Fine Gael TD for Limerick Patrick O’Donovan has said that the work of the Road Safety Authority needs to continue and that every effort needs to be made by all of the relevant State Agencies to ensure that our roads are made safe for road users.
Patrick O’Donovan was speaking after a meeting of the Oireachtas Transport Committee which met to consider the appointment of Liz O’Donnell as Chairperson of the Road Safety Authority. He said that the fact that over 160 people had lost their lives in 2014 to date and there were 190 fatalities in 2013 was unacceptable and every effort has to be made to ensure that the roads are made safer. He said he was very conscious of the issue of road safety on the day that a man lost his life in a road accident in Hospital.
“There are three elements to road safety; enforcement, education and engineering. I believe that the one area which needs to be seriously looked at by the RSA in the short term is the issue of engineering which includes road conditions and speed limits. There have been obvious improvements to the road network with the construction of motorways in the last few years, however our rural network in many parts of the country continues to require investment. I believe that the RSA could be empowered to make suggestions on improvements that are needed to the road network to the National Roads Authority and the Local Authorities that are needed in a similar way to the recommendations that HIQA make to the HSE.”
Patrick O’Donovan raised a number of issues with Liz O’Donnell in relation to the role of Road Safety Authority and said that he hoped that the new Chairperson would come before the Oireachtas Transport Committee on a regular basis to discuss suggestions on how the roads can be made safer.
“One person dying on our roads is one too many, and we must do everything we can as policy makers to continue to reduce those numbers and to make our roads as safe as possible for all those who use them.”