Learner must be accompanied on second licence

More than 120,000 motorists on a second provisional licence will not be allowed to drive unaccompanied from October 30th under measures introduced by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey.

The regulations will make driving unaccompanied and non-display of L-plates separate road traffic offences, each punishable by a €1,000 fine on conviction.

Under the new rules, only drivers with a full licence for at least two years will be entitled to accompany a learner driver. Also from next Tuesday, drivers applying for their first licence will be given a learner permit.

Mr Dempsey said the aim of the new measures was to reduce deaths and injuries among the high-risk group of 17- to 24-year-olds among the 420,000 drivers who hold a provisional licence.

The changes were announced yesterday at the publication in Government Buildings of the new Road Safety Strategy which will run until 2012.

The Taoiseach said reducing road deaths was "a Government priority". The central goal of the strategy was to reduce the number of people killed on Irish roads to fewer than 250 a year, a 30 per cent reduction on the 360 people killed in crashes last year.

Noel Brett, head of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), said this would bring the Republic into line with best-practice countries, such as the Netherlands or Sweden.

Mr Dempsey told The Irish Times the impact of the changes on drivers on a second provisional licence reliant on their car for work had been considered but the advice was the rules had to change to improve road safety.

The new strategy contains more than 120 recommendations and, unlike the two previous strategies, which Mr Dempsey said had "ambitious" targets, each recommendation has a person or agency responsible allocated to it with clear implementation dates.

"I was involved in the first [ road safety] strategy and it was aspirational," Mr Dempsey said. "But for this document it will be clear if the targets are being met. It really is people putting their ass on the line, if you'll excuse the expression."

Some key changes involve drink driving and the Minister has committed the Government to reducing the blood alcohol limit over the next 18 months.

The extent of the reduction has yet to be decided and the RSA has set up a committee of experts to recommend a new level. The Minister said he would follow their recommendation but he favoured moving from 80mg/100ml to 50mg/100ml. "There is going to be a reduction, it is Government policy. The strategy says by the second quarter 2009 and that is the maximum time we are going to allow," the Minister said.

The new alcohol limit will require legislation as will the compulsory testing of drivers at crash scenes. Mr Dempsey said legislating for this was difficult as it had to prioritise the medical needs of the seriously injured.

Another key proposal is the reduction of serious injuries by 25 per cent over the five years of the strategy.

The Health Service Executive has committed to improve its data collection from people admitted to hospital from road crashes by the end of next year, and to review emergency service response times.

Unimplemented initiatives from previous road safety plans are included, including a network of fixed and mobile cameras capable of providing 6,000 hours' enforcement per month. A contract for this is to be awarded shortly and cameras are to be operational by next June.

The RSA says 100 per cent compliance with speed limits "can never be achieved" but sets targets, including improving compliance with urban speed limits from 18 per cent at present to 60 per cent over the next five years.

Frustration at erratic speed limits was the most frequently raised issue with the RSA when it was conducting its public consultation for the new strategy last December, according to RSA chairman Gay Byrne.

To deal with this issue, the Department of Transport has committed to carry out a bi-annual audit on the consistency and appropriateness of speed limits across the entire road network.

The strategy also calls for seatbelt wearing by adults in the front of cars to increase from 86 per cent to 95 per cent by 2012.