FAMILIES OF those killed in road collisions have expressed disappointment at the Government’s refusal to consider abolishing fees charged for the release of documents relating to the crash.
Relatives must pay €41 for a Garda crash form and €21 for each witness statement and can end up paying hundreds of euro for the documents.
The issue had been raised by road safety group Parc (Public Against Road Carnage), which contacted the Garda Commissioner asking him to waive the fees. However, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has ruled out any change in the policy.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question by Labour Party transport spokesman Tommy Broughan, Ahern said relatives of those involved in a fatal crash were entitled to an “abstract of the police report, copies of witness statements and sketches or maps of the scene”.
Ahern said fees for “abstract reports and copies of witness statements and photographs are charged in order to recoup costs incurred in the preparation of same”.
“There are no plans to provide an exemption for such fees at this time,” Ahern said.
A Garda spokeswoman said fees were set by the Department of Justice to recoup the cost of providing the documents and the system was not under review.
Donna and Adrian Price from Mullingar, Co Westmeath recently had to pay these fees after their son Darren (18) was killed in a crash at Tyrrellspass in March of 2006. The Price family was charged €313 for the release of the documents.
In cases where there is no prosecution, families can find it difficult to discover the contributory factors in a crash.
While there is a statutory requirement for an inquest to be held after a fatal crash, this is only to determine the cause of death, for example a blow to the head, rather than to establish the cause of the crash.
