Ireland needs to ‘act urgently to reverse worrying’ rise in road deaths, says Taoiseach

Taoiseach Simon Harris has said road safety is his “priority issue” as he chaired the Ministerial Committee meeting on Thursday.

Members of the Committee have updated Mr Harris on the progress made on a range of priority actions to improve road safety in Ireland.

The Taoiseach was joined by the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, and the Minister of State at the Department of Transport Jack Chambers.

Representatives of the Road Safety Authority, An Garda Síochána, and the National Transport Authority were also present at the meeting.

The locations of the new speed cameras have been announced this week, with the first nine new static speed cameras due to be operational by the end of this year.

Whereas, the other three new average-speed cameras will be located on the N3, N2 and N5, and are due to be operational by the end of September.

The meeting also heard that the first draft of a National Camera Strategy is expected in September this year.

The Department of Transport is also seeking legal advice on whether changes in the legislation are needed on the application of camera-based enforcement to non-seatbelt wearing and mobile phone use while driving.

The RSA said they have allocated an additional €3m to the radio and digital audio campaigns about mobile phones and drug driving.

Meanwhile, a new road safety campaign called ‘Time to Talk’ has been launched to warn users of the consequences of dangerous driving habits.

Garda said that Operation Roads Visibility, which was launched in April, has contributed to increased detections of unaccompanied learner drivers, mobile phone use, driving without a seatbelt, driving without insurance, and driving without an NCT.

There is also a review underway of the driving test curriculum, as the first scoping workshop is due to take place this week. It comes as the current rate of driver testing will also reduce to 10 weeks by mid-year.

It was agreed that the next Ministerial Committee meeting will be held before the summer and a progress report on the above will be then submitted to the Government.

Speaking after the meeting, the Taoiseach said: “Road safety is a priority issue for me. We have seen too many people lose their lives on our roads this year already, devastating families and affecting whole communities.”

“I held a constructive meeting with the Ministerial Committee on road safety this morning, which brings together all the relevant Departments and Agencies responsible for making our roads safer.

“At the meeting, I received reassurance that priority actions are being delivered.

“It was also agreed that in advance of the summer recess, a progress report on road safety will be submitted to the Government following a further meeting of the Road Safety Ministerial Committee,” he said.

The Taoiseach added that Ireland needs to “act urgently to reverse this worrying trend”.

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