RSA to examine drink rehab plan

A rehabilitation programme for convicted drink-drivers simil ar to that operated in Britain is being studied by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) ahead of its possible introduction here. Under the system, motorists convicted of the offence can have their driving ban reduced by up to 25 per cent if they successfully complete the programme.

Drivers are referred to approved courses by the courts. Britain's largest provider of courses, the TTC Group, has confirmed it plans to contact the RSA and the Department of Transport with a proposal to set up an Irish programme.

Last night an RSA spokesman said the authority "is supportive of such programmes, provided they are being offered by an accredited organisation, and they meet the relevant international standards". He declined to say whether such a measure will be included in the soon-to-be-published Road Safety Strategy.

A study by the Transport Research Laboratory in England found that over a six-year period drink drivers who did not attend a rehabilitation course were two-and-a-half times more likely to commit a further drink driving offence (17.6 per cent) than those who did complete such a course (7.6 per cent).

TTC has about 10,000 attendees a year for its three-day rehabilitation courses, which can lead to a 25 per cent reduction in a drink-driver's period of time off the road.

Jenny Wynn, director of the TTC Group, said the group was interested in offering its programmes to other European states, with Ireland and Spain the two countries on which they are concentrating. "We are in the process of making contact with the Irish Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority so we can discuss options for the rehabilitation of drink drivers there. It is something we would be very keen to do."

She said about one in five drivers attending their courses had been caught in the morning, after seriously underestimating the amount of time it takes for alcohol to work through the body.

"There are still a lot of myths out there about absorption rates and eating food and so on, and drivers can be misled by these. We use an example of young healthy man in his early twenties who walks to the pub, has dinner around 7.30pm, and drinks about five pints before walking home. That sounds like responsible behaviour. However, the next morning he has a crash on the way to work at 6.30am and is still over the limit and loses his licence."

Drink drivers are referred to TTC by the courts. If they successfully complete the course they are then entitled to a remission of up to 25 per cent in their driving ban. In March, the minimum disqualification period under Irish law for convicted drink drivers was increased to a minimum of two years. "Drink driving is not going away, no matter how much enforcement there is. There is still a group of drivers out there for whom education is as important as policing," Ms Wynn said.

She added that there has been a sharp increase in the number of eastern Europeans being referred to the drink driving programme over the last 12 months: "At the moment more than one in 10 drink-drivers are Eastern European and that is a new phenomena. We have had to hire additional staff with Eastern European language skills to meet this demand.

"A year ago this group would have accounted for no more than 3 per cent of our attendees. Since then we have seen a disproportionately high number of referrals on to courses from Eastern European countries, and many of those were significantly over the drink-drive limit when arrested."