Some 31 foreign nationals have lost their lives in road traffic accidents this year and many more have been indirectly involved in crashes accounting for almost one-third of all fatalities, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy has told the Oireachtas Transport Committee.
Some 11 foreign national drivers and 20 passengers have been killed, while other foreign nationals were involved in a further nine fatal accidents. Since January 1st, there have been 126 road deaths. Mr Conroy told the committee that the Garda Traffic Corps recently launched a road safety advertising campaign in different languages aimed at eastern Europeans. "We have to change attitudes so that people learn to live within the law," he said.
Drink-driving was still a major problem in Ireland, Mr Conroy added, with 3,395 detections in the first quarter of 2006, up 18 per cent over the same period last year.
Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock of the Garda National Traffic Bureau told the committee the force would consider introducing "booze buses." These testing facilities, already introduced by police in Australia and New Zealand, are parked on the side of the road and passing motorists are stopped to enter the bus for a breathalyser test. An automatic reading determines if the motorist has exceeded the legal limit. The bus concept enables police to achieve large volumes of tests.
In 2005, there were 106 prosecutions for "drug-driving," Mr Rock said. He added that driving under the influence of drugs was "prevalent in some particular areas." Mr Conroy told the committee that up to four Garda vehicles were written off each night in cities around the country as a result of ramming and car chases. "Last Sunday when we lost a number of cars," he said in response to a question from committee chairman John Ellis.
Mr Conroy told TDs that a study of its "stinger" device was under way after it failed to disable a stolen coach, which killed an elderly woman and wrote-off several Garda vehicles during a chase through west Dublin last Sunday. Some €14 million has this year been allocated towards the purchase of Garda vehicles, added Mr Conroy.