How the year has flown. It's hard to believe the annual Christmas and New Year road safety appeal is under way already.
This year the focus of the public information campaign is to raise awareness of Roadside Impairment Testing for drug driving. Every year, we strive to reduce road fatalities and serious injuries over the festive period.
The risks are greatly increased at this time of the year with more people socialising with family, friends and work colleagues.
Tackling drug driving and is one of the primary challenges outlined in the Government's road safety strategy.
Up to now, research shows that many drug drivers see little risk of getting caught. They can delude themselves into believing they are better drivers while under the influence of drugs and don't think there is a likelihood of being involved in a crash. They also overestimate their driving competence and demonstrate little understanding of the effects of drugs on their driving.
Some of these views are confirmed in a survey of more than 1,000 drivers conducted by the RSA in 2010 among people aged 17 to 34.
It found that 1-in-20 admitted to driving under the influence of illegal drugs.
One-fifth admitted they had been in a car driven by someone under the influence of drugs. Incredibly, more people associated drinking and driving as more socially unacceptable than driving under the influence of drugs.
This may be reflected in people's mistaken attitudes that certain drugs actually make them better drivers or at least don't affect their ability to drive. For example less than half of the people polled in the survey said cannabis or marijuana when mixed with driving was 'extremely dangerous'.
Source: Irish Independent, 03/12/14
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