Breath tests don't go the distance to save lives

REARVIEW:WHY PEOPLE are still drinking and driving, when it's about as socially acceptable as selling crack cocaine to schoolgirls, is beyond me.

But they continue to. In their droves. And lives continue to be destroyed for no better reason than because someone fancied a few pints, consequences be damned.

Evidently, some people are simply beyond reasoning with. Which is why the introduction of mandatory breath testing for drivers involved in crashes that result in injury is to be welcomed, albeit as a step in the right direction rather than a definitive solution.

Why the reservations? Because the law doesn’t go far enough. Limiting mandatory tests to certain situations will result in many guilty parties getting away with it, perhaps with fatal results.

Fortunately, plenty of crashes caused by sozzled motorists don’t result in blood being spilled. But this doesn’t make them any less serious.

Not bothering to test drivers in such circumstances is akin to letting someone who fired a machine gun into a crowded room go free just because they didn’t actually hit anybody.

And what if a drunk downplays the extent of their injuries to avoid being tested? Who is responsible if they then die? Do gardaí not have a duty of care to all citizens, even the drunk, stupid ones?

According to former transport minister Noel Dempsey, who proposed the legislation, the reason testing is limited is to avoid gardaí being called to all minor collisions, which, he reckoned, would be a waste of their valuable time.

Which strikes me as balderdash. Granted, having gardaí breathalyse every granny who reverses her Micra into someone at a traffic lights will be tiresome and expensive, but if it gets just one sherry-crazed loon who might have otherwise gone on to plough into a school bus off the streets, won’t it be worth it?

And what better use of Garda time could there possibly be than saving lives?