Learner drivers and newly-licensed motorists will face a zero alcohol limit if one of the key recommendations from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is accepted by the Minister for Transport.
Targeted at younger motorists, a zero blood alcohol limit is one of 21 proposals on driver licensing reform submitted to Minister Martin Cullen earlier this week by the RSA. Under the plan, the blood alcohol limit would apply for up to two years after a driver gets their full licence.
Many of the proposals are designed to deal with the disproportionately high death toll and collisions involving the 17 to 24-year-old age group.
When developing its proposals the RSA examined how countries such as Northern Ireland, England, France, Holland and also the state of Victoria in Australia, dealt with similar problems with young drivers. Many of these countries have imposed a zero alcohol limit on inexperienced drivers.
The Minister for Transport said earlier this week that targeted, prescriptive enforcement activity was required for this particular group of drivers.
He has also noted that a high proportion of crashes involving this age group took place shortly after they had obtained their full licence, suggesting a need for a graduated licence. It has also emerged that more than 71 per cent of motorists appearing before the courts charged with drink driving last year were disqualified from driving.
An analysis of the latest data from the Courts Service Annual Report for 2005 shows that 10,158 drivers were convicted of the offence, out of the 14,182 who were prosecuted.
Judges dismissed or struck out charges against 2,839 drivers, or roughly 20 per cent of all those prosecuted.
Just under 3 per cent of those prosecuted, or 390 motorists, were jailed. A further 161 received suspended sentences.
The figures also reveal that 20 youths were detained at institutions for young offenders for drink driving offences. These figures show a significantly higher level of convictions than data in the Garda Annual Report. Sources in the courts service said this was because many of the prosecutions recorded by gardaí are not settled within the 12-month period of the report.
Drink driving prosecutions are set to increase dramatically following the introduction of mandatory breath testing in July under the Road Traffic Act 2006.
Gardaí are currently detecting more than 400 drivers over the alcohol limit every week. In the week to Monday, October 23rd, 456 people were charged by gardaí for drink driving.
To cope with a higher number of drivers being prosecuted for drink driving, the new road traffic law provides for administrative disqualifications for drink-driving offences on conviction and more severe fines for drink-driving.
However, it has emerged that the provision to allow motorists detected with levels of less than 100 mgs of alcohol per 100 mls of blood to pay a €300 fixed charge and accept a six-month disqualification has not yet been commenced.
This provision, designed to reduce the number of legal challenges to drink-driving prosecutions and reduce the burden on the courts, will give motorists the option of accepting the fixed charge prosecution or face court proceedings, where, on conviction they would be disqualified for 12 months. This option will only be available for motorists convicted for their first drink-driving offence.
Because the commencement order for this provision has not yet been signed, motorists prosecuted following a mandatory alcohol checkpoint will face the old penalties and fines on conviction.
It is understood that the system has not been introduced yet because the gardaí are updating their computer systems to manage the administration of these new penalties.
