Random breath testing ‘could save 150 lives a year’

RANDOM breath testing of motorists will be discussed at an Oireachtas Transport Committee meeting tomorrow.

Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy's views on introducing the random tests will also be heard at the meeting.

National Road Safety Council (NSC) acting head Alan Richardson believes that random breath testing could save 150 lives every year.

For some time, the NSC has been calling on the Government to hold a referendum to allow the law to be changed without risk of a constitutional challenge.

Random testing was first announced in 1999 as an element in the Government's road safety strategy, but changing the law has been held up amid fears that the suggested measure could be unconstitutional.

It is illegal for gardaí to stop motorists to perform breath tests.

They can ask a motorist to take a test only after they have formed an opinion he or she is driving under the influence of alcohol.

The Committee on Small Enterprise and Business has urged the Government to consider holding a referendum to allow testing for all forms of substance abuse that could impair driving ability.

Automobile Association spokesman Conor Faughnan rapped what he termed Government "foot dragging lethargy on a matter of great urgency." In the absence of random testing, it is difficult for gardaí to police drink driving, he said.

Regarding the claimed constitutional difficulty, Mr Faughnan hit back: "We're not at all convinced that a constitutional referendum is necessary. We believe that a carefully and correctly drafted Road Traffic Act would not require a constitutional referendum. That's our view we may be wrong in that.

If a constitutional referendum is necessary, then we should have one. Here we have an issue that is killing 150 Irish people per year. There can scarcely be anything more important.

Six non-nationals were among the 27 people killed on the Republic's roads this month. Mr Faughnan said there was no evidence to suggest that non-nationals represented a higher risk than other categories of road users here.

It might be necessary, however, to reach out to non-English speakers, he said. He referred to the use of radio advertisements in Polish regarding health and safety at work.

"It may well be the case that road safety advertising may have to do something similar," said Mr Faughnan.