Repeated delays in the introduction of key elements of the Road Safety Strategy are putting lives at risk, the Irish Insurance Federation (IFF) said last night. David Labanyi reports.
The Federation has also warned that the upward trend in road deaths could lead to a rise in the cost of insurance premiums for motorists. Last year 399 people were killed on the roads, the highest total since 2001.
The IIF said that with 12 months remaining, the Road Safety Strategy 2004 to 2006 was a failure as none of the key targets would be met. The aim of reducing fatalities to 300 or fewer this year would not be realised, it said.
It also pointed to the resignation of the head of the National Safety Council, Eddie Shaw, last year as evidence of the lack of political interest in the area.
Niall Doyle, corporate affairs manager of the IIF, said frustration was growing at the missed deadlines.
"We desperately need random breath-testing. The Attorney General says there are constitutional issues, so let's have a referendum and give the Garda the tools they need. We are still talking about privatised speed cameras and the full roll-out of penalty points. They were promised in the first strategy five years ago."
Labour Party transport spokeswoman Róisín Shortall has also advocated holding a referendum if there is no other way to introduce the law.
"How many lives have to be lost in 2006 before this Government treats the issue as priority. 450? 500?" Mr Doyle asked.
"The strategy failed, not because the targets were too high but because the political will was too low. Fatalities are not rising because there are more cars on the road. Without an increase in political interest, we will sit down to Christmas dinner at the end of the year with more than 400 families grieving a fatal loss and 2,000 more people severely injured," Mr Doyle said.
A key part of the strategy, the implementation of random breath-testing, stalled after the Attorney General highlighted possible Constitutional difficulties. Since then, the Minister for Transport Mr Cullen has examined a number of options, including introducing a restricted form of breath-testing between specified hours, as recommended by the Working Group on Alcohol Misuse, set up by the Department of the Taoiseach.
A Department of Transport spokesman said Mr Cullen would introduce a number of key pieces of road safety legislation in the coming months.
"Legislation for speed cameras will come before the Dáil in the first half of this year. And a second piece of legislation will be brought forward in the same time period to establish the Road Safety Authority."
He added that, following agreement with An Garda Síochána, up to 30 penalty points would be added to the existing offences by April this year.
"But for all the actions the Government is working on we cannot ignore the issue of personal responsibility when it comes to speeding and drink driving," the spokesman said.
Drink-driving cases are among the most keenly contested before the courts.
While the number of motorists prosecuted for drink-driving has remained relatively consistent at roughly 12,000 per annum over the last five years, convictions fell by more than half to 3,000 in 2003 and 2004 following legal challenges to the Garda intoxilyzer.