LOWER DRINK-driving limits come into effect from midnight, reducing the maximum blood-alcohol level to 20mg per 100ml of blood in some cases.

The changes, which bring Irish law into line with European levels, will see the current limit of 80mg drop to 50mg for most drivers.

Under the regime, professional drivers, learner drivers and those who are newly qualified will be subject to a lower 20mg limit, as will other categories such as those driving tractors or cars with trailers.

A penalty system is also being introduced to deal with offences detected under the limits.

Previously all drink-driving offences were dealt with in the courts and an automatic disqualification applied to convictions.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar yesterday joined the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána to raise awareness of the limits, ahead of a Garda safety campaign for the bank holiday weekend.

Mr Varadkar said the measures sent out a very clear signal that drinking and driving “cannot be tolerated and will be prosecuted”.

The Minister said similar measures in Queensland, Australia, saw an 18 per cent reduction in fatal collisions and 14 per cent in serious-injury collisions.

“Sweden saw a reduction of 9.7 per cent in fatal crashes and an 11 per cent decrease in single-vehicle collisions.”

Mr Varadkar denied the system was more lenient than one in which those found to have been driving over the limit automatically ended up in court.

“It’s a system of graduated penalties. If somebody is between 50mg and 80mg, they will get penalty points. If they’re above 80mg, they will get banned from driving.

“So in many ways it’s actually stricter. I think it’s important that people don’t mistake this for being a soft touch – it’s not.”

He said the system delivered a “zero tolerance policy” on drink-driving for learner drivers and those who drove professionally.

The Minister said enforcement was the key and the Government fully understood that An Garda Síochána was under pressure and already over budget this year.

Garda Chief Supt Aidan Reid said the force was ready to enforce the drink-driving limits from the time they come into effect at midnight.

He said the changes would have a “significant impact” on all drivers.

Chief Supt Reid said the system of penalties took account of first-time offenders, but that overall the effect would involve a court appearance for anyone subsequently caught drink-driving.

He also reminded drivers that it was a legal requirement to carry a valid driving licence when driving. “If a driver cannot produce his or her driving licence when required to undergo a preliminary breath test, the lower limit of 20 mg will apply to that driver, until such time as the driver produces a valid driving licence.” Asked what the lower alcohol levels meant in terms of the quantity of alcohol a person could safely consume, he said the only advice was never to drink and drive.

AA director of policy Conor Faughnan welcomed the graduated penalty system and said 80 per cent of motorists surveyed by the organisation were in favour.

DRINK-DRIVING: LIMITS, PENALTY POINTS AND FINES 

THE REDUCTION in the alcohol limit can be implemented following the enactment of the Road Traffic No 2 Act 2011. Fixed-charge penalties under the system will apply as follows: 

* For a blood-alcohol level of 50mg-80mg, the driver will be arrested, brought to a Garda station and required to provide breath or blood or urine specimens.

* In all cases where the level is between 50mg and 80mg and the driver is not a “specified” person (eg, a learner or a professional driver) and has not had a fixed penalty for drink-driving in the previous three years, a fine of €200 and three penalty points will apply.

* Points will remain on the driving licence record for a period of three years.

* Any driver accumulating 12 points in three years will be disqualified from driving for six months.

* For a blood-alcohol level of 80mg-100mg, the arrested driver will be required to provide breath, urine or blood samples after arrest. The applicable fine will be €400 and the person will be disqualified for six months.

* For a blood-alcohol level of 20mg-80mg, the arrested driver will be required to provide breath, urine or blood samples. The applicable fine (provided the person has not received a fixed penalty in the previous three years under the scheme) will be €200 and the person will be disqualified for three months.

* District Court penalties will apply where the blood-alcohol level is above 100mg or above 80mg for those classed as “specified” persons, where the person is not eligible to be served with a fixed penalty notice or where a fixed penalty has not been paid.

* A sliding scale also applies to convictions with a consequent driving ban of between six months and six years, depending on the blood-alcohol limit applying to the driver concerned.

* The maximum fine remains at €5,000 and/or six months’ imprisonment.

Ireland seems set to follow the example of the UK, which last week introduced legislation to make an offence to own an uninsured vehicle

THE DEPARTMENT of Transport is examining the possibility of introducing a requirement for continuous insurance for all vehicles, regardless of whether they are off the road.

Last week Britain introduced a law making it an offence to own an uninsured vehicle – even if kept in a garage or permanently parked up. Until now it had only been an offence to drive an uninsured vehicle.

Under Irish law, motorists are permitted to temporarily register a vehicle as being off the road and therefore not requiring insurance.

A spokesman for Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar says the department was looking at introducing a similar change.

If introduced, it would be the latest in a series of changes to the enforcement of uninsured driving, the centrepiece of which is a new automatic number plate reading system operated by An Garda.

The Road Traffic Act 2010 put the use of the system on a legislative footing and since June 1st its use has been extended to all vehicles, including fleet vehicles and those in the motor trade.

This system uses cameras installed in marked and unmarked Garda cars to read number plates of passing cars to identify those which are uninsured.

Niall Doyle, corporate affairs manager of the Irish Insurance Federation, says a file based on data from all 26 insurers in the Irish market was supplied daily to An Garda for use in the detection of uninsured vehicles.

Noel Brett, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority, says the State should introduce a legal obligation for continuous motor insurance and tax.

John Casey, chief executive of the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland, says continuous insurance was of “extreme interest” to his agency but he questioned whether the information held on driver databases was accurate enough for the system to be introduced immediately.

“The geneses of continuous insured enforcement in the UK is that the two databases; the DVLA, which is the state database and the motor insurers’ database. Both of these are extremely accurate and hold current information.

“We’d be very interested to go down the same route. Nonetheless, we are not quite at the stage where our databases would be at the level of accuracy where we could guarantee to the motoring public that the exact coterie of uninsured vehicles would be identified.

“Certainly the jury is out in terms of the level of accuracy that would be required for continuous insurance. At the moment we are looking closely at what has happened in Britain,” he adds.

Casey says approximately 100,000 vehicles in the State are uninsured, or 5 per cent of the total.

This excludes vehicles where the owner has notified the insurer that the vehicle is off the road.

Last year, the bureau paid out €59 million to 3,484 victims of a collision with an uninsured driver.

The bureau has a recovery policy where it seeks to recover the cost of the claim from an uninsured driver.

Last year it recovered €9.4 million, a total covering claims from a number of years.

The Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has today, 22nd December, 2010, launched a public consultation process seeking the views of all interested parties on the development of proposals to regulate written-off vehicles in Ireland.

Commenting on the news Shane Teskey Managing Director at Motorcheck.ie said “This is a very welcome development. The lack of regulation in this area is something that Motorcheck has been at pains to highlight as a very serious issue for Irish motorists. Whilst our vehicle history checks have always included a detailed write-off check for UK vehicles the absence of data for vehicles written off in Ireland has meant that Irish car buyers continue to be at considerable risk when buying a used car”.

The consultation document states “As the standard of vehicles on our roads is fundamental to road safety, it is proposed that the current administrative system to deal with written-off vehicles be enhanced and strengthened through a legislative base. Importantly, this legislative base would clearly define the written-off vehicle categories which must be permanently prohibited from road use. It would also set out the categories of written-off vehicles that can again be used on our roads if repaired correctly.”

Motorcheck.ie estimates that there are over 100,000 vehicles written off in Ireland every year. Only a small number of these (those categorised as A / B) are notified to the National Vehicle and Driver File leaving the vast majority of economic write-offs free to be repaired and resold without any official record identifying its previous history.

ENDS

Note

For further information please contact Shane Teskey at 01-8839230 or directly on mobile at 086-8079066.

The Consultation Document is available in full from the Motorcheck blog at http://www.motorcheck.ie/blog/write-off-consultation-process/

Garda mobile safety cameras

Safety cameras save lives.

From midnight on Monday 15th November 2010, new Garda mobile safety cameras will be in use across Irish roads.

Slow down. Save a life. It could be yours.

It could be someone in your family, your next-door neighbour, a work colleague or someone you’ve never met. Let’s all work together and reduce the number of deaths on our roads.

Excessive or inappropriate speeding is a major factor in road traffic collisions. Safety cameras will be on the roads all across Ireland where fatal collisions are happening as a result of inappropriate speed.

The locations of these roads are available by clicking on the map.

Further information on the safety cameras and a list of frequently asked questions is available by clicking on the links to the right-hand side.

On a phased basis, GoSafe will provide 6,000 enforcement hours and 1,475 survey hours per month across the country. For the 6,000 enforcement hours, the cameras will operate from vans which will be marked with high visibility reflective material and will display a safety camera symbol. Images of the vans are available on the right hand side of this page.

The survey hours will be conducted from unmarked vans, in order to accurately observe and record the speeds at which vehicles are currently travelling, for survey purposes only.

afety camera zones

Speed kills. Kill the speed.

Excessive or inappropriate speed is a significant contributory factor in road traffic collisions.

Gardaí use a range of speed detection technology to reduce speed across Irish roads. A reduction in speed will lead to a reduction in the incidence of fatal and serious injuries and will improve road safety for all road-users.

We are working closely with a range of partner agencies, including Government Departments, the Road Safety Authority, the National Roads Authority, and the community, in order to develop a national culture of safe road use.

An extensive analysis of collisions on the road network where speed was a contributory factor has been completed.

The following sections of road, as set out on the map, were identified as having a significant proportion of collisions whereby, in the opinion of the investigating Garda, a safe speed was exceeded.

Ongoing surveys will be conducted to ensure that these sections of roads continue to represent locations where speeding is happening. The map will be updated accordingly.

These sections of the road network will be where An Garda Síochána will be primarily focussing our enforcement. We will use a range of equipment such as:

•    Handheld and tripod mounted laser guns;
•    Vehicle mounted Puma speed detection equipment, (both marked and unmarked vehicles);
•    Van mounted automatic speed detection radars (Garda operated);
•    Van mounted Go-Safe vans (civilian operated).

An Garda Síochána appeals to all road users, in particular motorists, to familiarise themselves with these sections of the road network.

We also appeal to motorists to always drive at an appropriate speed, to reduce the likelihood of being involved in a fatal or serious collision.

Link to Speed Collision Zones Map

A 41-year-man was arrested after a concrete truck was driven into the gates of Leinster House early this morning.

The slogans ‘Toxic Bank Anglo’, “€1,000,000 on golf balls” and “€500K for golf” were displayed on the side of the truck and the vehicle registration number changed to “bankrupt”.

The man, who is from Co Mayo and has been involved in similar protests in recent months, parked at the entrance to the Dáil, locked his cabin before climbing onto the roof of the truck.

He then attempted to open makeshift doors on the back of the truck to reveal a protest banner but gardaí arrested him at about 7.15am.

No one was injured in the incident and only minor damage caused to the paintwork of Leinster House’s gates. The side windows in the cab of the truck were smashed as gardaí tried to detain him.

The man was taken to Pearse Street Garda station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 where he is still being held. A garda spokesman said the station had received numerous calls from members of the public with the vast majority offering congratulations and support for the man.

A number of protestors gathered out side the station calling for the man to be released. Brendan Meehan from Artane carried a banner stating: “Release Joe the truck driver.”

Mr Meehan said: “I felt this is where I should be. We need a leader and the person I’d be glad to follow is in that jail. I just want that man to know I’m here to support him.”

By 5pm, Mr Meehan had been joined by about seven others, including Sarah Maguire from Wicklow, a mother of one set up her own architecture practice in 2006.

“My business hasn’t traded in a year,” she said. “I’m living with my parents and surviving on children’s allowence. I can’t afford to tax my car. You’re always looking for hope, but I can’t see any.”

Phil Derwin from Artane and his wife Sandra also joined the group of supporters. Mr Derwin who lost his job at SR Technics 18 months ago said of Mr McNamara: “He was great to do what he did. More people need to stand up and protest.”

The truck remained outside the Dáil for over two hours as gardaí and recovery crews struggled to move it. It is understood the brake lines and electric cables had been tampered with to immobilise the vehicle.

At 9.35am recovery crews managed to remove the vehicle by using a large recovery tow truck.

Kildare Street and Molesworth Street were both closed to traffic during the operation.

Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd said that at least one garda on duty had to jump out of the way of the truck.

“If it had been later in the morning, staff could have been killed, public could have been killed,” said Mr O’Dowd, who was on the scene this morning. “I think it’s a very serious incident and I think it’s an appalling vista to be doing your job as a garda or usher in Dáil Éireann and to be seriously injured.”

An Oireachtas spokesman said the incident did not affect proceedings as the Dáil resumed sitting after the summer recess. He said the pedestrian access at the front gates was not damaged and alternative vehicle access was provided at the rear of the building on Merrion Street.

The incident was quickly dubbed ‘Cementgate’ on the social networking site Twitter. Contributors unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of ‘cementgate’ jokes and posted pictures from the scene.

In April, a cement mixer truck, with similar wording on it, was abandoned outside a branch of the bank on Forster Street, Galway. The cabin was locked and the engine left running.

In a recent survey compiled by the car history check website Motorcheck.ie, one in seven cars of the one hundred surveyed were confirmed to have finance outstanding. 
The survey focussed on vehicles that were advertised for sale by private sellers, non-franchise dealers and main dealers. 
It found that of the 100 examined:
- 30% of the sample turned up positive for finance on the official records of the Irish Credit Bureau
- 21% of the sample were confirmed to have been on finance on the day they were advertised (verified by bank named on the record)
- 14% of the sample still have finance outstanding today (verified by the bank named on the record) 

Of the 14% that were confirmed to be on finance:
- 2 were advertised by private sellers
- 5 were advertised by a member of the SIMI
- 7 were advertised by independent dealers and not affiliated with the SIMI 

Commenting on the results Shane Teskey, MD at Motorcheck.ie said “It’s clear that outstanding finance could be a major problem for anyone buying a used car. Whilst a red flag for finance on a Motorcheck report is not necessarily a deal breaker it is very important that the buyer finds out what the nature of the finance agreement is before concluding a purchase. It could be finance provided by a bank for stocking purposes which is a relatively common arrangement these days or it may be a finance agreement that is still active in the name of a previous owner. The latter is a very serious problem and could lead to a car being repossessed by a bank at any time. 

The terms under which ‘stocking finance’ is supplied to a dealer have recently been changed. A new practice in use by some banks means that new and used vehicles are automatically flagged as being on finance when covered by a stocking loan. In the vast majority of cases the banks interest in the vehicle will be terminated by the dealer at the point of sale but independent confirmation is still advisable. 

“If the dealer responsible for clearing the finance goes into liquidation there is a very real chance that the bank will follow the new owner and repossess the car” said Teskey.

He recommends that a buyer always seeks proof that finance has been cleared before taking ownership of a vehicle. Motorcheck.ie will independently verify the removal of any existing agreement with the bank in question free of charge for its customers. 

Note: Finance checks can be performed on the Motorcheck.ie website at a cost of €12 per check.

The above survey was used on RTE’s The Consumer Show last night on RTE1. To view the segment click here http://www.motorcheck.ie/blog/outstanding-finance-still-a-serious-concern/