Seanad debates
Thursday, 27 November 2003
Road Traffic Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages.
One area where there is clear room for improvement relates to drink driving. As the NRA's report shows, in 2002 over 30% of all fatal accidents occurred between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. These are the hours most closely associated with drinking and driving. The extent of the problem of drink driving can also be gauged by the fact that in 2002, the Garda made 11,200 detections for drink driving. Approximately 90% of blood and urine specimens and 81% of breath specimens analysed by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety in 2002 were above the limit. Furthermore, over half of those who failed blood or urine tests and almost one third of those who failed evidential breath tests had alcohol contents that were twice as high as the legal limit.
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