Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Much as I would love to be, I am not Minister for Justice and Equality and cannot increase the number in the traffic corps at the drop of a hat. I understand the Deputy's point and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that the lack of checkpoints coincides with the increased number of accidents and deaths and the increased number of traffic fatalities in which alcohol was a factor. At the meeting to which I referred there was the launch of a study by the RSA which found the very alarming figure that 38% of fatalities included an ingredient of excess alcohol. This shows that alcohol is becoming a new danger on the road and that people are drinking much more than we thought. There had been an assumption that it was no longer acceptable to drink and drive. That is not the case. Drink driving is very frequent and a large number of fatalities include a drink driving factor. What was worse about the study was that it covered only the period from 2008 to 2012 and the evidence is that the level of drink driving has been increasing since and that it is becoming more acceptable. There is a huge amount of work to be done. I agree with the Deputy about Garda resources. We definitely need more in all areas and they would help. It would also help if we had comparative figures from elsewhere in Europe. People tend to blame growing prosperity and say the reason there are more road deaths is there are more cars on the road and that it is inevitable. I am not sure it is true. This year's figures have increased by an enormous amount, over 24%.

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