Despite Ministers’ criticism of checkpoints, new legislation aimed at drink drivers overwhelmingly welcomed by people in Ireland

Reach Insights Press Release

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23rd January 2019

Despite Ministers’ criticism of checkpoints, new legislation aimed at drink drivers overwhelmingly welcomed by people in Ireland

79% agree with clamp down on drink driving

Women and older people most conscious about the risks of driving the morning after drinking

28% believe the government should supply households with breathalysers

A nationally representative survey of 1001 people carried out by iReach has found that people in Ireland agree strongly with the Gardaí clamping down on drink driving. At the end of 2018, new legislation on drink driving came into effect, under which all drink drivers receive a driving disqualification. Over the last week, the tighter drink driving laws have been criticised by Ministers with the increased prevalence of Garda checkpoints the focus of the condemnation.

The new laws remove the possibility of some drink drivers receiving penalty points instead of this disqualification and are backed by an enormous 79% of respondents.

However, there is far less enthusiasm about Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae’s suggestion that the government should supply every household in the country with same breathalyser devices as used by the Gardaí. Just 28% of those asked expressed support for the idea.

According to the study, just 5% of people in Ireland own a breathalyser. 61% say they don’t own a breathalyser because they don’t need one, a further 20% don’t own one as they don’t drink with 15% who say that breathalysers are too expensive.

 A mere 9% of people do intend to buy a breathalyser in the near future.

There is a notable difference between demographics when considering the risks of driving the following day after drinking. Women (78%) and adults over 55 (81%) are more conscious than men (68%) about the dangers of driving the day after drinking.

Almost one in three males in Ireland were not conscious about the risks of drinking over Christmas and then driving the next day.

Additionally, 17% of males think they have been over the legal limit while driving over the last three years, compared with 12% of females. 

About iReach Insights

iReach Insights provides a range of research and market intelligence services in Ireland and Europe. iReach has built a Consumer Decisions Research Panel of 40,000 members in Ireland, delivering robust research insights. The survey questions were included in the Nationally Representative iReach Consumer Decisions Omnibus run between the 10^th January and the 17^th January and has a 3% Confidence Interval and 95% Confidence Level.

Questions asked of participants as follows:

Do you believe the government should supply every household around the country with breathalyser devices?

Do you own a breathalyser? Why not?

Do you agree with the Gardaí clamping down on drink driving?

Did you find that you were more conscious about drinking over Christmas if you were driving the following day?

Over the last three years do you think you have been over the legal limit while driving?

iReach Insights Limited – Temple Hall, Temple Road, Blackrock, CO. Dublin, IRELAND.

iReach Managing Director: Oisin Byrne
T: 01-214 3740 or email: PR@ireachhq.com