One in ten Irish drivers got behind the wheel after drinking alcohol in the past year, a survey has found.
The research, commissioned by the Road Safety Authority (RSA), showed that drivers under the age of 24 were more likely to say that they had driven after drinking. Sixteen per cent of this age range admitted to drink-driving.
People aged between 50 and 64 had the second highest percentage. Those living in rural areas were only marginally more likely to have committed the offence than those in urban areas. Fourteen per cent of male drivers admitted to drinking before driving compared with 6 per cent of women.
The survey is conducted annually to monitor attitudes toward alcohol and driving and last year’s results were higher than 2015 for every age, gender, and regional bracket. This year’s findings suggested that “high-risk drivers”, especially those who admitted to using a mobile phone while driving, were twice as likely to have admitted to drink-driving in the past year.
The majority of drivers, about 73 per cent, claimed that consuming no alcohol was the only way to be safe on the road, but a quarter said that it was safe to drive after one drink.
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Moyagh Murdock, chief executive of the RSA, said that she was alarmed by the results and urged all drivers who planned to drink this weekend to leave their keys at home.
“We want people to enjoy the August bank holiday weekend but consuming any alcohol impairs driving and increases the risk of a collision,” she said. “Saving lives on Irish roads requires a zero-tolerance attitude to drink-driving and that is why the RSA supports the move to introduce an automatic disqualification for drivers found to be over the legal alcohol limit of 50mg per 100ml of blood.”
On Thursday 16 drivers were arrested for being under the influence and every month there are about 740 drink-driving arrests. There have been seven road deaths in the past week.
Ninety-five people were killed in the 88 crashes on Irish roads this year. Last year two were killed over the August bank holiday weekend and there were 166 arrests for drink-driving.
Aidan Reid, garda chief superintendent, said that additional checkpoints would be in place across the country to protect against reckless driving.
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“We know that the majority of Ireland’s drivers are law-abiding and would never drink and drive and we want to thank them for their participation in saving lives every day, but there are some who continue to take that risk,” Mr Reid said.
He warned drivers that they could be breath-tested not only at mandatory intoxicant checkpoints but also after committing any road traffic offence or being involved in a collision.
There has been an average of two deaths every August bank holiday weekend since 2013, when there were five. Last year there were 17 serious motoring injuries over the weekend, which was almost double the number in 2015.
The number of people caught drink-driving increased by 18 per cent in the first six months of this year, with 4,450 arrests made.
There has been a reduction in road fatalities, however, with 77 people killed up to the end of June, ten fewer than in the first half of last year.
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Shane Ross, the transport minister, described the rise in arrests for drink-driving as “utterly unacceptable”.