Madam, – Drink-driving is alive and well in Ireland. Emergency physicians, nurses and paramedics all around the country bear witness to this on an ongoing basis. There is very clear scientific evidence to support a reduction in the legal limit from 80mg to 50mg, and those of us who have to deal with the grim consequences of drunk drivers support the proposed changes.
As someone who grew up in a family-run rural public house in north Cork, I understand the arguments put forward by opponents to this change, but we have to get our priorities right. As your blood alcohol level rises, your ability to drive a vehicle is impaired in direct relationship to how much you have had to drink. Lowering the legal limit will save lives.
In any case, as a society we need to get away from the falsehood that you can only enjoy yourself socially with a glass in your hand. To suggest that rural isolation can be addressed by a glass of stout or a measure of whiskey is facile, and gets away from the more fundamental causes of the change in the fabric of rural Irish society.
Mr Dempsey’s proposed changes deserve our support. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It is interesting to note that a number of Fianna Fáil TDs who are opposed to Noel Dempsey’s plan to lower the drink-driving limit cite the impact this change would have on older people living in isolated rural areas. One TD described them on national radio as the “forgotten people” and said the new proposals, if implemented, would add to rural isolation.
It is encouraging that some TDs are not ignoring the plight of many older people in rural Ireland, especially those who do not drive.
However, the key issue which needs to be addressed to help these people is not a protection of the existing drink-driving limits, but the provision of a proper rural transport infrastructure.
Without adequate rural transport, these people are stranded. Certainly there may be some older people who would like to use rural transport to get to their local pub for a pint and the social interaction that comes with it. However, there are many more who need transport to get to the post office to collect their pension, to get to their local GP’s surgery for an appointment, and to their local village or town to do their weekly shopping.
Age Action hopes that all our politicians will rally around to ensure that the free travel entitlement provided to citizens aged over-66 can be used by those in rural Ireland, and not just those in urban areas where public transport is available.
Rural transport is a major issue for older people. Their fears have been fuelled by the McCarthy report proposal to abolish State funding for the Rural Transport Initiative.
The revised programme for government promises to “explore” the provision of full-scale transport system in rural areas using the network expertise of Bus Éireann and the school transport system.
For many older people who are isolated today, changes in the drink-driving limits will make no difference to their lives, while a proper rural transport system would transform them. – Yours, etc,
Madam, — David Carroll (October 22nd) claims a reduction of the blood alcohol level from 80mg to 50mg would all but wipe out the ability of isolated, lonely, elderly rural people to enjoy “a quite single pint”. This is the same disingenuous smokescreen being peddled by Fianna Fail backbenchers in their opposition to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey’s proposal.
An average adult male metabolises one unit of alcohol per hour. This process starts as soon as the first sip is taken. At this rate a lonely elderly person can drink their quiet single pint and have zero alcohol in their blood after two hours. They can have another if they feel like extending their socialising to a four-hour visit and still drive home completely sober. I rarely find any merit in proposals by Fianna Fáil Ministers but this is Mr Dempsey’s second great idea and I applaud it. However, this all becomes moot if the current random breath testing strategy continues. I work as a musician and travel hundreds of kilometres all over the country every week. Since random breath testing has been introduced I’ve been tested four times, all within one mile of my home. I suggest that it’s the urban drivers who have more to fear from this proposal than their country cousins. — Yours, etc,
Madam, – Your editorial (October 21st) misses the fundamental point when giving Switzerland as an example of how lowering the limit can reduce road deaths. The major contributor in that case was “strict enforcement”.
In 25 years of driving in Ireland I have only once been stopped at a checkpoint, and that was at 8pm on a Tuesday evening.
What we need in Ireland is enforcement of our current laws. – Yours, etc,