Review of road traffic legislation needed to clamp down on loopholes, Liz O’Donnell says.
The Road Safety Authority has expressed “extreme disappointment” at figures which show only 40 per cent of drinking driving cases before the courts are resulting in convictions.
The Irish Times reported on Monday that out of more than 20,000 people due before District Courts for drink driving between January 2013 and May 2015, a total of 6,709 were convicted.
The conviction rate in Ireland compares unfavourably with England and Wales, where 97 per cent of drink driving cases brought before magistrates’ courts result in conviction.
A spokesman for the authority said: “There is concern - we are extremely disappointed at the number of successful convictions.”
The authority’s chairwoman Liz O’Donnell has supported calls for an overhaul of road traffic legislation to help ensure there are fewer loopholes available to drivers.
Source: Carl O'Brien, Irish Times, 19/10/15
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