Report on Public Consultation on Mandatory Safety Equipment National Transport Authority, Dun Scèine, Harcourt Lane, Dublin 2 . January 2016 Contents Page 1 Introduction and Background 3 1.1 Introduction 3 1.2 Background 3 2 Consultation on Mandatory Safety Equipment for SPSVs 5 2.1 Purpose and Process 5 2.2 Approach 5 3 Consultation Response 6 3.1 Submissions received 6 3.2 Issues Raised in Submissions 6 4 Analysis of Issues Raised 9 4.1 Cost and financial impact 9 4.2 Ownership and self-employed status 9 4.3 Safety Partitions 9 4.4 Monitoring 9 4.5 Policing and court 9 4.6 CCTV 10 5 Summary and Conclusions 11 NTA Mandatory Safety Equipment Consultation Report Report on Public Consultation on Mandatory Safety Equipment 1 Introduction and Background 1.1 Introduction The National Transport Authority (Authority) is a State body set up under statute in 2009. From 01 January 2011, it assumed responsibility for the regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) sector, i.e. taxis, wheelchair accessible taxis, hackneys, wheelchair accessible hackneys, local area hackneys and limousines, together with their drivers, owners and associated services. At 31 December 2015, a total of 21,146 SPSVs were licenced to the Irish fleet; 17,488 were taxis and wheelchair accessible taxis with c.70% of those in the Greater Dublin Area. At 31 December 2015, there were 27,440 SPSV drivers licensed to provide small public transport services across the country. This industry has an almost unique set of characteristics in that a driver’s daily activity involves lone working, door to door services on unscheduled routes, the handling of money and valuables and, as has been increasingly reported upon in recent years, threats to personal security and violence at work. 1.2 Background In January 2012, the Report of the Taxi Regulation Review Group was published on foot of a wide ranging review carried out in line with a Government decision of June 2011. The Review Group, which was convened and chaired by the then Minister for Public and Commuter Transport, Alan Kelly T.D., included dispatch operators, drivers, vehicle owners and consumers as well as Government Departments and regulatory and enforcement agencies. The aim of the review was to allow consumers to have confidence in the SPSV sector while also ensuring that legitimate and competent operators and drivers could be rewarded fairly by operating under a regulatory framework that is adequately enforced. This “Mandatory Driver Safety Equipment Consultation” was undertaken in line with the actions recommended within the Report. Action 37 of the Report of the Taxi Regulation Review Group committed that: “In recognition of driver safety issues, a consultation process will be carried out with the industry in 2012, on the possibilities and merits of introducing a requirement for the mandatory provision of certain driver safety equipment in taxis. Potential options for consultation include: In-vehicle security cameras; A partition separating the driver front seat area from the remainder of the vehicle; A locational alert system; or Other new technology based options.” NTA Mandatory Safety Equipment Consultation Report Report on Public Consultation on Mandatory Safety Equipment Within the context of this action and this document, the term “taxi” above is taken to mean all categories of SPSV. Separately but in parallel, Action 45 states: “This action proposes the planned migration to the use of smart (electronic) technologies in individual SPSVs to address the current challenges in monitoring and regulating a fleet of over 20,000 vehicles; and also to better exploit the potential to integrate the SPSV fleet into the wider public transport system. Developments in computing and communications technology, together with the increasing sophistication of in-car technology, creates opportunities to move the SPSV industry to a different level, both in terms of interfacing with customers and in regard to efficient monitoring of regulatory compliance. Possible capabilities that could be considered include enhanced information availability for customers, improved operational data collection, remote taximeter fare update capability, remote disabling of roof sign operation, driver security monitoring features and similar functionality. It is likely that the integration of these features into taxi technology will take place over a period of time, on an incremental basis, and it is important that regulatory proposals in this area are considered in the context of likely technological developments.” NTA Mandatory Safety Equipment Consultation Report Report on Public Consultation on Mandatory Safety Equipment 2 Consultation on Mandatory Safety Equipment for SPSVs 2.1 Purpose and Process The purpose of this consultation was to elicit the views of the SPSV industry, stakeholders and general public on the possibilities and merits or demerits of introducing a requirement for the mandatory provision of driver safety equipment in SPSVs and, if appropriate what that equipment could be. The current SPSV regulatory framework does not prohibit any proportionate, lawful safety measures and many drivers have implemented certain safety measures already. A consultation on the introduction, in a mandatory fashion, of safety equipment for SPSVs and their drivers was commenced on 07 August 2015, when submissions were invited from the industry and public by way of public advertisement in the Irish Independent newspaper, the SPSV Industry Update and website publications in relation to Action 37 of the Report of the Taxi Regulation Review Group. Submissions were accepted received by the Authority up to and including 18 September 2015. 2.2 Approach Two particular questions were set to prompt discussion and to understand the appetite for any requirement for such safety equipment to be made mandatory: 1. Do you consider that safety equipment in SPSVs should be made mandatory? 2. If you do consider that safety equipment in SPSVs should be made mandatory, please state any suggestions or proposals that you wish to have considered. As a guide for those submissions, it was suggested that the discussion on safety equipment design considerations should range from potential options of a simple full view interior mirror right through to real time, live locational and identification aides, together with any other potential safeguards identified. No specific equipment proposals were made in this consultation. NTA Mandatory Safety Equipment Consultation Report Report on Public Consultation on Mandatory Safety Equipment 3 Consultation Response 3.1 Submissions received A total of 2,649 submissions were received, including three late submissions. A total of 2,353 hand delivered submissions received were identical but signed individually. 296 other submissions were received by email and post. A list of all those who made submissions is referenced in Appendix A. A copy of the common submission is attached at Appendix B. Repeat identical submissions by the same individual were excluded. 97.3% of the submissions received did not consider that safety equipment in SPSVs should be made mandatory. 2.7% of the submissions received considered that some form of safety equipment in SPSVs should be made mandatory. In the majority of submissions, question one, “Do you consider that safety equipment in SPSVs should be made mandatory?” was answered in the negative; resultantly, question two was not considered by the respondent. A small number of submissions provided suggestions or proposals for appropriate safety equipment for SPSV drivers and these are attached in Appendix C for information. 3.2 Issues Raised in Submissions All 2,649 submissions were reviewed by the Authority and the issues raised were categorised, summarised and analysed. In total, 72 (2.7%) of the submissions were generally in favour of implementing safety equipment in SPSVs on a mandatory basis, some providing information on the available options. However, 2,577 submissions (97.3%) were against the concept of making this protection mandatory, noting that SPSV operator discretion should continue to be exercised in this regard. A total of 8 main issues were identified during this review process. The core categories and the number of times the issues were raised under each heading are summarised in Table 1 below. Number of Category Headings Times Raised Concern over potential negative financial impact on SPSV 2,408 Operators. Cost and financial Concern over potential devaluing of vehicle for onward impact 3 sale. Concern over potential a move towards standardised 2,354 NTA Mandatory Safety Equipment Consultation Report Report on Public Consultation on Mandatory Safety Equipment vehicles in the Irish SPSV industry. Ownership and Private vehicle, privately financed, not limited to SPSV self-employed work. 2,385 status Concern over erosion of rights of self-employed status. Concern over potential monitoring of hours of work and / 2,359 or areas of operation. Monitoring Tracking including panic feature should be mandatory. 16 One central control centre required. 3 One central control centre with police monitoring 24/7. 1 Concern over current policing, court attitudes and Policing and court 2,366 sentencing leniency. Concern over potential illegal uploading of images through 2,357 social media. CCTV Concern over potential data protection / privacy issues. 15 CCTV should be mandatory. 76 Concern over potential negative effect on the passenger’s 2,392 safety perception and enjoyment of service. Concern