To ask the Secretary for State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to improve road safety in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [36918]

In July 1995, the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Department of Health and Personal Social Services joined together to publish a comprehensive road safety plan for Northern Ireland. This covers the three-year period to 1997 and is intended to increase the effectiveness of road casualty reduction measures by providing a more strategic approach to the planning, co-ordination and delivery of road safety activities. The plan will contribute to and support Northern Ireland's road safety target, which is:

"by the year 2000 to reduce the total number of people killed and seriously injured on Northern Ireland's roads by one-third compared with the average of the 1981n to 1985 figures".

Road traffic legislation is being strengthened and brought more closely into line with the rest of the United Kingdom; legislative proposals include the introduction of a penalty points scheme for traffic offences.