New bid to help foreign motorists

Fine Gael were today pressing for special measures to remind foreign motorists to stay on the correct side of the road after figures showed 10% of road accidents involve drivers from overseas.

Fine Gael frontbencher Denis Naughten said the statistics indicated that over the summer months as many as 17 fatal accidents would involve foreign drivers.

‘‘A proportion of them will inevitably come about because the visitor’s car will be travelling on the right hand side of the road when the crash happens.

‘‘The Irish Insurance Federation claim that between 10% and 15% of accidents involving hired cars are the result of tourists being on the wrong side of the road.’’

Mr Naughten said around a million tourists from North America and the Continent of Europe used cars to get around Ireland and they found driving on the left-hand side ‘‘disorientating.’’

Added to the poor quality of many Irish roads, that added up to ‘‘a deadly combination that can lead to disaster’’.

He urged the introduction of an electronic warning system in hire cars to tell motorists when they were on the wrong side and the doubling of warning road signs nationwide.

He said an in-car system had already been developed in Ireland, but the Government had failed to promote its use - pointing to ‘‘a degree of institutional complacency.

‘‘When a lapse of concentration happens, these drivers post a greater risk on our busy roads and in some cases Irish families are left with the fatal consequences.’’