Crackdown on drink driving in 2004

Qadhafi

Breath tests awaiting 500,000 motorists
30/11/03 00:00
By Ed Micheau
The Sunday Business Post
*********************************
Up to 500,000 motorists will face random breathalyser tests each year as part of an unprecedented garda crackdown on drink-driving, The Sunday Business Post has learned.

The astonishing target is one of a number of hard-hitting recommendations made in the second Road Safety Strategy 2004-2006, which the Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan, is expected to publish in the coming weeks.

The new safety strategy aims to reduce dramatically the number of deaths on our roads each year. Last year, Ireland had a death rate of 98 per one million of population.The new targets will benchmark Ireland against best practice in Europe. In Britain, there are 60 road deaths each year per one million of population.

Brennan is expected to introduce new legislation in mid 2004 to giving sweeping new powers to gardai. With an estimated 1.5 million active motorists in Ireland, the new tests could impact on one in three drivers.

The target of 500,000 tests per annum is believed to have been set by the gardai and will present a massive logistical challenge.With a total force of over 12,000 gardai, meeting such a target would require each garda to administer 40 tests per annum.

"The interim report of the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol showed that consumption of beer in Ireland is the highest per capita in the EU.There is a presumption that this translates into drink driving offences on a very large scale," said a well-placed source.

Over the last two years, an average of 12,000 drivers were arrested and breathalysed by gardai. Up until now, gardai had to form an opinion that a driver was driving with excessive alcohol. Following a recent amendment to the Road Traffic Act, 2002, gardai will be given power to insist on a breathalyser test when a driver

has broken any of the road traffic offences or if the driver has been involvedina collision. The new powers take effect from tomorrow, December 1.

Through new legislation, the new plans outlined in the Road Safety Strategy report will go a step further and provide gardai with the powers of random tests. The strategy group's report will also double the number of targeted speed camera detections to 600,000 per annum.

There is also bad news on the way for young drivers, with a major overhaul planned for the provisional licence system. Under new plans, hundreds of thousands of aspiring drivers will have to apply for a new permit andwait up tosix mont h s b efore t h ey are granted a provisional licence.

Under a new driver educational plan, permit holders must pass a series of tests before they can apply for a provisional licence.

These drivers will only be permitted to drive a car in the company of a qualified instructor. The second Road Safety Strategy working group is chaired by John Murphy, assistant secretary at the Department of Transport.

The group includes representatives from the Department of Health, the Department of Justice, the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, the National Roads Authority, the National Safety Council and the Irish Insurance Federation.

Our man in Havana

Good news on the Drink Driving front.

Bad news for learners but these instructors will be raking it in.

Qadhafi

Good news about the drink driving. Its bound to have a knock on effect with insurance costs if the target number is reached.

Imposter

Originally posted by Bond-James Bond
Good news on the Drink Driving front.

Bad news for learners but these instructors will be raking it in.

But at least it will mean that people on the road can drive.

jesus_thats_gre

Originally posted by Imposter
But at least it will mean that people on the road can drive.

Thats a very general and quite stupid remark to make. It is very simple to presume that because someone has not passed their test, that they are not a good enough driver. That would be a valid point anywhere else but this country. We all know that the driving test is well out dated in the country and is actually discrimatory in some cases. Try being a 19 year old fella and doing your test and see if you pass. You probably wont and it will be nothing to do with your ability as a driver. Also, half of the drivers in this country should not be allowed on the roads. Some peoples inability to judge distances and widths it laughable.

We also know that some people in this country who have a full license, have not actually done a test. The whole driving license system in this country should be over-hauled. Starting with provisional drivers and then the periodical re-testing of "qualified" drivers every 10 years or so. Mary or Joe who are both 80 and cant see over the stearing wheel, never mind 100 foot of them. That in itself is a generalisation I know but it is a valid point.

seamus

Originally posted by Qadhafi
There is also bad news on the way for young drivers, with a major overhaul planned for the provisional licence system. Under new plans, hundreds of thousands of aspiring drivers will have to apply for a new permit and wait up tosix months before they are granted a provisional licence.

Good and bad. This is what I've been saying for a while now (maybe Bertie listened to me ). But 6 months? Is this 6 months before you get tested, or you have to spend 6 months minimum on this 'permit'?
If it's the latter - excellent. If it's the former - boo.

Imposter

Originally posted by JesusThatsGreat
Thats a very general and quite stupid remark to make. It is very simple to presume that because someone has not passed their test, that they are not a good enough driver. That would be a valid point anywhere else but this country. We all know that the driving test is well out dated in the country and is actually discrimatory in some cases. Try being a 19 year old fella and doing your test and see if you pass. You probably wont and it will be nothing to do with your ability as a driver. Also, half of the drivers in this country should not be allowed on the roads. Some peoples inability to judge distances and widths it laughable.

We also know that some people in this country who have a full license, have not actually done a test. The whole driving license system in this country should be over-hauled. Starting with provisional drivers and then the periodical re-testing of "qualified" drivers every 10 years or so. Mary or Joe who are both 80 and cant see over the stearing wheel, never mind 100 foot of them. That in itself is a generalisation I know but it is a valid point.

Yes what I said was a generalisation but what I meant by it is that people will be driving after getting taught by someone who knows what they're doing. Having an instructor teach you to drive is, in most cases, far better than a family member teaching you the basics and then finding the rest out for yourself.

I never said that somebody who hadn't passed their test wasn't a good enough driver. I also never said that those with full licences were competent drivers.
I agree that the whole system needs to be changed but i'm not so sure about retesting every 10 years. Maybe linking retesting to penalty points would be more appropriate. Are eye tests not compulsary for renewal of licence? If not they should be.

jesus_thats_gre

Fair enough, I retract my overly angry reply.

an_taoiseach

(i)

If ( at a guess ) it were to take 5 minutes / skull to do the initial testing then it will need about 22 gardai full time..............Thinks...........Will Charlie McC agree that this is a good way to spend 'his' money ?

(ii)

Any prospect that spaced out drivers could also be detected ?


An T

jesus_thats_gre

Originally posted by an_taoiseach


Any prospect that spaced out drivers could also be detected ?

Ahem, there isn't a drug problem in this country. So why would need that? ahem ahem....


ahem ahem

Victor

Originally posted by Imposter
I agree that the whole system needs to be changed but i'm not so sure about retesting every 10 years. Maybe linking retesting to penalty points would be more appropriate. Are eye tests not compulsary for renewal of licence? If not they should be.

I think if you get banned for drink driving you do need to re-sit, but I would be in favour of weeding out the people who have HGV or bus licences and never did the test. However, I think this should be extended to include everyone. People fall into bad habits without realising it and need to be kept up to date, even if it only means making them do the theory test more often.

An alternative would be a (politically unacceptable) higher (cumulative) licence fee for HGV / bus / etc.

Capt'n Midnight

I heard on the news this am that 12,000 got done for DUI / drunk driving last year - is this true ?

If so then it means it's 1% of driver. Excluding the journeys where you don't see a Guard and the fact that they can't stop you unless you are virtually falling over - this would suggest that the true rate is MUCH higher.

I think sometimes they should pick a street or town and do a full 100% Zero tolerance Blitz on it for a few hours or so. Full breath tests - insurance - tax checks - full speed limit checks - full clamping (with plenty of tow trucks to remove them pronto)
This would get the message home - but more importantly give true statistics on the problem. The trick being to ring an area so you can't bypass the points..

jesus_thats_gre

They have been doing that now in Dundalk for about a year. A new sergent took over and he is blitzing main routes on a Friday evening.

Victor

Originally posted by JesusThatsGreat
They have been doing that now in Dundalk for about a year. A new sergent took over and he is blitzing main routes on a Friday evening.

In Rathmines, they did an "obvious" checkpoint on Friday(?) evening - then put another 2 cops down a side road to get all the people avoiding the main checkpoint.