A quarter of drivers arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on Christmas Day were suspected of drug-driving, according to the Garda.
Assistant Commissioner David Sheahan of the Garda Roads Policing Unit said four of the 16 arrests on the day were in relation to suspected drug impairment.
But he said the prevalence of drugs detected in the systems of drivers was normally even more than 25 per cent of all cases.
He warned that while official statistics for the Christmas safe driving campaign will not be available until late January, “anecdotally gardaí are starting to detect more drug-driving incidents than alcohol related offences”.
Next year, Mr Sheahan said, the Garda Policing Plan would see increased efforts to test more drivers more frequently in line with international best practice.
Over the past month, the Garda have been taking drug testing machines out of Garda stations and putting them in patrol cars where they have been used at mandatory intoxicant check points , he said.
Source: The Irish Times, 26/12/19
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