Male drivers in Dublin likeliest to be breathalysed

YOU ARE most likely to be breathalysed if you are a male driver in Dublin between 7pm and 10pm on Saturdays, a survey has found.

Those least likely to be breathalysed, according to the AA Motorists’ Panel survey, are women drivers in rural Munster on a Tuesday afternoon.

The survey, published today, finds 16.9 per cent of motorists have been breathalysed by the Garda in the past year, a slight reduction on the 18 per cent breathalysed in the previous 12 months.

“This shows high levels of Garda activity on drinking and driving, which is very much to be welcomed and encouraged,” says the association’s director of policy, Conor Faughnan.

“Responsible drivers welcome the Garda checks, and overwhelmingly AA member comments show that we want to know that our gardaí are out and about on the roads.”

He was concerned, however, that the highest number of tests were on Saturdays between 7pm and midnight and that testing trailed off after that – at the precise time when most fatal road collisions occurred.

Some 53.2 per cent of all respondents who had been breathalysed said that they had been tested at some stage in those five hours on a Saturday night.

“This is certainly a concern,” said Mr Faughnan. “Traffic volumes drop in the dangerous small hours and that may be reflected in the lower numbers. But, all things considered, we would expect that Garda enforcement activity has a greater safety dividend in those late night hours than is the case at 7pm in the evening.”

Fewest respondents were breathalysed on Tuesdays (5.2 per cent); 15.7 per cent were tested on Sunday; 15.6 per cent were tested on Friday; 11 per cent were tested on Thursday, 7.2 per cent on Wednesday and 5.7 per cent on Monday.

Some 18 per cent said they could not recall what day they had been tested on.

Dublin is the area where the highest number said they had been breathalysed, with significantly fewer tested in Cork city. Motorists are least likely to be breathalysed in rural Munster.

The results are gleaned from 8,614 responses to a survey carried out in October and November.