The Effect of Alcohol on Drivers in Ireland. New Research Reveals Stark Reality.

Ireland has long been renowned for its’ capacity to imbibe copious amounts of Alcohol at all times of the day and night and in all kinds of places; quite often faraway places requiring the use of a car to get there(easy enough) and the use of a car to get home(perilous).

A new report, just released by an HSE team under the tutelage of Dr. Declan Bedford, a noted Irish Public Health specialist, spells out some startling statistics from the road accident records of all fatal crashes during the year 2003.

Using both Police and Health Board records it was established that Alcohol contributes to forty per cent of all fatal accidents.  Since not all accident casualties were tested for the presence of alcohol it seems likely that the actual figure could be higher.

Two categories which feature strongly in these results are those of Pedestrians and Single Vehicle Accidents where alcohol was present in close on forty percent of the former and sixty percent of the latter.

Pedestrians are naturally more vulnerable to being killed on the road if they are affected by alcohol since they are incapable of being aware of their surroundings.Drivers on their own, particularly after consuming alcohol usually have an inflated and distorted view of their capabilities which leads to tragic consequences.

On the whole, Pedestrians in Ireland are perhaps the most dangerous of road users since many are too young to know any better and they roam the streets with abandon and a total disregard for basic road safety rules or regulations.

One of the key areas for novice Drivers in Ireland is that of the need to build up profiles of the many different types of Pedestrian behaviour and where such behaviour is likely to be encountered. Traffic Light controlled Pedestrian Crossings are perhaps the most widely abused and the most dangerous.

The recent tightening up of the Drinking and Driving Legislation in Ireland is starting to trawl an ever increasing number of Drivers into the Breath Testing Net which will mean the loss of Driving Licenses for many .The coming year of 2011 will see much long awaited legislation come into being and hopefully some immediate and dramatic reductions in the fatal accident rates which until now have shown no sign of abatement.

An improved attitude to drinking and driving in Ireland (the fear factor) together with the stiff penalties involved on conviction, should bring about a much needed reduction in all accident rates and not just those where there is loss of life.

(c) Astral Driving School. 2000 -2006