Call for motorists caught drug-driving to resit tests after number of cases up significantly this year

""the tip of the iceberg when it comes to drug driving""

""We need an expanded roadside drug-testing regime this Christmas period on our roads," she said. "We also need to consider policies whereby anyone convicted of drug-driving is required to resit their driving test or, at minimum, complete a comprehensive driver re-education programme.""

""They have to get the message that they are a danger to other innocent road users.""

A total of 179 people have died on Irish roads this year, up from 164 over the same period last year. There were 2,050 people before the district courts across the country in the first ten months of this year, the highest yearly number on record. This figure represents a 37% rise on the whole of 2024, when 1,499 people were before the courts for drug-driving. Cases fell to 390 in 2020, then rose to 1,179 in 2021, 1,668 in 2022 and 1,843 in 2023. Proposed measures include expanded roadside drug testing, mandatory retests or driver re-education for convicted drivers, and use of modified ignition interlock technology to detect drugs in repeat offenders.

Read at Irish Independent