The road system is a mess. The number of road deaths is a scandal. The quality of driving is appalling. Traffic laws are being ignored. And the Garda Commissioner speculates about a zero level of alcohol behind the wheel.
Governments have been living in cloud cuckoo land for so long where private transport interests are concerned that they are incapable of confronting the cold realities of a dangerously anarchic system. Buck-passing has become an art form. And the result is the highest road death rate in Europe.
Only last month, before they went away for their summer holidays, Ministers agreed that a new package of measures aimed at reducing the road carnage should be introduced "shortly". That meant autumn legislation, which may not become law until next year, covering random testing for alcohol, the greater enforcement of speed limits and a penalty-points system for certain offences which would lead to the loss of driving licences.
The initiative sounded great and received lots of publicity. The public was led to believe something was finally being done. But what about the detail underlying the present shambolic mess? What was being done about that?
Six months ago the Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, confessed he was "seriously concerned" about the backlog of more than 57,000 learner-drivers awaiting tests. And they are but a fraction of the 300,000 motorists who are supposed to display L-plates on our roads.
At the last count, about one in four drivers in this country were not qualified to be in charge of a mechanically-propelled vehicle. And what happens? When they finally reach the end of long, official queues and take their tests, winners and losers are treated in much the same way. Those who pass the test are granted a full licence and sent on their way. The incompetents are given a provisional licence and also allowed to drive. A lunatic asylum would be better regulated.
The man in technical charge of this situation is the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Bobby Molloy. He told the Dail last March that the situation in parts of Dublin was so bad people had to wait for up to eight months for their driving test.
The delays throughout the country are certainly appalling. But a great number of provisional licence-holders are in no rush to take a test. Why should they when the law which says they should be accompanied by a qualified driver at all times is not enforced?
At the moment a novice may drive for four years on two provisional licences before applying for a test. After that, you may fail an indefinite number of tests while still remaining on the road.
It gets worse. Driving instructors, or people who hold themselves out to be driving instructors, do not have to hold formal qualifications. As a result, when people present themselves for tests they are at a serious disadvantage. And 50 per cent of them fail.
All this happened before. The last time a huge backlog built up in 1979, Sylvie Barrett resolved the situation by granting everybody a full licence. There had been a 15-month delay for tests at the time. And rather than put a proper infrastructure in place, with an adequate number of testers, the Fianna Fail government opted for a licence amnesty.
Bobby Molloy has been talking of recruiting "contract testers" to deal with the current backlog. But nothing seems to have happened.
The same somnolence has overtaken attempts by the EU to regulate the granting of provisional licences. Under an EU directive, all states were required to introduce a written rules-of-the-road test for all people applying for a provisional licence by June 1996. Two years and lots of political promises later and nothing has happened. Officialdom is wrestling with the issue.
It's the same story of official and political neglect where safety is concerned. The EU demanded that compulsory mechanical testing of private cars be undertaken for safety reasons. And in 1996 Brendan Howlin announced that the scheme would begin on a phased basis in 1998. All cars over four years of age were to be tested by the end of next year.
Guess what happened? The scheme was postponed. Even though it promised to create 1,100 jobs and have a positive impact on road safety and the environment.
Ask about it, however, and it is just about to happen. A tendering process is under way. And a scheme is likely to be introduced next year.
AS FOR drunk driving, it is unlikely the Government will antagonise the licensed trade by reducing the legal limit on alcohol consumption from about two pints to one.
Last time, Jackie Healy-Rae championed the case of those rural publicans whose trade was affected when the government cut the number of pints that could be safely consumed from three to two. And this time his support is vital to the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats minority government.
Far more important, where the licensed trade is concerned, is the current proposal to allow the random breathalysing of drivers. In the past the law has been a great bulwark of the drink-driving culture that pervades our society. Imagine it. A garda could not check to see if a motorist was over the legal alcohol limit without having circumstantial evidence.
He had to have reasonable cause to believe the driver was drunk before the breathalyser was produced. In other words, the car had to be wandering all over the road, or the driver had to be pie-eyed with drink before the long arm of the law was extended.
And even then, blood or urine samples had to be taken in specific circumstances. The legal profession dined well over the years on technical errors made by the Garda.
Now, it would seem, a breathalyser test may provide sufficient evidence of incapacity in its own right. But that is not yet certain. The vintners lobby has yet to flex its muscles. And it will be autumn, at least, before the promised Bill comes before the Dail.
The other obvious Government failure relates to the regulation of taxis. But as the tourist trade grew exponentially in Dublin in recent years, the demands of the marketplace could not be ignored.
Having failed for years to tackle the issue, the Department finally hived off its powers to the local authorities. With Dublin Corporation and councils now leading the charge under the eyes of irate citizens, the deregulation of the taxi business is promised. Over the next 10 years, the plan is to create open competition by issuing 350 new licences annually.
Speeding and drunk driving may be the real killers. But the motoring culture of "anything goes" is a strong contributory factor and is facilitated by official and political neglect.
Last year 472 people died in road accidents and a further 13,000 were injured. It's time we took the matter seriously.