Drink-driving becoming more acceptable again, says Ross

Drink-driving has become more socially acceptable in recent years and is again a serious problem on Irish roads, according to Minister for Transport Shane Ross.

Speaking at the launch of the Garda and Road Safety Authority’s Christmas campaign, Mr Ross said drink-driving was seen as acceptable in the 1980s and 1990s and while the problem may have dipped in intervening years, it had recently been resurrected. “It never went away,” he said.

An RSA report shows alcohol was a factor in 38 per cent of all fatal crashes between 2008 and 2012, accounting for the deaths of 286 people.

These are the latest figures available, but the Minister said anecdotal evidence indicates that alcohol is today a factor in a higher percentage of fatal crashes.

The Garda and RSA Christmas campaign specifically targets drink-driving, which Assistant Commissioner John O’Mahony said gardaí are becoming increasingly concerned about.

“There has been success over the years but unfortunately this year the warning signs are there over drink-driving,” he said, pointing to an increase in the number arrested over the offence.

The Christmas campaign includes a television advert illustrating the impact a fatal crash can have - not just on families directly involved but also on emergency responders and gardaí.

Head-on collision

In April 2014, four-year-old Ciarán Treacy died when the car he was travelling in with his mother Gillian and older brother Seán was involved in a head-on collision with a drunk driver.

The ad features the perspective of Ms Treacy and her husband Ronan, as well as the Garda sergeant and other emergency workers who attended the scene along with medical professionals who attempted to save the boy’s life.

“His little chest was tiny,” nurse Mary Joyce tells the camera. “You tried your best to keep his heart beating.”

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald thanked the Treacy family for having the courage to speak so candidly about personal grief and said the ad campaign would help to save lives on the road.

Young men, she said, have been proven to be the riskiest drivers. “These drivers are a particularly recalcitrant obstacle and we must continue to reach out to them,” she said.

“It seems to be that the message has to be repeated to every generation of risky drivers.”

RSA chairwoman Liz O’Donnell said the Christmas campaign’s ads “remind us of how all road crashes don’t just impact the people in the car. Everyone who comes across the scene is negatively affected.”