Private sector involvement in speed cameras planned

Legislation is to be brought forward shortly to involve the private sector in the deployment and operation of speed cameras, Minister of State for Transport Ivor Callely told the Dáil.

He said that a working group, established to examine the general framework within which the proposal could be pursued, acknowledged it would be necessary to engage private-sector interests.

"I would like to reassure the House that the report of the working group, which will inform our pursuit of this initiative, presents a template for its operation that is clearly grounded on road safety," said Mr Callely.

He said the Garda would have a general supervisory role in the management of the initiative and would, with the assistance of the National Roads Authority, be responsible for choosing sites for the placement of cameras. The basis on which sites were selected would relate directly to collision history and prevalence of speeding incidents.

Importantly, said Mr Callely, the group had recommended that there could be no connection between revenue collected from detections by privately operated cameras and the funding of the operation. Mr Callely was replying to a Fine Gael Private Member's motion on road safety.

Party spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell called for the establishment of a road safety authority with a dedicated, rolling budget to act as a single agency with statutory responsibility and extensive supervision, decision-making and management powers.

Ms Mitchell said properly enforced legislation did much more than merely change behaviour. It changed the entire culture of a society. "And the culture surrounding driver behaviour is entirely a negative one, informed by the attitude of apparent official indifference," Ms Mitchell said. The drug misuse was emerging as a serious hazard and must be addressed, she added.

"A hand-held mobile phone ban was promised, but abandoned by the previous minister.

"There must be at least a reason to suspect that mobile phones are implicated in many of the single-car accidents that occur in which young people are involved. Surely an attempt to legislate could reduce their use."

Labour spokeswoman Roisin Shortall said that while the Government was not to blame for road deaths, it was responsible for addressing the causes.

"But the truth is that there is a lethargy at the heart of Government where road safety is quite often seen as someone else's problem, where reform happens whenever there's time to get round to it, and where the issue is repeatedly pushed to the back of the political and legislative agenda," she added.