RSA calls for check on crash drivers’ phones

Gardaí should be given powers to check the mobile phone records of motorists involved in fatal accidents to see if they were on the phone at the time of the crash.

The Road Safety Authority has warned road deaths will soar to more than 250 a year from last year’s record low of 186 unless there is a major “reinvigoration” of the penalty points scheme.

An Oireachtas Transport Committee was told yesterday that the problem of drivers using mobiles was “endemic” and had surged in recent years.

RSA chief executive Noel Brett predicted the number of people killed on the roads would rise by over 25% in the next three years unless Garda enforcement levels were improved.

Detection of penalty point offences fell 8.1% in the first half of 2012, while drink-driving detections were down 11.5% — a trend which coincided with a reduction in the size of the Garda Traffic Corps from 1,250 to 885.

Mr Brett told the committee there was a real risk that public and political complacency could threaten the reduction in fatalities achieved since the points system was introduced 10 years ago.

He said it was difficult to determine if the recent drop in penalty point detections was due to improved driver behaviour, reduced enforcement, or lower traffic levels.

“What is required is sustained, highly visible enforcement supported by high-quality public information on outcomes and trends,” he said.

He urged the Government to put all available resources for road safety into improving enforcement levels and the maintenance and repair of non-national roads.

He called for legislation to be introduced to allow checks on the phone records of motorists involved in fatal crashes to see if they were in use at the time of the accidents. Gardaí recently acquired powers to test drivers for alcohol in such circumstances.

The meeting heard many motorists no longer serviced their car regularly due to financial constraints, meaning the condition of the national fleet, where cars have an average age of eight years, had become “critical”.

The RSA said 400 vehicles a month on average were prevented from leaving a NCT centre because of their dangerous condition.

Both the Irish Insurance Federation and AA Ireland claimed proposals by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar to increase penalty points for a number of offences, including for motorists who travel substantially in excess of speed limits, were premature.

“We firmly believe the level of Garda enforcement of these offences has not reached or even come close to the point of saturation at which further increases in enforcement resources yield no additional benefit,” said IIF spokesman Niall Doyle.

AA spokesman Conor Faughnan said the points system was a success even though half of all motorists who received a penalty believed the circumstances of their offence was unfair.

He said any increase in the number of penalty points for speeding should only be introduced after a review of some limits which were “plain ridiculous”.

Mr Faughnan warned against too many changes to the current system as the support of motorists for penalty points was “wide but not deep”.