Enforcement is the key element in a culture of compliance. The Government should have learned that lesson from its incompetent handling of penalty points and drink-driving measures. Yet the Taoiseach launched a revised Road Safety Strategy on Thursday in which the Garda Síochána has been given the job of prosecuting an estimated 420,000 provisional licence-holders if they drive unaccompanied from next Tuesday.
Already, there is slippage with both Government and Opposition TDs recommending a rethink and the Minister for Transport talking of the Garda adopting a commonsense approach.
No specific Garda checkpoints will be mounted. And while the Assistant Garda Commissioner in charge of the Traffic Corps Eddie Rock has maintained the law will be enforced, in many situations this will involve "a friendly word of advice" because, he said, the Garda wants to achieve "a voluntary compliance culture". There is no doubt that prosecution of some licence holders, particularly those who need their cars for work, would be extremely unpopular in local communities. But surely the law is the law? And should exceptions be made? After all, we lived for years with the horrendous consequences of a voluntary compliance culture for drink-driving.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is to be complimented for making our roads safer and for chivvying the Government into providing additional resources. But long-promised speed cameras will not become operational until next year. And legislation setting new blood alcohol limits may not take effect until 2009. In spite of that, these measures will shake up public complacency concerning driver-training and put many provisional licence holders off the road. They are aimed specifically at young, male drivers who are most at risk of killing themselves and others. Proper safety training for this group is vital. But hundreds of thousands of other motorists are also affected. Of these, about 33,000 drivers - some in their 80s - are on their fifth provisional licence and have not passed a test
When a former minister for transport Séamus Brennan spoke of tackling this issue five years ago, there was a waiting list of 325,000. Now there are 420,000 provisional licence holders, in spite of recent progress in opening new testing centres. Even if the average waiting time can be reduced to 10 weeks by next March, as planned by the RSA, a high failure rate and tentative police enforcement may encourage provisional drivers to break the law. That situation would be compounded by the fact that, in the event of a crash, insurance cover may be reduced or withdrawn.
As late as last year, provisional drivers were assured no action would be taken until the waiting list was cleared. That Government commitment was a recipe for continuing road carnage and had to change. However, a six-months grace period should be allowed so that all provisional licence holders have an opportunity to undertake a driving test. Then, there can be no excuses.