Drink-drive convicts could face retraining

Motorists convicted of some drink and drug-driving offences may have their disqualification time cut if they are willing to undergo further training and driver rehabilitation courses.

Other proposals being considered by the Government include obliging convicted motorists to fit alco-locks and speed-limiting devices, as well as hold to a curfew on their hours of driving and restrictions on passengers numbers.

The Road Safety Authority, which is preparing a series of recommendations, said the courts may also direct offenders to re-sit their driving test.

RSA chief executive Noel Brett said it was necessary to provide effective, alternative rehabilitative options for dealing with repeat and high-risk offenders.

He told an RSA conference in Dublin that the group was preparing recommendations for the Government on how such courses could be implemented.

It was likely, he said, that judges would get powers to offer motorists convicted of serious offences the chance to undertake rehabilitative courses.

He predicted such measures, which would require new legislation, could be in place by the end of 2013.

Mr Brett said motorists would have to pay the cost — up to €250 — of attending such courses.

A total of 1,473 motorists have been disqualified for accumulating 12 penalty points since 2002. There are no official figures on the number of drivers with more than one conviction.

International road safety expert Peter North told the conference he welcomed last year’s reduction in the legal drink-driving limit.

However, he criticised the failure to impose an automatic disqualification for any motorist caught over the 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood limit.

Under the Road Traffic Act 2010, all motorists face automatic disqualification of at least six months if found with a reading in excess of the old 80mg limit.

Drivers caught with a reading of between 50mg and 80mg receive a €200 fine and three penalty points for their first offence.

Learner and professional drivers face a fine of €200 and three months disqualification for a blood-alcohol reading of 20mg-80mg.

Mr North said research on the use of rehabilitative driving courses in Britain showed motorists who completed such retraining were three times less likely to re-offend. “Retraining is an important step in reducing the misery and cost of road deaths,” he said.

Although Britain also has a system which allows police to offers motorists caught speeding to take a retraining course to avoid a prosecution, it is believed unlikely such a scheme would be recommended by the RSA.

Former district court judge Michael Patwell, who chaired the conference, said he had regularly been frustrated and limited during his 21 years working in the courts by his inability to make orders to deal with repeat road traffic offenders.

Mr Patwell said he was uncertain that fines acted as a sufficient deterrent to such motorists. He expressed regret that community service orders could only be imposed in lieu of a jail term and not as an alternative to a driving disqualification.