I support the amendment. Little has been said this morning for which I do not have sympathy. Many of the factors that contribute to the carnage on our roads have been mentioned. Speed is a definite factor. Although vehicles are safer now, they are faster. They can brake and accelerate faster, meaning that the margins for error are much less than they were some time ago. Another factor is the huge rise in the number of vehicles on our roads — increased traffic density. As Jeffrey Donaldson said, statistically, the key factor in road accidents is inattention.

Other elements are just as important, and, as Margaret Ritchie said, each death is a personal tragedy for the victim’s immediate family and the wider family circle. That, clearly, is of enormous importance to our society.

I agree with something else that has been said repeatedly: devolution is the best arena in which to deal with these matters. Direct rule is remote; devolution and local Ministers offer the best opportunity for further reductions in the number of road tragedies.

I support the amendment, not least because the motion refers to a “National Road Safety Campaign”. Such a campaign exists. It is a UK-wide national road safety campaign called ‘Tomorrow’s roads: safer for everyone’. I am not saying that that campaign is exclusive, but it has been adopted and is operating throughout the UK, including in Northern Ireland. There are mixed views about the campaign’s success, but it has been implemented in regions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A key part of the strategy is to set targets. Over a 10-year period the targets are a 40% reduction in the number of accidents where there are deaths and serious injuries, and a 50% reduction in deaths and serious injuries among children. Those have been adopted universally — apart, I have to say, from in Northern Ireland, where, unfortunately, we are talking about a 33·3% reduction in accidents that cause deaths and serious injuries and a 50% reduction in the number of children who are killed or seriously injured. Throughout the UK about 3,500 people are killed annually, and around 40,000 are seriously injured. If we get reductions of about 40%, we are talking about a substantial reduction in the number of deaths and serious injuries.

(Madam Speaker in the Chair)

Also, as far as the budget is concerned, this carnage costs about £3 billion nationwide, and in Northern Ireland, as we have heard, large numbers of people are killed. About 125 people died last year, and 1,750 were seriously injured, many of whom were children. Those are the sorts of figures that give us a strong motive to reinforce the current Northern Ireland road safety strategy.

There are a couple of factors that direct rule Ministers are being slow to respond to. For example, Road Safety Scotland has introduced a children’s traffic club, which provides free road safety training for three- and four-year olds. It also provides money for full- and part-time 20 mph zones in urban areas to try to reduce the speeds of vehicles. Those are the sorts of measures that an Executive here could look at. There is also, as Billy Armstrong mentioned, a voluntary advanced training course in safe driving called Pass Plus, and that is being taken up universally as well.

While none of us has the answer to this problem or can say that we can get massive reductions, we need an ongoing campaign, not least for an increase in public awareness. There have been steady reductions year by year in the number of people who have been killed or seriously injured on the roads, but public awareness is such that there is no room for complacency. Some measures currently under consideration have merit.

For example, the age group most likely to pass the driving test is young men aged between 18 and 25. However, those same people are 20 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the roads than middle-aged men. That indicates a clear need for a fundamental change in the way in which we test people’s driving. We appear to be training them to pass a test rather than to drive safely, so tougher extended driving tests, including rigorous training programmes, is one measure that might bear fruit.

Safer driving could be included in the school curriculum. It is another of the measures being considered that also has merit. The Swedes have a system whereby students can begin training on the public roads at the age of 16. They have to do 120 hours of training before they are ready to take the test. Those are the sorts of training and education measures that we need. Cars are very sophisticated pieces of machinery and, while they are safer than ever before, because of their speed, ability to brake quickly and acceleration, the margins for error are smaller, which means that serious training is needed.

As Jeffrey Donaldson said, there is also the new Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 2007. That adds penalty points where we formerly levied fines. There can be penalty points for using a mobile phone or for not wearing seat belts, and the police can seize vehicles that are being driven without insurance.

There are a number of measures being brought in or under consideration. It is important when discussing such a serious subject to understand where we are and the measures that are in place.

There are measures in place. I am not here to argue on behalf of the Department of the Environment’s road safety directorate. However, it has had successes in recent years, and, while we are not complacent, it is important that we look carefully at where it has been successful and at the measures that it plans to put into place. That is the way to improve the figures and to ensure that there is a reduction in the carnage on the roads.

It is also important, owing to the nature of the motion, to reflect on the North/South co-operation that is already in place. The Executive instituted that in the days of devolution. It features an annual joint road-safety campaign; joint research on road accidents in border areas; and mutual recognition of endorsements of road traffic offences. It is important to recognise and to acknowledge that, rather than to ignore it or to pretend that there is no strategy in place. No one is saying that road safety stops at the border — far from it. We are part of a wider strategy, and delivery of that strategy by a local Administration with cross-border co-operation is the way forward.

I support the amendment. This is a subject on which we can all work together while looking to reinforce the Northern Ireland road safety strategy that is currently in place and to find other measures to further reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on the roads.