Families of road victims hit out at TDs

The families of road victims have slammed TDs for “advocating for impaired driving” and insulting those who have lost loved ones in traffic accidents.

It comes after Danny Healy-Rae questioned statistics around alcohol-related road fatalities and claimed “two glasses or three glasses of Guinness will not cause anyone to have a fatality”.

“The next thing we’ll be saying that the cough bottle or medicines for the flu will be the cause of accidents as well.

“Get real about it, check out those figures, because I know what I am talking about is the truth,” he told Transport Minister Shane Ross when he appeared before the Oireachtas transport committee.

Mr Ross wants to impose an automatic ban for any driver caught over the limit, a move opposed by a number of committee members.

Currently, drivers stopped with alcohol concentrations of between 50mg and 80mg face a fine and penalty points, but no ban — provided it is their first offence.

Blaming speed, poor road surfaces, and overgrown hedges, Mr Healy-Rae said: “You have the case when a fellow is driving home on his own side of the road, driving with a pint or maybe two or three glasses, and a lunatic comes down the other side of the road doing 100 miles an hour and runs into him, and there is a fatality. It is deemed to be an alcohol-related accident

“You have the fellow going home after maybe one pint and he hits black ice and when the story is measured again, it’s alcohol related.”

Donna Price of the Irish Road Victims’ Association said Mr Healy-Rae’s comments “would be funny if it wasn’t so serious”.

“It’s absolutely appalling. He is advocating for impaired driving. It’s like he is living on another planet and he is out of touch with his constituents because people want this.”

Ms Price, who lost her son Darren in a road accident, said: “The lack of rural transport is another matter but the answer is not to let people drink and drive.”

She said she supports the changes being discussed, and that “the likelihood of being caught is so minuscule and even if a person gets caught the penalty is so low. But they wouldn’t take the chance if there is the risk of losing their licence.”

Fianna Fáil TD Kevin O’Keeffe said that “you will have more people inside in mental institutions if you enforce this law”.

He said rural Ireland is losing post offices and shops, and “the pub is the final meeting place left”.

“You have the person who has a good night before, goes home early, gets a taxi home, gets up the following morning, heading to work on the assumption that he is in good order, hits a checkpoint, and lo and behold he is slightly over.”

Mr Ross hit out at the notion that those caught over the limit the next day should be given some leeway.

“People are still impaired the following morning. 14% of alcohol-related fatal crashes happen between 6am and 12pm.

“You can’t say it’s all right to do it the next morning when your blood alcohol level is still over the limit. That would be like saying people drinking during the day should be let off at night.”