THE NUMBER of motorists detected drink-driving at Garda checkpoints has fallen by more than 40 per cent despite a record number of breath tests carried out last year.
However, the number of breath tests towards the end of last year fell significantly on previous years despite the Christmas and New Year period being the traditional time of increased enforcement.
Overall, senior Garda sources said the decline in those detected driving over the limit last year was proof that changes in driver behaviour had been sustained following the introduction of random breath testing.
According to Garda figures obtained by The Irish Times, there was a total of 57,628 drink driving checkpoints carried out last year, during which 556,496 motorists were tested.
The number of tests carried out represented an increase of 9 per cent on the 508,286 tests carried out in 2009.
Despite the higher number of tests, the number of motorists detected drink driving at the checkpoints fell last year to 1,486, from 2,531 in 2009, a drop of 41 per cent.
The breath test failure figures include the relatively small number of people who refused to give a breath sample when stopped at a checkpoint. A refusal is effectively classed as a failure.
As well as those caught drink-driving at checkpoints, a large number of motorists are caught when gardaí stop them and breathalyse them after observing them driving dangerously.
Last year just over 11,000 motorists were caught drink-driving – both at checkpoints and after being pulled over by gardaí – compared to just over 14,000 in 2009, a 21 per cent drop.
The decline in drink driving last year occurred at the same time that road deaths, at 212, fell to their lowest levels since records began in 1959.
Garda sources said they were not surprised the level of road deaths had fallen at the same time that drink driving detections had also continued to fall.
“Most people always believed drink driving was a huge factor in road accidents and the figures we’re seeing now proves that,” said one source.
However, despite the positive trends throughout last year, it appears the enforcement of drink driving laws fell off significantly towards the end of the year.
According to new Garda and Department of Justice figures, there was an overall decline of over 18 per cent in the number of mandatory alcohol testing checkpoints carried out in December 2010, at 2,813, compared with December 2009, at 3,439.
There were 26,640 tests carried out at those checkpoints last month, down 44 per cent on the 47,994 tests carried out at checkpoints in December 2009.
Road Safety Authority chief executive Noel Brett said he believed the snowy and icy conditions in December would have made it unsafe for the Garda to perform checkpoints in many areas.
The rate of Garda checks carried out here would be envied in other jurisdictions.
Garda sources said a 73 per cent fall in the number of tests carried out over the New Year’s Eve bank holiday weekend was in part attributable to poor road conditions, even though there was no snowfall at that time.
Other sources said it was impossible to identify any meaningful trend from studying drink driving figures for a single weekend and comparing them with the same weekend the previous year.
However, some sources said drink driving enforcement had been impacted at the end of last year by spending cuts across the force.
