Sixty per cent of samples taken by gardai who suspect a driver may be intoxicated prove to be over twice the legal limit, according to the second progress report of the Government's road-safety strategy group.
The finding was published yesterday as the National Safety Council called for road users to slow down, not to drink and drive and to wear seat-belts while travelling over the August bank holiday weekend.
Prof Denis Cusack, director of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety and a member of the multi-agency road safety group, said people driving under the influence of drink and/or drugs remained a significant problem on Irish roads.
The number of samples analysed by the bureau has increased by 29 per cent since 1997, but he said it was "still worrying" that a large proportion of the samples were found to be more than twice the legal limit. Ninety per cent of samples were found to be over the legal limit of 80mg, with 60 per cent of these over twice the limit.
"We are not talking about people making a miscalculation with their consumption. There appears to be a significant core of people who simply have not taken note of the drink-driving message," said Prof Cusack.
He added that preliminary studies on driving under the influence of drugs showed this was also a "significant problem".
Last year 9,787 cases of drink-driving were detected by the gardai, up from 8,415 detections in the previous year.
However, the report indicates that the number of fatal road accidents occurring between the hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., and most commonly drink related, had decreased by 17 per cent in 1999 compared to 1997.
Mr Pat Costello, chief executive of the National Safety Council and also a member of the strategy group, welcomed the reduction in road fatalities.
However, he called on drivers to show caution on the roads over the bank holiday weekend and warned that Monday would be a particularly dangerous day with people travelling home. "Our plea to drivers is simple - don't risk your life or the lives of others by gambling with speed. "An analysis of last weekend's fatalities again confirms that younger men are especially at risk on our roads," said Mr Costello. "Four of last weekend's victims were young men in the 17-30 age group and most were either drivers or passengers."