New Drink Driving legislation proposed in Ireland - Update

New Drink Driving legislation has been circulated in Ireland and will lead to an amendment to the current laws. It will bring Ireland into line with other EU countries.

Current legislation sets a blood alcohol limit of 80 mg per 100ml. A sliding scale of ‘driving ban’ is applied according to the blood alcohol level and if it is a repeat offence.

New legislation will set a limit of 50 mg per 100 ml of blood and in the case of learner drivers, drivers without more than 2 years post licence experience and professional drivers ( taxi drivers and bus drivers) there is a limit of 20 mg.

While these are aggressive limits there is some leeway in that if a driver is above 50 mg and under 80 mg and it is a first offence it will result in 3 penalty points on the licence and a fine of €200. In the case of learners, inexperienced drivers and professional drivers this applies if the level is over 20 mg and under 80 mg but also incurs a 3 month ban.

The proposed legislation will also ensure mandatory breath testing at the scene of road traffic accidents.

LATEST: In order to ensure that the new laws are fully robust it was decided to replace all the breath analysis testers in the police stations as the current units are reaching end of life. The result is that the new legislation cannot now be implemenetd until summer of 2011 when each station is fully equipped to test and produce evidential information.