Decline in festive drink drive detections

Twenty people a day were caught drink or drug-driving over the festive period at Garda checkpoints, though overall the number of people that drove while intoxicated fell compared with Christmas 2013.

New figures published by An Garda Siochána showed that 696 people were arrested for drink-driving or driving under the influence of drugs over the festive period, which ran from the start of December to January 4. A total of 36,421 drivers were tested at 7,631 mandatory alcohol testing checkpoints operated countrywide.

Both the number of drivers tested and the number of checkpoints was lower than in the equivalent period in 2013, though gardaí stressed that this was due to operational reasons and was not due to a shortage of resources.