Ciarán Ahern

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A total of 190 people died tragically on our roads last year, the highest level in ten years. There have been a few events in recent weeks that undermine people's faith in this Government's and this State's commitment to road safety at an institutional level. The Minister for Transport stated in a response to me last week that there is only so much the State can do and that driver behaviour is a big issue. I agree that driver behaviour is a huge issue but that is no surprise because we have little to no enforcement on our roads. This Government is stalling on simple measures like red light cameras and lower urban speed limits. There were supposed to be 150 new roads policing gardaí over the last two years but I understand that, at best, we have another 91. I would like a commitment from this Government that additional resources will be provided to An Garda Síochána so that we can enforce the rules of the road to the highest extent possible and stamp out increasingly dangerous driving.

Sentiment score: 0.10