If measures included in the new Road Safety Strategy were fully implemented the State could be among the top five countries in Europe for road safety by 2012, Gay Byrne, chairman of the Road Safety Authority, said yesterday.
Speaking at the publication of the strategy, Mr Byrne said while it was "personally anathema" to refer to road deaths in different countries in terms of a league table "if that is the only way we can score the thing, then that is the basis we have to work on".
And on recent data progress was being made, with the Republic 12th out of 29 EU states.
He said the five-year strategy would not be one of those to receive a flashy launch only to be buried on a top shelf. The reason this would not happen was that named individuals or agencies have been allocated each of the 126 targets in the strategy. If deadlines were not met, questions would be asked.
Commenting on the introduction of compulsory basic training for motorcycle riders, Mr Byrne said it was an "outrage that for so long in this country any young fella could walk into a motorbike shop, put down a deposit, get himself a jacket and take off on a very big motorbike".
Noel Brett, RSA chief executive, said midnight on Monday, October 29th, would close the "farcical" situation where a learner driver on a second provisional could take a test, fail and then drive home unaccompanied.
"If you are on a second provisional you have either not taken a test or you have failed a test."
He said there were 33,000 drivers on a fifth provisional, meaning they have been driving for 10 years without passing a test. Some of these drivers were in their 80s.
Asked how detection of unaccompanied drivers would change from next week under the rules, Asst Commissioner Eddie Rock, head of the Garda Traffic Corps, said there would not be specific Garda checkpoints to catch unaccompanied learner drivers but the law would be enforced.
"In many situations a friendly word of advice is appropriate. In others it is not. What we want to try and achieve is a voluntary compliance culture."
From next week all provisional drivers must be accompanied by an experienced driver who has held a full licence for at least two years.
Mr Brett said aside from these changes, 17 additional restrictions for learner permit holders were included in the strategy for consideration, including increased penalty points and speed limiters. They would be considered over the coming months.
Founder of Public Against Road Carnage (Parc) Susan Gray asked the Minister for Transport whether gardaí attending a crash site would retain discretion over whether the driver injured in a crash would be tested for alcohol.
Mr Dempsey said he was consulting with the Attorney General to introduce legislative change so the default position was a mandatory test of all drivers involved in a crash, but which also allowed a seriously injured person to be taken to hospital.
Mr Brett was also asked why the new strategy did not include a new blood-alcohol limit. This decision has been left to an expert group established by the RSA. It will make a recommendation in the coming months.
Mr Brett said the populist approach would be to go for a zero alcohol level, but said such an approach would not work.
"You have got to go for a number that is socially acceptable. There is no point in alienating the vast majority of our population."