New law to fight drink driving ‘likely’

Transport Minister Shane Ross has said the spike in deaths on Irish roads last year was “calamitous”, and has said dramatic and tough new laws to stamp out drink driving are likely.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Ross also said Ireland has become a “cowboy country” because of the increasing number of drivers who are using the roads without having their cars insured.

A total of 187 people lost their lives on Irish roads last year in 175 accidents, 25 more people than who died in crashes in 2015.

The Road Safety Authority warned that fatal crashes have become more frequent.

“The spike in road deaths is calamitous and completely against what was expected,” Mr Ross said. “It is inexplicable except in terms of speed, drink, mobile usage, safety belts.

Mr Ross said that while his new Road Traffic Bill — which further penalised mobile phone use and the lending of cars to unaccompanied learner drivers — has gone some way to reduce road deaths, further steps are likely.

“If drunk driving continues we will have to look at dramatic ways to tackling it, including changing the offences, changing the penalties, the offence times, because drunk driving has been resurrected as huge problem,” he said.

He said the return of drink driving is primarily an issue for younger male drivers.

“In my generation, it doesn’t exist, but it is young men primarily,” he said. “The message that is coming out from the shock TV ads is not getting through. It is no good having the ads as they clearly not affecting those who are drinking and driving.

“A more visible Garda presence would help but we have to look at the penalties and the culture if the new measures doesn’t succeed in bringing the numbers down.”

Among the measures under consideration, and one Mr Ross favours, is reducing the current alcohol limit of 50mg for fully licensed drivers to 20mg. This would see one small drink, such as half a pint of beer, put a driver over the limit, which is the level set for professional and inexperienced drivers.

Mr Ross sought to clarify remarks he made before Christmas which suggested the surge in drink-driving was solely or primarily down to the reduced numbers of Garda traffic core on our streets.

“I said there are a lot of reasons but it is probably one of the reasons, so I threw it in the mix, but it is one of the reasons,” he said.

The job of reducing road deaths is not merely one for the gardaí or for Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald.

“No it is not simply a matter for Frances Fitzgerald to deal with. It is much bigger than that but I would say it is unfair to blame the gardaí for the rise in deaths.”

However, Mr Ross did voice his strong concern about the rise in people driving on the roads without any insurance.

“Another thing which has come out and it is kind of cowboy country and really serious is the numbers of people driving without insurance so all of those things are being addressed,” said the Dublin-Rathdown TD.

He was speaking in the wake of the joint Oireachtas Finance Committee report which found that car owners hit with up to 300% insurance hikes have been “thrown to the wolves” of the insurance sector by State institutions who are charged with protecting them.

Mr Ross said that one of the key elements of the recent Road Traffic Bill was the targeting of people who allow their cars be used by unaccompanied learner drivers.

“We have tackled the issue of learner drivers, that is a massive issue with them,” he said. “There are huge numbers of learner drivers driving unaccompanied and we have made it an offence to give your car to a learner driver on their own.”

RSA chairwoman Liz O’Donnell has said it was “unacceptable” that road deaths have risen in three out of the last four years.