Drug driving legislation is welcomed
THE county’s most senior garda has welcomed the proposed new drug driving legislation, saying it will help to save lives on our roads.
Chief Superintendent John Roche said the new legislation will empower gardaí to carry out roadside tests and will be another tool in the gardaí’s battle against reckless behaviour on the county’s roads.
Speaking last week in the Dail as he announced the new Road Traffic Bill 2016, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD said: ‘The technology is now available to enable An Garda Siochana to test for drugs at the roadside, analogous to the way in which they already conduct roadside tests for alcohol.’
Drivers who are caught with heroin, cannabis or cocaine above the specific threshold will face a fine of up to €5,000 or a maximum of six months in prison or both. This puts the presence of these three drugs in drivers on the same basis as the presence of alcohol.
Mr Ross also noted that the Bill empowers the Medial Bureau of Road Safety to test for concentrations of the specified drugs and also empowering the bureau to test and provide to An Garda Siochana the devices for roadside testing.
He said: “If anyone doubts that we need to take action in this area, I would advise them to have a look at the 2014 Annual Report of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, the latest such report available. This showed that 58 per cent of the 1,158 specimens tested for drugs were positive for at least one drug. Even worse, the report also revealed that 53 per cent of the specimens that tested positive for drugs tested positive for two or more drugs.’
A person convicted under the new provisions will also face a consequential disqualification from driving for a minimum of one year for a first offence and a minimum of two years in the case of a second or subsequent offence.
This compares to a more complex table of disqualifications for the presence of alcohol, ranging from minimum of six months to a minimum of six years. The difference is due to the fact that alcohol limits are divided into a number of bands.
Disqualification under the existing drug driving laws for drug driving while impaired is a minimum disqualification of four years.
Supt Roche said: ‘We have had a number of arrests where we suspect drug driving and we bring them back to the station and put them on the breath machine and we have the power to send the test results away.’
He said swab tests may be taken on our roadsides under the new legislation which is before the Seanad.
‘Anything that impairs your driving has the potenital to cause either a collision which can lead to serious injury or a fatality. Under current legislation anyone who is driving erratically and crosses a white line, for example, can he stopped.’
He said prescription drugs will also come up in the tests, adding that all areas of motoring offences are up in the county this year when compared with last year, including speeding, drink driving and using a mobile phone while driving.