Ms Donna Price:

I was interested to hear the assistant commissioner outlining the level of compliance compared with the payment of the fines. Around 75% of people are prepared to paid their fines when caught for drink-driving rather than appear in court. Apart from the financial aspect, we have so many people prepared to take the chance to drive while impaired on our roads, endangering all of our families. Very few of them are going to court. They take the fine and continue to drink-drive. What we have seen in the five-year period between 2012 and 2016 is that 40,000 have taken that risk and have been done for driving while intoxicated. It is an appalling vista to have that level of disregard for the law and for our safety and that of our families. That is why it is so important to get away from the fixed charge penalty notice and to send out the message that drink-driving is quite simply not acceptable, that one will lose one's licence and will have to engage with solicitors to go to court to be represented. That is how serious this offence is. It is an endangerment offence and that is why it needs to be taken out of the District Court and into the higher level courts because of the devastation that it is causing.

We simply cannot condone people drink-driving, drug-driving, texting and driving or any form of impaired driving on our roads. It is simply unacceptable. We have to tackle it at source. While fixed charge penalty notices are well and good and bring revenue into the coffers, they are not stopping that endangerment on the roads. That is where we rely on our legislators to amend the law to make it a crime. People will then take notice because people do not want to have a criminal record, lose their licence or lose their jobs. Quite simply, one can be a repeat offender for drink-driving and be in and out of the District Court with hundreds of offences, yet one will not lose one's job. It is not seen in the same light as another criminal offence.