Check Against Delivery
Adjournment Debate 22 January 2014 - Seanad Éireann
The need for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence to discuss how speed enforcement zones are delegated; if consideration is taken into account of the location of schools along primary road routes; and how speed limits and zones are policed during school hours.
- Senator Kathryn Reilly
Response by Minister of State Tom Hayes on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter TD.
I wish to thank the Senator for raising this matter on the adjournment tonight. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence who regrets that he is unable to be present due to other business.
The Minister is in ongoing contact with the Garda Commissioner in relation to a wide range of road safety matters but the House will appreciate that detailed speed enforcement strategy is principally an operational matter for the Garda authorities. The legislation regarding speed limits is a matter for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
Effective local and national roads policing is central to the Garda Policing Plan and the level of Garda enforcement remains high and determined throughout the country. The policing priorities that the Minister has set for 2014 include a strong focus on targeted enforcement measures directed at reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads.
Excessive or inappropriate speed continues to be a significant contributory factor in the number of serious and fatal injuries arising from road collisions. Under the new Road Safety Strategy 2013 – 2020, and building on earlier strategies, An Garda Síochána is implementing a series of visible enforcement initiatives, including the outsourced safety camera network, targeting high risk behaviour such as speeding and focusing on identified vulnerable road users.
In this context, An Garda Síochána, in conjunction with the National Roads Authority, has designated specific sections of roads as ‘speed enforcement zones’. This was done following an extensive analysis of five years of collision data where speed was deemed the primary contributory factor in the incident.
An Garda Síochána utilises these zones in order to direct speed enforcement activity, in a proportionate and targeted manner, including through the use of safety camera vans. Each site must be clearly visible and risk assessed to ensure the health and safety of both the public and van operators. Signage is erected at the start of each speed enforcement zone. The locations, which are kept under review by the Garda authorities, are in the public domain and are available on the Garda website www.garda.ie.
Insofar as the location of schools is concerned, Divisional Garda enforcement activity is directed in line with the probability of occurrence of fatal and serious injuries on our roads at targeted locations, as reflected in the speed enforcement zones. The Minister is assured, however, that additional enforcement activity is also conducted outside these zones as required by local District Officers. A factor in determining the location and type of Garda enforcement activity includes the presence of vulnerable road users, and young road users in particular.
The Minister has no direct role in the identification of these speed enforcement zones or the deployment of Garda resources, but in the context of community policing generally, local Garda management will of course be highly attuned to concerns regarding school locations and road safety. I should also say that road safety awareness is an important component in the Garda schools programme, as indeed it is within the overall Road Safety Strategy, and a range of road safety education initiatives are specifically targeted at children.
It is also important to say that all road users have a part to play in improving road safety for children. Persons driving in or around school locations, in particular at the beginning and end of the school day, need to take particular care to comply with speed limits, to expect the unexpected, and to have a heightened consideration for children walking and cycling in the area.
Insofar as the question of speed limits are concerned, as I have said, these are a matter for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport who has, under the Road Traffic Acts, 2004, set ordinary ‘default’ speed limits in respect of built up areas, non-urban regional roads, local roads, national roads and motorways. However, a county or city council may make Special Speed Limit bye laws in respect of particular roads within its administrative area, in consultation with the Gardaí, and in respect of national primary and secondary roads with the National Roads Authority (NRA). To assist in this process, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport issued Guidelines for the Application of Speed Limits to all local authorities in 2011.
Road safety is a major consideration in the application of speed limits. As part of a Direction by the then Minister for Transport in 2011, all local authorities were requested to undertake an assessment of Special Speed Limits in their functional areas. To assist in this, the present Minister for Transport formed a stakeholder working group, including An Garda Síochána and the relevant road safety partners, to carry out a review of speed limits on roads throughout the country. A comprehensive Speed Limits Review was published on 21 November, 2013, following detailed consideration of this very complex issue by the working group. Minister Varadkar has accepted all recommendations from the working group designed to address a number of matters relating to the operation of speed limits on our roads. It is planned that all the recommendations contained in the report will be implemented over a two year period.
In conclusion, and on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Equality, I would like to thank the Senator again for raising these important issues. Garda road safety operations are based on identified risks, taking into account collision history and local road safety considerations and the enforcement zones are identified through the process I have described. While detailed enforcement measures are a matter for the Garda authorities, the Minister can assure the Senator that vulnerable road users such as children are a particular concern and enforcement measures are configured at a local level to take into account the concerns and needs of the community.
The Minister would call on all in the community to support An Garda Síochána in their efforts and to take the utmost care when driving in or around schools. The unfortunate reality, however, is that people do ignore speed limits and that a significant number of fatalities and serious injuries arise as a result of speeding. Last year 190 people in total tragically lost their lives on our roads. Half of all these were driver fatalities, 80 per cent of which were male, and 50 per cent were between the age of 16 and 34. Slowing down would have prevented many of these fatalities. The Garda advice is that just a few km per hour in speed can be the difference in avoiding a collision or preventing a minor collision becoming a fatal or serious one. We cannot expect the Gardaí to be on every corner of every road. Too many lives have been lost or grievously harmed because of speeding, with all the tragic consequences this has for families and loved ones. Everyone in our community needs to take responsibility and to challenge speeding behaviour, and particularly the culture of speeding which exists amongst some young men.
ENDS