PARC your car if you intend to drink!

Promoting Awareness, Responsibility and Care on our roads

FACE2FACE
Fight continues to save lives by Ciaran O'Neill, Inish Times

Inishowen woman Susan Gray set up Public Against Road Carnage (PARC) following the death of her husband, Stephen, in a road collision in December 2004. The group is spearheading a nationwide campaign to have compulsory breath-testing introduced for drivers involved in road traffic accidents.

What is the main aim of PARC?
Our main aim is to save lives. We want to make it compulsory for all drivers involved in road traffic accidents to be breathalysed at the scene or to have their blood/urine alcohol level determined after a road traffic accident. At present it is left to the discretion of the gardai at the scene of an accident whether anyone should be tested or not. This is in total contrast to policy in Northern Ireland and most European Union countries.

Why is compulsory breath-testing so important?
While people are dying on our roads every week the drivers responsible are walking away from the scene uninjured and untested or avoid being tested by attending hospital. Drink-driving doesn't happen by accident. If people would remember that when they decide to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking, then the consequences will be no accident. Most traffic accidents are the result of carelessness, speed and alcohol.

What do think of the introduction of random breath-testing last year?
Until lately, a law providing for random breath-testing was not a prospect as the government said they had got legal advice and was told that it would be unconstitutional. Martin Cullen told members of the Dail committee in 2005 that random breath-testing could not be introduced as it had no chance of standing up to a legal challenge in the courts on constitutional grounds. This was the view of the ttorney General. Even a limited form, confined to the high-risk weekend period from Friday night until Sunday would face legal challenge and could be beaten. Yet they have overcome this obstacle and random breath-testing is happening. Surely testing drivers involved in road accidents where people are losing their lives or being seriously injured would be of even greater importance.

How are people reacting to PARC? One of the things that I find most sad is hearing people say that they had never seen a breathalyser until recently- Ireland has a reputation throughout the world as a nation where people love to drink We should have been the first to have this, not following every other country. It is a disgrace that no one in Ireland knew what a breathalyser was until six months ago.

What about young peoples' reactions?
All of the young people we meet say that the introduction of compulsory breath-testing of drivers involved in road traffic accidents only makes sense. Coming from the young people, this shows how important an issue it is. The vast majority of people we talk to can't believe that compulsory breath-testing has not been brought in. The government is practically saying they don't care, that no matter how many petitions we get, no matter how many people want it, they are telling us that it is not feasible.

Would you or any members of PARC be prepared to stand in the forthcoming election on road safety issues?
I would never toe the election line. We are not political at all. What we will be saying is that so many people will not be voting for Fianna Fail if this isn't sorted out.

How widespread is the PARC campaign?
We have groups in Donegal, Cork, Dublin, Mayo and Leitrim. The majority of people involved have lost someone in road traffic accident. It's hard to understand otherwise. We would not continue if we had not got such a good response. People have come to us and said it is a disgrace that we have to fight and petition for something like compulsory breath-testing of drivers involved in road traffic accidents.

What are the short-term plans for the group?
The Donegal branch has already delivered a petition with 20,000 signatures to the Dail. Our Leitrim branch will be handing a further 20,000 signatures into the Dail next month and we plan to highlight this event as much as possible. It is important to get as much media coverage as possible because this is what makes people sit up and take notice. We now have 40,000 signatures from people who are not getting what they want, and that's only in two counties. We will go further and further and I wish we had the time to cover all counties before the election and prove to our government the extent of the public outcry over this issue.

Do you ever feel that you are banging your head against a brick wall?
Yes, but there is no alternative. The alternative is to give up and let it continue to happen, the worse we can do is fail. But imagine if we succeeded and saved a few lives. People say to me, 'you've got random breath-testing, is that not enough?' But my answer is that compulsory testing at all road accidents is far more important. It must be found out if drink was involved. If someone was sober and they killed someone they would want the relatives to know that they had not been drinking. If they have been drinking they should have no rights.