Saturday 1 August 2015

Ireland Takes Step To OK Drunk-Driving?

By Cornelius Nunev


Authorities in Kerry county, Ireland, have voted in favor of giving moderately drunk-driving a lawful pass. Ireland's Department of Justice has yet to weigh in on the issue.

Driving drunk not disciplined anymore

Drivers in rural Kerry county who are found to have more than the lawful amount of alcohol in their system will be given a pass, according to motion author Councilor Danny Healy-Rae. Healy-Rae supposedly drafted the regulation with older rural residents in mind who will become remote at home and suffer depression if they have to fear losing their license over "two or three drinks."

"I see the merit in having a stricter rule of law for when there's a massive volume of traffic and where there's busy roads with massive speed," Healy-Rae told Irish newspaper The Journal. "But on the roads I'm talking about, you couldn't do any more than 20 or 30 miles per hour and it's not a big deal. I don't see any big issue with it."

Whiskey keeps people alive

Isolation in rural Kerry region villages is apparently a significant issue. Healy-Rae point to the tragedy of losing members of the older generation to suicide, as the lack of freedom from not being able to drive due to downing a couple of pints are supposedly crushing.

"All the wisdom and all the wit and all the culture that they had is being lost as a result," he said.

Not a good plan to some

According to Kerry Mayor Terry O'Brien, the law does not make any sense and is a very dangerous thing to even consider. He believes that people need to stay away from being severely impaired, which occurs when there is an excessive amount drinking. He does not approve of the regulation.

"I don't know what expertise one would have to look at someone in a bar to give them a permit to drive a car after any alcohol," O'Brien added.

Alcohol Action Ireland rep Conor Cullen is in O'Brien's corner on the subject of the drunk-driving motion. He noted that anti-drunk-driving measures have lowered Ireland's road deaths by 42 percent over the past four years. Cullen feels that the brand new drunk-driving permissiveness will only serve to tear down the work that has been done.

"Almost one in three crash deaths in Ireland are alcohol-related," Cullen said. "Even in small amounts, alcohol impairs driving ability - any amount of alcohol increases the risk of involvement in a fatal crash."




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