PENALTY POINTS for drink driving, roadside impairment tests for suspected drug drivers and changes to the penalty point regime are provided for in the Road Traffic Bill 2009, published yesterday.
For the first time in this State penalty points, rather than a driving ban, will apply for drink drivers caught between the proposed new lower alcohol limits and the existing one.
All drivers involved in a crash where someone is injured will face a mandatory alcohol test.
Drivers found to have a blood alcohol concentration of between 50mg and 80mg face a €200 fine and three penalty points under the Bill, if they do not challenge the penalties in court. This was reduced from six penalty points in an earlier draft due to opposition from Fianna Fáil backbenchers.
A new 20mg limit is proposed for inexperienced drivers on a learner permit or holding a full licence for less than two years. Professional drivers such as hauliers and taxi drivers will also be subject to this lower limit which has a disqualification period of three months and a €200 fine.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the lower drink drive limits were based on research showing that at 40mg, or half of the current 80mg limit, drivers were twice as likely to be involved in a collision as those who had not drunk alcohol at all.
Mr Dempsey said the reason mandatory tests would only apply to crashes where a person required medical treatment rather than all crashes, was based on advice from the Attorney General and the Garda.
"The legal advice from the AG's office that this is as far as we can go," he told The Irish Times. The Minister added the Bill also sought to avoid having gardaí called out to every minor collision.
In a bid to improve detection of drug driving, the Bill provides for gardaí to carry out roadside impairment tests to measure a driver’s co-ordination. There is currently no approved roadside drug-testing machine.
Drivers who fail an impairment test, such as walking in a straight line, will be required to give a blood sample. The Minister said training of gardaí in impairment testing was already under way.
Mr Dempsey said the Bill also means penalty points will apply to holders of a driving licence from outside the State and that on reaching 12 penalty points, these motorists will be disqualified from driving here and in the country where their licence was issued.
To reduce the amount of Garda time spent in court processing penalty point offences, the Bill provides for a written statement to be entered into the court record on behalf of a garda.
Other changes to reduce the courts’ workload include the option of paying fines on receipt of the summons. The Bill also presumes that a fixed charge notice has been delivered. At present many drivers argue successfully they never received this notice.
It also empowers gardaí to seize a driver’s licence where the motorist is disqualified or the licence is believed to be a fake.
