Youths take lifts from drivers over limit
One in eight knowingly got into a car with a driver who was under the influence of illegal drugs and two out of three have accepted a lift from someone severely hungover.
And, in a further damning indictment of the judgement of the nation’s 17 to24-year-olds, more than half say they have driven the morning after a night’s drinking while unsure if the alcohol they had consumed had cleared their system.
But young people are not alone in taking chances — the survey by AA Motor Insurance found a worrying number of people of all ages admitting to taking chances with their safety on the roads in the past two years.
Of all those surveyed, 20% said they had knowingly taken a lift from a driver over the legal blood-alcohol limit and 4% had done likewise with a driver who had taken drugs.
Willingly taking a lift from someone nursing a severe hangover was admitted by 36%; 45% said they had got behind the wheel themselves after a night’s drinking, unsure if they were legally fit to drive.
In contrast, 87% of all motorists say drink driving is extremely shameful.
Conor Faughnan of AA Ireland said it seemed people didn’t apply the same standards to others as they did to themselves.
“While as a passenger you may not be breaking the law yourself under these circumstances, you do have a moral responsibility,” he said.
“Alcohol is a contributing factor in one third of fatal accidents on our roads and passengers owe it to their own safety and that of other road users not to turn a blind eye or allow convenience to overrule their good sense.”
Mr Faughnan added that while the figure of 87% for those who believe drink driving is wrong was high, he worried about the 13% who had other ideas.
The motorists most reckless with their own safety were from Co Monaghan, where 31% were willing to be driven by someone over the limit, while the most cautious were in Co Laois, where 14% admitted to the same level of judgement.
There was also a noticeable difference between the sexes: 21% of men were willing to take a lift from a driver over the limit compared to 18% of women; and 4% of men would get into a car with a driver under the influence of drugs compared to 3% of women.
Men were also marginally more likely to overlook that the driver was hungover and were much more likely to drive themselves the morning after a night’s drinking without knowing if they were still over the limit.
Explanations respondents gave for taking chances included a scarcity of public transport in their area and the lack of a reliable means to determine if they were safe to drive the next morning.
