CONFIRMED: Road Safety Authority to spend millions on new safety campaigns

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is to start immediately spending an additional €3 million on awareness campaigns in response to an increase in the number of road deaths.

It is one of a series of actions that were agreed by the agency and the Government following an engagement with the Taoiseach and relevant ministers.

They also agreed to cut average waiting times for driving tests down to 10 weeks and NCT appointments to 12 days by mid-year, as per service-level agreements.

Simon Harris also met the Garda Commissioner and expressed concern about resources allocated to road policing.

Working with Government, the RSA committed to working towards resolving technical and legal issues so enforcement cameras can identify mobile phone use and seatbelt wearing as offences.

A Government statement following the meeting said that it was agreed to progress the delivery of 12 camera enforcement sites within the coming months, three of which are average speed cameras.

The RSA is to calculate its financial need for the remainder of 2024 and the Department of Transport is to ensure ongoing funding for the agency, subject to assessment and findings of an independent review.

It will also work with the Data Protection Commission to resolve the suspension of data sharing between the RSA and local authorities.

The Taoiseach confirmed he would chair a meeting of the Government’s Ministerial Road Safety Committee in the coming weeks to ensure “urgent progress” on these and other actions.

He added: “After nearly two decades of positive progress, we have seen recently a sudden, and worrying, increase in road deaths.

“The rise in the number of deaths on our roads is unacceptable, and a renewed focus is needed on road safety and driver behaviour.”