Random breath testing seems to be working..

stovelid

I was breathalyzed for the third time this year on Monday night.

Is this a record?

Stark

I've never been breathalysed.

afatbollix

been done once... then started talking about how me and the gard have the same car... :P im glad tey are doing it..... i hate drink driving.. id never get in a car with anyone pissed....

pjproby

a friend was tested three times on one noght

Celticfire

Stark wrote:

I've never been breathalysed.

Same here. I'm sure it's only a matter of time tho.

_Kaiser_

Never been tested. Course I 've never seen the Traffic Corps do any more than the usual tax/insurance checks, make things worse in their attempts to direct traffic, or the usual "revenue gathering exercises" either.

ballooba

In the absence of proper statistics on RTAs it is completely impossible to have an idea what is 'working'*.

*Even still, what does working mean exactly? How should saftey be quantified? I completely disagree with the current system btw.

stovelid

ballooba wrote:

In the absence of proper statistics on RTAs it is completely impossible to have an idea what is 'working'*.

Yup..

The same way it is impossible to have an idea of what constitutes a light-hearted post title in the absence of a sense of humor..:p

ballooba

stovelid wrote:

Yup..

The same way it is impossible to have an idea of what constitutes a light-hearted post title in the absence of a sense of humor..:p

Humour forum is that way.

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>

Speed checks and breathalysing are just two things that get my goat. The Gardai spend far too much of their time on them instead of actually doing proper traffic work.

godtabh

I've havent been tested yet either.

I'm glad its in. I dont drive after a night out. Its just not worth it

ciaran76

I have never been breathalyzed and have never been stopped at a Garda checkpoint.

I was in a taxi a few months ago that was stopped at a checkpoint but thats as far as it goes.

Ham'nd'egger

ballooba wrote:

Speed checks and breathalysing are just two things that get my goat. The Gardai spend far too much of their time on them instead of actually doing proper traffic work.

Of course, Speed and drink driving are not factors in road crashes, are they? :rolleyes:

stovelid

ballooba wrote:

Speed checks and breathalysing are just two things that get my goat. The Gardai spend far too much of their time on them instead of actually doing proper traffic work.

I'm curious as to what other 'proper' traffic work there is? Helping out with the construction of the new Red Cow?

loyatemu

I've never been breathalysed, I've never seen anyone being breathalysed and only one person I've ever asked about it had been breathalysed.

spacetweek

ballooba wrote:

Speed checks and breathalysing are just two things that get my goat. The Gardai spend far too much of their time on them instead of actually doing proper traffic work.

Haha! Man, it's when the traffic corps are NOT doing speed checks and breathalysing, that they're wasting their time. All the other nonsense like directing the traffic in the middle of a junction like a bobby in the 19th century - what's that all about. Speeding and drink driving are the two primary causes of road crashes which is what the corps is trying to prevent. It's their most important job.

ongarite

ciaran76 wrote:

I have never been breathalyzed and have never been stopped at a Garda checkpoint.

I was in a taxi a few months ago that was stopped at a checkpoint but thats as far as it goes.

Same here, never come across checkpoint to be breathalyzed.

yayamark

is this the first thread where there are more pro garda than anti garda. a first for boards i think.

Breath testing is working but there are still hundreds arrested every week for drink driving

MrPudding

ballooba wrote:

In the absence of proper statistics on RTAs it is completely impossible to have an idea what is 'working'*.

*Even still, what does working mean exactly? How should saftey be quantified? I completely disagree with the current system btw.

I would argue that if people are being arrested for drink driving then random breath testing is working. Are people being arrested for drink driving?

MrP

Lafortezza

Never been tested or stopped, most of my driving is Finglas - Airport at various times up until midnight, all days of the week.

gurramok

I've been breathalysed twice, late last year. (all passed ok )

Once in city centre(dub) and on Finglas Rd.

Last year, the chances of coming across checkpoints at the usual times was high, this year i haven't come across a single one yet and been on the same routes at the same times.

Hope they are not going back to old habits of all talk and no action or maybe its just me not having the luck of coming across a checkpoint yet this year

yayamark

Last year with the introduction of Random Breath Testing the government set out so many hours overtime for the Traffic Corps to perform MAT checkpoints(Mandatory Alcohol Testing. This lasted approximately from Oct to March.

The Government have at this moment no intention of that overtime returning, so that is why you do not see as many random checkpoints at the weekend.

gurramok

So i take it that it the removal of this overtime just reduces the frequency of checkpoints and not the times these checkpoints appear?

yayamark

correct, they are taking the cheap option and making the regular gardai do mat checkpoints in the middle of the normal day.

there arent enough traffic garda on at one time to make a visible difference and do mat checkpoints

tuxy

MrPudding wrote:

I would argue that if people are being arrested for drink driving then random breath testing is working. Are people being arrested for drink driving?

MrP

You have that all arse ways. All that shows is that random testing does not stop people drink driving.

spacetweek

tuxy wrote:

You have that all arse ways. All that shows is that random testing does not stop people drink driving.

Yes but it puts the message out that you might be caught if you do d+d, which is the point. It's the deterrent effect, not actually catching the people doing it, that stops the problem.

MrPudding

It stops the person that got caught. Irish drivers appear to be fairly stupid and slow to learn things, I reckon they will get the message eventually.

MrP

Victor

MrPudding wrote:

I would argue that if people are being arrested for drink driving then random breath testing is working. Are people being arrested for drink driving?

The ultimate test of road safety is the number of deaths and injuries. These seem to be down, but lets not count chickens yet.

Breath testing is up, positve results are roughly static.