Drink-drive campaign to be the most <CW-8>vigorous ever, says Molloy

This year's Christmas anti-drink- driving campaign will be "the most vigorous the travelling public have ever come up against", Minister of State for the Environment Mr Robert Molloy promised yesterday.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign in Dublin, Mr Molloy said that while "the power and capacity of enforcement will be increased, the community has it within its own hands to correct its error. It boils down to individual behaviour."

The campaign in Dublin this year would be different to last year in that the taxi fleet had been trebled and drivers had no excuses left, he added.

Assistant Garda Commissioner Mr Joe Egan said bad behaviour detected by the garda∅ included consumption of alcohol and drugs such as cocaine and cannabis. But he also said we should be as concerned about people who used prescribed or "over the counter" drugs.

The assistant commissioner said the garda∅ were appealing to publicans this year not to allow patrons who were over the limit to drive home and he particularly asked those "law-abiding citizens who will never consider driving while intoxicated to play a more active role against those that do".

The garda∅ would be encouraging the public to report any form of aggressive or reckless driving and he revealed that yesterday marked the start of a pilot programme in counties Waterford, Kilkenny, Wexford and Tipperary, called "TrafficWatch".

TrafficWatch is to encourage people to report instances of bad behaviour to a low-cost phone number, 1890 205805, where a garda will respond appropriately. If the campaign is successful over the trial period, it is to be extended across the State.

Mr Pat Costello of the National Safety Council said this Christmas the council was particularly focusing on drivers in the 18- to 24-year age group. Mr Costello said drivers with half the legal alcohol limit were twice as likely to crash while those driving at the legal limit were six times as likely to crash.

Mr Costello said the recent graphic advertising campaign and school education services, which were paid for by members of the Irish Insurance Federation, will be complemented by a radio campaign focusing on the tragic consequences of drink-driving.

Mr Ian Stuart of the Irish Insurance Federation said the federation was a strong supporter of the safety council's activity but he added that the federation believed "the human and economic case has been conclusively proven for significantly increased State investment in road safety through greater resourcing of law enforcement". He also called for the immediate introduction of the penalty points system for motorists.

Mr Stuart also pointed out that unless behaviour changed, at least one person would die on the roads each day between now and the end of the year.

Speaking after the launch, Mr Molloy said he had an "open mind" on amending the provisions of the Road Traffic Bill, 2001, which is currently before the Oireachtas, to provide for random breath-testing. Currently the garda∅ may only breath-test on suspicion that an offence has taken place.

This provision was, however, part of the Government strategy, The Road to Safety, about which a decision was initially supposed to have been made in 1999.

The Minister acknowledged that the penalty points system would not now be "on the street" until the latter part of next year, but he said the Government had invested in road safety through road improvements.

He had an open mind about an amendment to extend random breath-testing.