“Drivers are being encouraged to ensure they have their licence with them at all times”.

I say: “Licenses should be redesigned so that they can fit easily into wallets and not have to be a master of origami to make it fit in”.

Would be interesting to see some stats on how many accidents there were last year/few years with drink-drivers whose blood alcohol level was between .05 and .08. I would suspect not that many. It is people way over current limit that are causing the carnage. Possible alcohol education course as part of lessons would be more effective IMO.

The part about facing a lower limit just because you don’t have your licence on you is plain stupid. Think that bit is just a revenue generator.

I wonder if the TD’s immunity while the Dáil is sitting will also be removed?

I’ve been very weary about this legislation. I’d like to see more detailed statistics on the different levels of
Intoxication including the day of and the day after.

I’ve never been stopped and breathalyser and I consider myself to be a high mileage driver. Reducing the limit doesn’t affect that (anecdotal) comment.

As a final point there should be clearer guidelines from authorities to the public on how we can tell if we are over the limit the day after.

Lazy legislation..rather than put time into how the roads are policed. They seem to concentrate Gardai time on 3 lane straight dual carriageways with a 60kph limit, on these same roads they breathalize people. Fish in a barrel approach designed for maximum revenue return as opposed to maximum impact to road safety. I know many rural pubs where drink driving is the norm because the gardai are rarely around.

if you go out drinking on a sat night , how are you supposed to be 100% sure when you can drive the next day ? this doesn’t really affect me as I live in a city so next day driving is never an issue but I genuinely would not know when I was ok.

I was worried about this myself ; I also live in the city so it driving the next day is usually never an issue. On the only occasion that it was I went into my local garda station and asked them to breathalyse me. I was confident that I was OK to drive but wanted to be sure that if I was stopped I would be under the limit. The Guard on duty told me that he could not breathalyse me, instead I received a lecture on ‘responsible drinking’ …

Why don’t they just ban it altogether and be done with it.

good.

zero tolerance

Drink driving legislation is enacted on the basis of inaccurate statistics. Take for instance a two vehicle minor collision where the driver in one instance is above the limit and the other isn’t. In many cases such accidents are the result of other factors – even in some cases may be the fault of the ‘sober’ driver. Automatically the ‘intoxicated’ driver is deemed the offender and the accident is recorded as a drink related accident. This causes statistical inaccuracy and a call for ever more attention to be drawn to drink driving to the neglect of other factors like poor road design, markings, sinage, surfaces, drainage, lighting etc. along with, of course, dangerous driving.

Half baked laws are par for the course in this country.
The Irish law about displaying your car insurance “disk” states this:
“The disk shall be square .”

This makes Ireland the only place on earth where a circle is legally a square.
(‘Im surprised it hasn’t been challenged!)

As someone said when was the last time you saw a garda checkpoint on a country road outside the cities. If the government and the gardai were fully serious about deaths on the road there would be garda checkpoints and speed traps would be along bad regional roads not along straight roads with stupid limits. Also, the gardai target young drivers for drinking more so then someone middle aged. Lastly the current licensing is outdated how can someone who got their license in the 50′s or 60′s not have another test ever again, you should be tested everytime you have to renew your license.

I’m pretty sure more people commit suicide due to substance abuse such as alcohol, etc. than commit suicide due to not being able to go for a drink. Jeez there are other things to do you know.

It is the usual argument …….Can three or four people not organise themselves and have designated drivers ….. Rocket science its not ! Or Publicans can provide a bus …

Not once in the last two years have I seen a drink driving checkpoint. Tax and insurance is the extent of their brief every time. Look at the discs, and flag a driver along. Never been asked for my licence, or to blow in a bag. Happens every time I’m on the continent. Whats that about?

If they really need to go to the bar for company and they have to drive surely they could drink lemonade.

It should be zero tolerance. I don’t understand why people who are driving feel the need to have one drink and then drive home. It should be none and that should be end of!! And if someone is out the night before fully aware that they are driving next day it should be up to them to limit what they do drink so they are safe to drive next day.