Calls for new measures to clamp down on drink driving

0:00The head of the state's medical bureau, which tests for drink driving, has called for changes in the law to allow the courts direct repeat offenders to install breathalyzers in their cars. The small breath-testing machines known as Ignition Interlock Devices prevent motorists starting their vehicles if they're over the limit. Colour Hunt has this report. It's another busy day in the yard of South Coast logistics in Firmoy and County Cork. There are 90 trucks here on the go. But before the drivers start their work, they must first climb into their cabs and take a breathalyzer, which is connected to the ignition. The engines only start when they pass. They're called interlock devices, and those who use and install them say it's all about adding an extra layer of road safety. Damien Healey is the company's commercial director. So look, we're always trying to improve and work at the forefront of

1:01safety of everything that we do within the group. For a driver has to blow into the unit to make sure that the truck starts. So if he's over the limit, the truck can start from. Depending on the telematics system that's in the truck, that will send an email to his boss, and he can do something about it there and then for the problem. Bring him, see, he's everything okay. It's about, we always trust and engage with our employees, but you know yourself when you're dealing with an excessive 100 drivers on operating and 365 days a year, someone could make a slip-up. So we're trying to prevent them from doing that from themselves, because we value drivers as well as public safety as much as everything else. The devices have the approval of the medical bureau of road safety, which says they should be widely used. Professor Dennis Kusak, its director, is now calling for a change in the law to make the mandatory in cars for those who are repeat drink drivers. This is a game changer. This is a win-win situation.

2:02If 30% of road traffic crashes have a contributory factor, alcohol, if we can stop most of those drivers with alcohol starting their car, their truck, their lorry, then it will have a huge impact on road safety. The Department of Transport says the minister, Sean Coney, is backing those calls for the courts to be able to insist on their use and says it's now working on ways for their wider installation, particularly in companies with large fleets. The group representing private bus operators here has said it welcomes any initiative designed to improve road safety, but said the cost of installation, and around 1500 euro, could prevent smaller operators from using the devices. Professor Dennis Kusak again. So everything is ready to go. It's going to take a few years, it will require changes in the law, it will require the courts to be able to impose these devices on certain drivers,

3:02and maybe in the next 10 years or so, it may well be that every car will have such a device fitted, and just like the rear-screen heaters and the radios which worked in cars years ago, they're not in cars yet, they may well be standard, so that no driver in Ireland will be able to start a car or a truck or a lorry with alcohol on board. And that was Professor Dennis Kusak ending that report from Conor Hunt, from Conor Hunt.