32 of 94 Drink Driving Arrests Eastern Europe

whippet · 13-04-2006 9:03am #1

I just saw in the Irish Indo that last sunday 32 of 94 Drink Driving arrests were Eastern European. Can we now make the assumption that Irish people's fear and annoyance of Eastern European driving habits can be expressed without the wrath of the PC brigade.

Anan1 · 13-04-2006 9:08am

whippet wrote:

I just saw in the Irish Indo that last sunday 32 of 94 Drink Driving arrests were Eastern European. Can we now make the assumption that Irish people's fear and annoyance of Eastern European driving habits can be expressed without the wrath of the PC brigade.

Hardly. It could be as simple as xenophobic Indo-reading Guards pulling more Eastern European registered cars.

dbnavan · 13-04-2006 9:12am

Or you can look it that 62 out of 94 were not Eastern European, most probably irish, or you can look it as 94 drunks off the road, or you can look it as the Gardai clamping down and doing their job, sorry but I am part of the PC brigade.

Anan1 · 13-04-2006 9:18am

This isn't really about PC, in my opinion. It's about 2+2 not being equal to 5.

Guy:Incognito · 13-04-2006 9:19am

Anan1 wrote:

Hardly. It could be as simple as xenophobic Indo-reading Guards pulling more Eastern European registered cars.

Well by drive those eastern european regged cars most (see not al, I'm sure one or twoo might be tourists) are breaking the law so are inviting the guards to stop them in the first place. They should have them re-registered.

Plus. It doesnt really matter if the guards are set up outside a rrefugee hostel pulling every car that comes out, if the people werent breaking the law and drink driving the wouldnt get arrested for it. (this also applies to all you people moaning about speed traps)

dbnavan wrote:

Or you can look it that 62 out of 94 were not Eastern European, most probably irish, or you can look it as 94 drunks off the road, or you can look it as the Gardai clamping down and doing their job, sorry but I am part of the PC brigade.

well as long as the ratio of eastern europeans : irish is above 32:94 then it would be average but I doubt there are that many eastern europeans to Irish, meaning they are drink driving (or being caught drink driving) on average, more than Irish people.

Big Nelly · 13-04-2006 9:19am

Anan1 wrote:

Hardly. It could be as simple as xenophobic Indo-reading Guards pulling more Eastern European registered cars.

Thats why a number of high speed accidents with deaths has included Eastern Europeans that where hammered off there faces. Not saying the Irish are angels but it is something to note

Anan1 · 13-04-2006 9:22am

Stekelly wrote:

Well by drive those eastern european regged cars most (see not al, I'm sure one or twoo might be tourists) are breaking the law so are inviting the guards to stop them in the first place. They should have them re-registered.QUOTE]

AFAIK, it is quite legal for a foreign resident to drive a car registered in their home country here.

maidhc · 13-04-2006 9:22am

whippet wrote:

Can we now make the assumption that Irish people's fear and annoyance of Eastern European driving habits can be expressed without the wrath of the PC brigade.

I would like to think so, but I doubt it.

Anan1 wrote:

Hardly. It could be as simple as xenophobic Indo-reading Guards pulling more Eastern European registered cars.

Wellllll... they could get an Irish reg which is strongly recommended in any event

Anan1 · 13-04-2006 9:24am

Big Nelly wrote:

Thats why a number of high speed accidents with deaths has included Eastern Europeans that where hammered off there faces. Not saying the Irish are angels but it is something to note

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that more Eastern Europeans are not drink-driving here. What I am saying (in answer to the OP) is that this conclusion cannot be imputed from the fact that more of them being caught by the Guards.

dbnavan · 13-04-2006 9:25am

Anan1 wrote:

Stekelly wrote:

Well by drive those eastern european regged cars most (see not al, I'm sure one or twoo might be tourists) are breaking the law so are inviting the guards to stop them in the first place. They should have them re-registered.QUOTE]

AFAIK, it is quite legal for a foreign resident to drive a car registered in their home country here.

If they are resident in Ireland plates must changed if they are here on holidays, business etc, plates are fine

Henry Ford III · 13-04-2006 9:28am

The % of E.E's arrested for drunk driving is way higher than the % of E.E's driving on our roads.

That may mean a lot of them drive pissed, or that the Gardai are pulling a lot of foreign registered cars.

It's inconclusive.

Guy:Incognito · 13-04-2006 9:28am

dbnavan wrote:

Anan1 wrote:

If they are resident in Ireland plates must changed if they are here on holidays, business etc, plates are fine

Work, earning and having a house here makes them resident.

Anan1 · 13-04-2006 9:29am

Henry Ford III wrote:

The % of E.E's arrested for drunk driving is way higher than the % of E.E's driving on our roads.

That may mean a lot of them drive pissed, or that the Gardai are pulling a lot of foreign registered cars.

It's inconclusive.

Exactly.

dbnavan · 13-04-2006 9:32am

Stekelly wrote:

Work, earning and having a house here makes them resident.

Is that not more or less what I said

Anan1 · 13-04-2006 9:38am

dbnavan wrote:

Is that not more or less what I said

What makes them resident is living here for more than 183 days in a year. This is why our own very wealthy people sometimes choose to live 183 days of the year abroad. Given that insurance is so much cheaper in EE, most of them choose, quite reasonably, to remain on EE plates until they become resident here.

maidhc · 13-04-2006 9:42am

Anan1 wrote:

Given that insurance is so much cheaper in EE, most of them choose, quite reasonably, to remain on EE plates until they become resident here.

It isnt an ideal situation though, especially if you get hit by one and want to claim off their insurance. In particular do the terms of their insurance cover driving outside the country for such an extended period... mine doesnt iirc

If you listen to the news though, there seems an inordinately high number of EE nationals getting killed.

whippet · 13-04-2006 10:12am

Interesting.

Over the last number of months I have noticed that alot of people will in private talk about the nusiance of EE driver on the road, however in public people rarely mention this, probably down to a fear of being labels rasist or xenophopic.

A quick look at the local papers and the court reports each week will show you a very high number of EE on driving related charges. EE are very much a minority in our population and this correlates with a minority of cars on the roads being driven by eastern europeans. However with a statistic of nearly 1/3rd of drink driving arrests being from this ethnic minority it would indicate to me that a higher proportion of this group are willing to break the law.

Remember we are still without random breath testing so each of these arrests would have had to been made on a suspision of drink driving and therefore the guards could not theoritecally focus on EE reg'd cars.

I am not xenaphopic or racist but have a great sense of self preservation, I don't just have an adversion to eastern european plates, I also give a wide berth to the typical modded boy-racer type car (especially if it has more dents in it than a soon to be recycled coke can), mid 90's micra's and starlets are prone to sudden braking etc ... at the end of the day I want to drive into my drive way after my journey.

gyppo · 13-04-2006 10:54am

This tread seems to have gone off on a slight tangent as an assumption has been made about the guards pulling over cars with EE plates.

There are plenty of non-nationals driving around in Irish registered cars too - go to Mullingar Car auctions on a monday evening, and see who is buying trade cars of questionable quality and roadworthyness.

So, to say that the alcohol offence rate among non-nationals is based on the guards tendency to stop the car based on its reg number, is an assumption, nothing more.

Anan1 · 13-04-2006 1:38pm

gyppo wrote:

This tread seems to have gone off on a slight tangent as an assumption has been made about the guards pulling over cars with EE plates.

.......
So, to say that the alcohol offence rate among non-nationals is based on the guards tendency to stop the car based on its reg number, is an assumption, nothing more.

Nobody said that, or assumed it. I mentioned it as an alternative possibility, that's all.

gyppo · 13-04-2006 4:57pm

Sorry, Anan1, point taken.

Anan1 · 13-04-2006 5:09pm

gyppo wrote:

Sorry, Anan1, point taken.

No worries, it's getting to be quite a long thread!;)

MadsL · 13-04-2006 5:51pm

32 of 94 Drink Driving arrests were Eastern European

They have probably got the message that it is OK to drink drive, nice piece of cultural assimilation...

As to 'Eastern European' (prefer the phrase Middle Europe myself) drink driving culture, interesting that some courtries have a far stricter policy, in the Czech Republic for instance it is a zero limit. One drink and you are busted. Like to see that here.

I'd also like to see the figures (not that there are any) for those pulled over and let go with a "ah, we'll drop you home Joe, mind how you go in future"

The new fast track ban is only going to make it worse not better I fully expect DD figures to go UP!

32 of 94 Drink Driving Arrests Eastern Europe

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