Road safety data sharing
Deputy Bacik raises rising road deaths and says the Road Safety Authority has been unable to share collision data with councils for six years because of GDPR concerns. The Tánaiste agrees more evidence-based policy is needed and points to the Road Traffic Bill and penalty point reforms.
Tragically, we have seen more than 60 deaths on our roads so far this year, each one a human tragedy for those involved. Those figures exclude those injured or maimed in accidents. Clearly, we need to see more action on this. More gardaí and policing are crucial, as are more evidence-based policies and planning to improve road safety.
I wish to raise a specific concern I have. The Road Safety Authority has not been able to share road traffic collision data with councils for six years, apparently due to GDPR concerns.
I understand that tonight on "Prime Time" we will hear experts describe local authority road engineering teams, which cannot see crucial information when making key decisions on road improvements, as effectively shooting in the dark because they cannot access this information. My colleague Duncan Smith and I have been raising this issue about data with the Minister for Transport for years now. It is incredible that it took until 2022 before the RSA even contacted the Data Protection Commissioner on this issue.
What will the Tánaiste and his Government do about this issue to ensure we can see proper sharing of data to ensure evidence-based decisions on crucial aspects of road safety improvement? We know it is a contributing factor in so many of these human tragedies on our roads.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very serious issue for us as a country. After decades of the numbers of road fatalities and injuries going down, there has been a significant increase in recent years, with 188 road fatalities in 2023. As of 11 April 2024, 61 people have lost their lives in 56 collisions on our roads. That is an increase of 13 on this time last year. Clearly, we need a more evidence-based approach to this. As the Deputy knows, the Road Traffic Bill has passed Committee Stage. That is important in the context of the new priorities, such as penalty points system reform, mandatory drug testing at the scene of serious collisions and so forth.
On the sharing of collision data, I agree with the Deputy 100%. It is not satisfactory that the inability to share collision data because of the GDPR has gone on. A specialist group has been established to resolve this and it needs to be resolved as quickly as possible because this is nonsense. That is my view.