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Local authorities to get road-collisions data

The Government has approved the drafting of legislation that would give local authorities access to information on road collisions. 

The bill would give local authorities, in their role as road authorities, the power to request, receive, and process road-collision data from both the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána. 

The Department of Transport says that such data will enable road authorities to target areas where collisions are more prone to occur with investment and infrastructure. 

Disc to go 

The National Vehicle and Driver File Bill 2025 also contains provisions that would abolish the need for drivers to display a motor-tax disc. 

The department says that the widespread deployment of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology has given gardaí immediate digital access to motor-tax information, making a paper disc unnecessary. 

In addition, the bill also updates access arrangements to the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF) to reflect GDPR requirements. 

Database ‘GDPR-compliant' 

The department maintains the NVDF, the central register of vehicles and drivers, which is used by state agencies for road-safety purposes. 

It states that the database is already compliant with the GDPR, but the bill will “update and strengthen” the relevant legislation.  

Darragh O’Brien (Minister for Transport) said that the bill would ensure that local authorities had direct access to collision data when undertaking investment, while also giving gardaí greater real-time access to the NVDF. 

Minister of State Seán Canney added that the abolition of paper motor-tax discs was part of a wider project to remove the need to display paper discs on windscreens.