FTA Ireland wants tougher roadside enforcement to match new traffic laws

FTA Ireland has said it would like to see the proposed new traffic laws matched with an increased resource for roadside enforcement by the Gardai. The response from FTAI followed the announcement of the Road Traffic No.2 Act 2013, introduced to improve safety levels on Irish roads, outlined by Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar earlier this week. The new traffic laws will include roadside impairment tests for drug driving; higher penalty points for speeding, mobile phone use and not we
February 21, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
FTA Ireland has said it would like to see the proposed new traffic laws matched with an increased resource for roadside enforcement by the Gardai.

The response from FTAI followed the announcement of the Road Traffic No.2 Act 2013, introduced to improve safety levels on Irish roads, outlined by Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar earlier this week.  The new traffic laws will include roadside impairment tests for drug driving; higher penalty points for speeding, mobile phone use and not wearing seatbelts; and allows unconscious drivers to be tested.

“This Act focuses predominantly on the human factors in road safety by strengthening and extending the law in key areas. This includes a new category of novice driving licenses, higher penalty points in key areas, and the testing of unconscious drivers for intoxication,” Minister Varadkar said.

Neil McDonnell General Manager, FTA Ireland commented: “There is no doubt that these new traffic laws will improve road safety levels on Irish roads, but FTA Ireland would like to also see that the measures should be matched with an increased resource for roadside enforcement by Gardai.  We also believe that enforcement should go further and therefore, legislation must ensure severe penalties for drivers who fail to bring their driving licence to court- thereby avoiding the fixing of points to their licences.”
Enforcement

Related Content

  • Big data and GPS combine to cut emergency response times
    April 2, 2014
    David Crawford looks at technologies for better emergency medical service delivery. Emergency medical services (EMS) play key roles in transporting, or bringing treatment to, patients who become ill through medical emergencies or are injured in road traffic accidents (RTAs). But awareness has been rising steadily, in the US and elsewhere, of the extent to which EMS can generate their own emergencies. The most common cause is vehicles causing or becoming involved in RTAs, as a result of driving fast under pr
    Read More
  • Intersection collision avoidance system trial
    January 31, 2012
    Although much of the emphasis of research into intersection management has tended to concentrate on the needs of urban locations, there remain specific issues pertaining to rural intersections which need to be addressed. Here, Rebecca Szymkowski and Greg Helgeson, Wisconsin DOT, Todd Szymkowski, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Craig Shankwitz and Arvind Menon, University of Minnesota detail progress on an intersection collision avoidance system for more remote locations.
    Read More
  • Measures announced to improve cycle safety in London
    September 5, 2013
    A series of recently-announced measures to improve cycle safety in London include the establishment of a new industrial heavy goods vehicle (HGV) task force to take direct action against dangerous HGV drivers, vehicles and operators, review exemptions to current HGV regulations and a call for European Union to speed up its review on the design of HGVs to increase drivers’ visibility of vulnerable road users. In addition, the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Driving Standards Agency are to issue a c
    Read More
  • TRL welcomes changes to UK car driving test
    April 18, 2017
    Experts at the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) have welcomed the announcement that a new car practical driving test will come into force in the UK on 4 December 2017. The independent organisation led the trialling of the proposed changes in a country-wide controlled study of their impact on how people learn to drive, and on how people drive post-test. The changes, which include the use of a satnav to promote independent driving and revised manoeuvres, are designed to promote greater independence and
    Read More

Highlighted Content