Dr. Declan Bedford:

Those figures are obviously not dependable. There are, however, data available annually from the Medical Bureau of Road Safety. Our reports are published on our website and these give our findings. Research has also been carried out on this. My own research looked at 900 deaths and I was able to see the actual blood levels of the people killed in each of those crashes, both passengers and drivers. I know that the Medical Bureau of Road Safety and others have done other research over the years. Those figures are reliable because they are based on actual blood tests rather than any improper recording of them. There are data out there. At the same time, however, it seems only logical that if data is being collected on a yearly basis by whatever authority, be it the Road Safety Authority or the Garda, it should be reliable and could be used to measure trends and assess whether the legislation is working or whether it needs to be adapted.