Let Limerick City Taxis Do The Driving This Christmas

The drink drive limit in Ireland was recently reduced and is now in line with European levels.

The new Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit is 50 milligrams (mg) for all drivers, and 20mg for specified drivers, defined as learner or newly qualified drivers (for a period of two years after passing their driving test) or professional drivers (of buses, goods vehicles and public service vehicles).

A new penalty system has been introduced to deal with offences that come under the new limits. Under the previous system, all drink driving offences were dealt with in the courts and those who were convicted were automatically disqualified from driving. Under the new system, a driver who fails a preliminary breath test at the roadside will still be arrested and required to provide an evidential breath, blood, or urine specimen at a Garda station. However, if the driver’s BAC does not exceed 100mg and they are not already disqualified from holding a driving licence at the time of detection or have not availed of the administrative fixed penalty notice option in the preceding three years, he or she will be served with a fixed penalty notice (Table 1). A driver can only avail of the fixed penalty option once in a three-year period.