Cut in alcohol driving limit next year

The new measures to be contained in the Road Traffic Bill will also see the introduction of tests to gauge the level of impairment of suspect drug-drivers.

Speaking as he inspected work on the Citywest Luas extension yesterday, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the Bill would be introduced to the Dáil in the current session, and was expected to pass into law early next year.

The legal driving limit in Ireland is now 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100millilitres of blood. The new Bill proposes to lower this to a general limit of 50 milligrams of alcohol, with a further reduction to 20 milligrams for drivers of taxis, buses and trucks, as well as learner drivers.

The cuts have been resisted by the Vintners Federation of Ireland which represents rural publicans and which in recent weeks claimed 5,000 jobs would be lost if the measure was approved.

However, in a defence of the proposal at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport yesterday, the chief executive of the Road Safety Authority, Noel Brett, said the vintners were “just wrong”.

Mr Brett said similar claims about the destruction of rural life had been made when the legal alcohol limit was reduced from 100 milligrams in the mid-1990s, and, indeed, as far back as 1968 when the first limit was set. “It didn’t happen then, it won’t happen now.”

Referring to mandatory alcohol testing for drivers involved in crashes, he said it was “a significant general deterrent measure which would impact on drivers’ willingness to drive after having having consumed alcohol”.

He accused the vintners’ federation of spreading fear among rural communities, particularly taking issue with their claim that a priest who says two Masses would likely be over the limit.

He also criticised the vintners’ claim that a person who has one glass of wine with a meal would be over the limit, remarking that over time the body would safely metabolise a glass of wine. While individual metabolism was hugely variable, “a person who is a moderate drinker who has three pints on a night out and has a good night’s sleep has absolutely nothing to fear about being over the limit at 10am the next morning”.

The more stringent reduction in the permitted blood-alcohol concentrations for drivers of taxis, buses and lorries, as well as for learner drivers were, he said, in line with numerous studies which showed impairment of driving below the level of 50 milligrams.

Mr Brett also said a study of Garda statistics for two years to 2009 had shown 36 fatalities where drivers had alcohol levels between 50 milligrams and 80 milligrams. He said there was currently no reliable device available to measure impairment due to drugs. Gardaí have to prove the presence of drugs in the driver’s system, and then prove driving was impaired. As consumers of prescription drugs are entitled to claim their driving is not impaired, the new Bill will allow gardaí insist drivers take simple tests, such as walking straight lines.

Source: Tim O'Brien, The Irish Times, 24/09/2009