Driving instructors to be tested

DRIVING instructors will next month begin signing up to regulation in a bid to keep unqualified teachers off Irish roads.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) confirmed yesterday plans were on course to start testing instructors to root out bad teaching methods.

It is planned to begin regulating drivers by mid July under the Approved Driving Instructor register.

The move is a bid to help improve driving methods and comes after the introduction of random breath testing has seen a fall-off in road death numbers.

Already, there have been 31 less fatal car accidents this year compared with 2006.

As the end of June approaches, two weekends have also passed without fatal accidents.

The RSA’s Brian Farrell yesterday encouraged drivers to slow down and keep the weekends free of tragedy.

“Let’s try and make it so that all weekends are free of road fatalities.”

The RSA will also reveal details about further reductions in waiting times for learner drivers waiting to sit their test.

Meanwhile, a host of Irish companies yesterday signed up to a European pledge to help curb road collisions.

The European Road Safety Charter hopes to curb road deaths by 50% by 2010, saving up to 25,000 lives across member states.

An Post, AXA Prevention Ireland, Dublin City Council, the Irish Driving Instructors Association, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Services and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland signed up to the charter at an event in Dublin.

An Post plans further driver training for about 3,000 employees who deliver mail and goods on roads. Pharmacists pledged to inform customers buying medications about possible drowsy effects, especially if they are driving.

Hosting the event, Martin Territt, director of the European Commission Representation in Ireland said: “European Commission figures show that Ireland has the highest percentage of young people killed in road accidents in the EU. Thirty-eight percent of all people killed in road accidents in Ireland are aged under 25. Road safety is no accident — studies across Europe show us that strict enforcement of the rules really works.”

More than 1,000 local authorities, motoring organisations and private companies across the EU are taking part in the charter.