Road Safety Authority ‘will get additional resources if required’ – Chambers

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) will receive additional resources if that is what is needed to fulfil its remit, Jack Chambers has said.

The Minister of State, who has responsibility for road safety, said an independent review of the RSA will conclude in the coming weeks.

Government ministers have met the RSA to discuss the increase in deaths on Irish roads since the beginning of the year.

To date, there have been 70 road fatalities, an increase of 13 compared with the same period last year.

There have also been 65 collisions to date this year, compared with 49 last year.

Mr Chambers said the RSA is getting more resources, including an additional three million euro to spend on awareness campaigns.

“We’re doing a wider review of the Road Safety Authority. There’s an independent review. That’s concluding presently, and that’s looking at their funding models,” Mr Chambers told RTE’s Today with Claire Byrne programme.

“For the last over 10 years, they’ve been a self-financing agency through the fees that they generate.

“I’m not sure that’s functional for the future, and there will need to be a new funding model in the context of the Road Safety Authority.

“Recommendations are going to be made to me on that in the coming weeks and we’ll bring that to government this summer to look at the structure, their funding model, and how we can make sure that the Road Safety Authority is best placed to fulfil its road safety remit and we’ll be working with them to do that.

“If additional resources are required, we’ll be working with them to deliver on that.”

The RSA has called for a complete review of the driver testing system as part of a plan to reduce the number of road deaths.

Mr Chambers said driving tests will be modernised and will begin later this year.

He said there has been a particular spike in the number of young people losing their lives.

“That’s why we’ve set up a group that will meet eight times a year now to feed into our wider campaigns and initiatives so that young people have a strength here,” he added.

“We need to improve the message to them when it comes to the wider road safety crisis we’ve seen on our roads.”

He said road safety education in schools will be widened, while the government will also monitor enforcement of road safety legislation to reduce road deaths.