Road safety measures outlined

Speed limiters on cars driven by provisional licence-holders, driving lessons in aircraft-like simulators and black-box technology are all on the agenda of the incoming chief executive of the Road Safety Authority.

Noel Brett, who is to become the chief executive of the State's new agency for road safety and who is currently acting chief executive of the National Safety Council, will later this month meet private sector operators who want to introduce car simulators as part of the driving test.

The Road Safety Authority is to be established by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen later this year. It will be merged with the National Safety Council and Mr Brett's staff will increase from a team of 11 to more than 300.

The new agency will assume powers for a wide range of education and enforcement of road safety measures. It will report to a Cabinet sub-committee comprising the Ministers for Transport, Justice, Finance, Health and Education.

Outlining his vision for the new authority yesterday, Mr Brett told the Oireachtas Committee on Transport that one of his main priorities would be to overhaul the driving test and eliminate waiting lists. The test itself should be considered more of a life skill than a barrier to driving.

He agreed with a suggestion by committee chairman John Ellis that driving simulators, along the lines of flight simulators, would be particularly useful for testing in night time and adverse weather conditions.

He revealed that he has been approached by a number of manufacturers of such equipment and had agreed to meet one of them.

He also agreed with Mr Ellis that the finding in yesterday's National Roads Authority statistics, that 50 per cent of children did not avail of seat belts, was "depressing".

Mr Ellis remarked that many cars now fitted with outside temperature measurements could give a reading of plus three degrees when the ground might be freezing. He also said one side of a road in winter might be covered in ice while a sunny area would be dry. In rural areas particularly pedestrians should be advised to wear reflective clothing, otherwise they were a collision "waiting to happen".

Mr Brett told the meeting "we should have our minds open to all technology" - with the exception of "gadgets like Global Satellite Positioning Systems" which could distract drivers.

Regarding new drivers, he said he believed the insurance industry had a role to play in encouraging the use of speed limiters in return for reduced premiums.

Another aspect of the future agency which Mr Brett said would be important was "evidence-based research". This included identifying the intoxicant levels of drivers, identification by age and perhaps the use of black-box recorders.

The crash-proof black-box recorders are used in aircraft to maintain a record of details such as flight speed and course.

Senator David Norris (Ind) and Mr Ellis both complained of Northern-registered cars speeding with impunity south of the Border.

Mr Brett told them a North-South ministerial initiative was examining how best to rectify the position.