Seanad debates

Thursday, 27 November 2003

Road Traffic Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages.

 

To achieve that, the Bill provides for the repeal of section 10 of the 2002 Act and its replacement by a new provision. The new provision is contained in section 2 of the Bill. That section provides for the replacement of the original section 12 of the Road Traffic Act 1994, which provided for the operation of the current scheme for roadside breath testing. That scheme limits the Garda to applying the requirement to demand the test only from drivers in respect of whom a member of the Garda would have formed the opinion that they have consumed alcohol. This is a very restrictive basis for the operation of this scheme and it is arguable that until it is extended, we will never be in a position to either establish the extent of the drink driving problem or to address it comprehensively. For that reason the 2002 Act proposed to extend the basis for the operation of roadside testing to encompass those who were either involved in accidents or who had committed a traffic offence.

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