Drink driving up by two thirds in Laois
Drink driving has surged by as much two thirds in County Laois.
These are shocking statistics showing a huge rise in the number of people getting behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated.
Drink driving figures for Laois have risen by a staggering 64 percent in the last 12 months with the numbers arrested for drug driving also expected to rise.
It was revealed at a Joint Policing Committee Meeting, that road traffic offences were up slightly year on year from 198 in the first quarter of 2016 to 207 in the first quarter of 2017.
Chief Superintendent John Scanlon said this offence related to an individual being caught by the gardaí before he drove.
“There’s a significant increase in drunken driving and we’re continuing to see that,”
“Drinking and driving is a no-no, it shouldn’t happen in a modern society.”
Councillor Pachal McEvoy said the drink driving figure was a shocking statistic, while Sean Fleming TD said the figures were alarming.
Deputy Fleming also raised concerns about the number of people using their mobile phones while driving.
“I’ve yet to take to the road anywhere without meeting someone coming towards me using the mobile phone,”.The gardaí are engaging in ongoing specific operations targeting drivers who use their mobile phones while driving.
Even County Councillors are not immune to the law in this regard. Cllr Tom Mulhall is the first Councillor to admit that he himself had received two penalty points for using his mobile phone while driving.
Cllr Noel Tuohy asked if drug driving was a problem, to which Chief Supt Scanlon replied that the gardaí have new testing capabilities for drug driving and it was expected that in the future there would be a greater number of people detected.
Chief Supt Scanlon said that given the amount of drugs around, “there must be people the worse for wear for drugs on the road”.
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