its general direction. We should have done this when we moved to the metric system.
The fourth most common driving offence involves uninsured cars. It is a disgrace. I only found out last week that it is possible to tax a car on-line by inputting false information on insurance because the system does not read it. The Minister for Transport should not listen to those who say this is a problem, it is not. It is a simple link where if someone inputs the name of an insurance company and a number, it is sent to the mainframe of that insurance company and comes back as valid or invalid. It takes about 20 seconds for Michael O’Leary to determine if he is getting the right credit card number. This is not new. I will be vocal on this because I know what will happen. Ministers do not like to look stupid so the Minister will ask a few questions. He will listen to what he is told and will accept it. He is being told lies if he is being told this cannot be done, it can. It should be sorted out straight away.
Right turns should be banned from all national roads. The Department of Transport film which seeks to train people in road safety suggests that drivers should leave their wheels pointing straight ahead if waiting to turn right. That way, if they are shunted from behind, they will be shunted straight ahead rather than into oncoming traffic. That is wise but it would be easier to say right turns are not allowed, drivers must turn left and come straight across, with a loop on the other side of the road for entry. Other countries do that and so should we.
It makes no sense to have the same speed limit on a sunny day like today as when there is a torrential downpour or fog. All over Europe there are two speed limits on signs, one for wet and one for dry. That is too complex for us apparently. We should erect these and let the courts decide on them. This is not rocket science, these are simple ideas that we should put in place. These changes, along with some of the other suggestions I have made would provide us with a nice agenda I would like to see carried out.
Back to top of the page
Increase in Penalty Point Offences
05/04/06 - I ask the Leader for a sensible, rational, ordinary person’s debate on the extraordinary 31 items which will attract penalty points in the future. They have received wide acclaim in the media and from politicians. I would like to have them explained. Somebody who drives the wrong way down a dual carriageway does not need two points, but rather committal to a mental hospital or a prison. The same is true of somebody driving the wrong way around a roundabout.
Widening the scope of penalty points avoids the issue. The real issue is revealed by the figure published yesterday. One third of all road fatalities are caused by drink. If we want to do something serious, it is not about the accumulation of points for silly misdemeanours. What needs to be done, as called for by groups such as Alcohol Action Ireland and others, is random breath testing. If such testing were put into operation we would at one blow solve one third of the fatalities as a result of road traffic accidents.
While it is not politically correct to say so, I believe introducing 31 new offences brings politics into disrepute. I defy anyone to understand all the offences. Some issues are inexplicable. References are made to road markings which do not exist on many roads here. This is a simple media outing. There is a simple thing we could do. We could introduce random breath testing, which would eliminate one third of the fatalities. It would make sense and have an immediate impact. Let us see the political will to do so and disregard the nonsense. People accumulating points for silly misdemeanours will do nothing to save lives on the road.
Back to top of the page
Decline in Rail Freight Transport
22/03/06 - A recent report by the European group based in Paris which examines rail transport pointed out that the growth in the number of passengers using Irish railways is the fastest in Europe. On the other hand, it indicated that the record in Irish freight transport is appalling, and usage is reducing. I recall Senator Mansergh discussing in particular the trans-Munster freight line which was mooted for a while before the new bridge was built in Cahir. That is merely a side note.
Guinness announced yesterday that it would move its transport of beer kegs completely from rail to road. Approximately 1.5 million kegs will be moved from rail to road transport. This is not the transportation of tissue boxes, but heavily-laden trucks careering unnecessarily over roads, causing traffic congestion, great danger and pollution. This also reduces a rail service which is there to be used. It makes no sense whatever.
What is Government policy on the matter? Some 18 months ago, I raised the issue of the reduction in the usage of rail freight services provided by CIE. I wish to know what is happening. Is the reduction coming about because we do not have an easily accessible system of transferring freight from trucks to rail, such as moving containers from one to the other? What is the difficulty? This reflects a problem which can be dealt with. People ask what we are doing about traffic congestion, and this is a classic example of a problem. How many trucks will it take to carry 1.5 million kegs of beer, not only on the main arteries but on every road in Ireland where there are pubs or Guinness depots?
It is a crazy scenario caused by backward thinking, and it is causing great difficulties on the roads. I would like the Minister for Transport to appear in this House so we could explain that it is unacceptable to wind down transport and rail infrastructure when we talk of opening the western corridor and giving more attention to the Rosslare to Limerick line, etc. We should oppose this strongly.
Back to top of the page
M50 Toll Bridge
08/02/06 - Much as we dislike what is on the M50, one cannot object to the point made by the Minister that a watertight contract has been signed. We can solve the other problems at one stage or another but there is no solution to that. We are stuck with the contract.
Let us focus on that and how it came about. Tribunals have been running in this country for years, dealing with a couple of million euro here and there. This contract involves about €1 billion. Somebody signed it on behalf of the State and somebody signed it on behalf of the county council at a cost of €1 billion to the Irish people. That should be examined. Who negotiated it? I know who signed it but I will speak about them shortly. What contact was made? We should examine the tendering process and hear from the State’s lawyers and other lawyers about the validity of that contract and how it came to be concluded at that time.
The two people who signed it were the former Minister, Padraig Flynn, and George Redmond, the former Dublin assistant city and county manager, whose names arose in another context in recent times. That is worth examining. I would like to be reassured as to how that contract was concluded. I cannot believe it is a coincidence. I believe a wrong has been done on the Irish people. We can argue about traffic forever and we might resolve some of the problems, but we cannot resolve the contract. We are stitched into it so we should try to find out how it was concluded. Who is responsible for making the decisions on tendering, drawing up the contract, signing it and so forth?
Back to top of the page
Road Safety
01/02/06 - I wish to put a few simple points on the record. There is an issue that always interests me every time I drive on the Continent. On most of the main highways in France there are two speed limits, a wet and a dry speed limit. It is a simple matter and it is implemented. The wet sign indicates a speed limit of 90 km/h and the dry sign 120 km/h, 115 km/h or 110 km/h. That is the rule. It is sensible and practical. That is another thing we could learn.
The other issue is the overtaking manoeuvre. The number of people who cannot overtake a car is infuriating. They cannot judge the speed of an oncoming car. With half a mile of road ahead they cannot overtake the car in front. These are people who have full licences. The simple reason for this is that there is no overtaking manoeuvre in the driving test. It would be hypocritical as the test is normally done in a 30 mile speed limit area and they will never get the opportunity to overtake. People should not get a driving licence without being able to show they appreciate the speed of a car and of an oncoming car and that they can overtake with safety. That is an essential requirement.
The Minister will not accept the logic of the argument I am about to make and I need a good deal of time to develop it, but I will state it in about four sentences. One in four of the fatalities that have occurred in Ireland in the past year have involved immigrants. Similarly, every year, and over Christmas, we have seen the tragic deaths of Irish people on the Continent. We are driving on the wrong side of the road and that is causing a problem. I have looked very closely at this matter. I spoke to a man from the west of Ireland who was in Sweden on the weekend in 1963 or 1973 or whenever it was that they changed over from driving on the left to driving on the right. I accept that the Swedes are far more disciplined than we are but they did it in one weekend. We should do it, take the pain for a year and move on. We should drive on the right like the rest of the world.
In terms of drink driving, I would welcome a requirement on all people who run public houses to take responsibility for getting a taxi or a hackney cab for anybody who looks for it. People go to the pub with good intentions of taking a taxi or a hackney cab home but when it becomes difficult they get into their car and drive. It is happening all the time and it is an important issue. This is a small thing which should be taken up with the hospitality industry, as it now likes to call itself.
Back to top of the page
Seanad debates are available in full on the Oireachtas Website