Limiters for all would penalise good drivers, says RSA chief

THE head of the Road Safety Authority has dampened calls for speed-limiting devices to be fitted on all cars driven by young people, claiming it would be “to penalise every young person for the sins of the few”.

Noel Brett made his comments after South Kerry Coroner Terence Casey called for the wider use of speed limiters after a crash that killed four young drivers in Killarney last year.

RSA chief executive Noel Brett said that while a raft of measures aimed at making it easier for judges to impose certain driving limitations was being worked on, introducing a blanket requirement for speed-limiting devices was unlikely.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, Mr Brett said: “When any coroner in the country makes a recommendation to the Road Safety Authority we sit up very abruptly because coroners are dealing on a daily and on a weekly basis with the carnage.

“In terms of putting speed limiters on all young people’s cars I don’t think that’s something that’s viable for a number of reasons.”

He said it was not appropriate to have every young person forced to pay hundreds of euro to have a limiter installed when the courts can issue a sanction in certain cases for young drivers to do so as a penalty.

Regarding a more wide- spread-limiter requirement, he said it cost hundreds of euro to install speed limiters and they needed to fit the type of vehicle. This expense, if applied generally, “penalises good young people and good parents ... It is not appropriate to penalise every young person for the sins of the few.”

The RSA published driver licence proposals in September, which were agreed to by former Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, and work has been continuing on them with the Courts Service, the Gardaí and the Departments of Transport and Justice on how the measures would be policed.

Regarding speed limiters, Mr Brett told the Irish Examiner that it would operate on the “polluter pays” principle, and that care would need to be taken to ensure there were no “unintended consequences”, such as a device limiting fuel flow to the engine at a time when someone needed to drive away quickly.

Measures being considered to limit road deaths were primarily additional sentencing options. In addition to speed-limiting devices, curfews on carrying passengers and night-time driving bans are also part of the RSA proposals. Primary legislation is needed to give effect to them and Mr Brett said they could be in force by the end of the year.