X-mas..coming What are the new Drink Driving limits

pirelli

They were to introduce new drink driving limits on alcohol intake before driving.
What are the new limits. Does anyone know. When do they come into effect.

The Blood Alcohol Levels
0.0 mg per ml– Estonia, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary
0.2 mg per ml– Norway, Poland, Sweden
0.4 mg per ml- Lithuania
0.5 mg per ml- Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany (Germany is 0.3 if you’re in an accident), Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Serbia/Montenegro, Croatia, Latvia, Macedonia, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Cyprus (North)
0.8 mg per ml– UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Switzerland
0.9 mg per mlCyprus (South


OLD RULES

Rules
Section 49 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 as inserted by Section 10 of the Road Traffic Act 1994 created four separate drink driving offences in Ireland. These offences are as follows:

An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while under the influence of an intoxicant to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the vehicle. (Section 49(1));
An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while there is present in your body a quantity of alcohol such that, within three hours after so driving or attempting to drive, the concentration of alcohol in your blood exceeds a concentration of 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100millilitres of blood. (Section 49(2));
An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while there is present in your body a quantity of alcohol such that, within three hours after so driving or attempting to drive, the concentration of alcohol in your body exceeds a concentration of 107 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine. (Section 49(3));
An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while there is present in your body a quantity of alcohol such that, within three hours after so driving or attempting to drive, the concentration of alcohol in your breath exceeds a concentration of 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. (Section 49(4)).

seamus

The new limit will bring us in line with most of the rest of europe - 0.05 mg.

It won't come into force until September next year, apparently.

That "3 hours" condition is curious. Does that mean that if you're arrested at 1pm, registering 0.1mg, but retested again at 3:55pm and you register below 0.08 mg (which you almost certainly would), that no offence has been committed?

pirelli

seamus wrote: »

The new limit will bring us in line with most of the rest of europe - 0.05 mg.

It won't come into force until September next year, apparently.

That "3 hours" condition is curious. Does that mean that if you're arrested at 1pm, registering 0.1mg, but retested again at 3:55pm and you register below 0.08 mg (which you almost certainly would), that no offence has been committed?

Do you never watch police chase 3. That why they run man!

coylemj

seamus wrote: »

That "3 hours" condition is curious. Does that mean that if you're arrested at 1pm, registering 0.1mg, but retested again at 3:55pm and you register below 0.08 mg (which you almost certainly would), that no offence has been committed?

No, you can only be tested once, the three hours limit was included in the legislation as otherwise under the original 1968 blood/urine regime the Gardai could keep a guy in the station all night waiting for the doctor, imposing a time limit meant that if the doctor hadn't arrived at the station within three hours of the time the suspect was seen driving, he had to be released as any sample taken after three hours couldn't be used in court.

FreudianSlippers

I thought our limit as like .02 or something crazy low.

Victor

OisinT wrote: »

I thought our limit as like .02 or something crazy low.

It will be for certain drivers - learners, HGVs, buses, etc.

Our man in Havana

Do the Gardaí do back calculations? Say for some reason the driver is only tested at say 2:45 after the fact and blows the limit can it be inferred that he was well over the limit at the material time?

Victor

Haddockman wrote: »

Do the Gardaí do back calculations? Say for some reason the driver is only tested at say 2:45 after the fact and blows the limit can it be inferred that he was well over the limit at the material time?

I don't think so. That would be rather dependent on what the person's metabolism is like, had they eaten, exercised, etc.

Like other offences, its about what you were doing at the time of assessment.

pirelli

Yeah! Was out for a jar last night. Thanks ..good to see our laws are still in the stone age and will be for some-time. The Garda have just given up and no longer have check points, Sure Brendan O'Connor needs to get home for gad sake.