The Government Road Safety Strategy 1998 to 2002 has prioritised a systematic and co-ordinated set of measures for preventing and reducing road accidents. It establishes quantified targets for achieving its objectives, the principal of which is to reduce road deaths and serious injuries each by at least 20% by 2002 relative to 1997. Priority is accorded by the strategy to actions targeted at speeding, alcohol, seat belt wearing and vulnerable road users. A timetable for key actions in these and other areas is also set out. We are now in the final year of the strategy and real and worthwhile gains are being made in road safety within its framework. By the end of 2001 there was a 13% decrease in the number of road deaths since 1997 when 472 people died on our roads. There were 1,640 serious injuries on our roads in 2000 representing a decrease of almost 25% on 1997 levels.
A range of measures has been deployed to bring about these road safety improvements: Garda enforcement has been intensified in relation to speeding, drinking and seat belt wearing; fixed automated speed cameras and evidential breath testing have been introduced and are being further extended in support of this process; research into the involvement of young people in road accidents and the problem of drugs and driving is being advanced; and education and information in relation to road safety is being improved, including joint promotion of campaigns with the Northern Ireland authorities.
By reference to the estimates set out in the road safety strategy in 1998, more than 100 lives are now being saved each year as a result of implementing the strategy compared to a continuation of trends prior to 1998. Preparatory work on the development of the next road safety strategy is underway. All the agencies directly involved in the production of the current strategy, including the National Safety Council, are being afforded the opportunity to fully contribute to that process. The new strategy will have regard to the target currently being promoted by the European Commission of achieving a 50% reduction in road deaths across the Union as a whole over a ten year period.