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23rd Aug 2017

PICS: Gardaí arrest a disqualified driver for a whole raft of offences

Not smart.

Alan Loughnane

Garda insurance operation

The arrest was made on Tuesday night.

Firstly, if you’re a disqualified driver, you should not even attempt to drive on the road. It’s illegal and will incur you a far larger penalty than your original offence.

But, if you’re foolish enough to venture back on the road while you’re a disqualified driver, we would have thought you’d be doing everything possible to avoid sticking out in any way.

But that wasn’t the thought process for this driver arrested in Dublin on Tuesday night.

Gardaí stopped the already disqualified driver and discovered that they had no lights, no insurance, false N plates and other drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.

Not only was their drug paraphernalia in the car, but the driver was also under the influence of cocaine and benzodiazepines.

Benzodiazepines are a sedative that are sometimes used to ease the comedown from stimulant drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine.

The driver now has a court appearance on the horizon as Gardaí continued their campaign to clamp down on drivers under the influence of drugs on the road.

Under changes to the Road Traffic Act 2016, which were introduced in April, Gardaí can now carry out roadside testing to see if motorists are under the influence of drugs.

Using a saliva sample, they’re able to test for the presence of cannabis, cocaine, opiates like heroin or morphine, and benzodiazepines like Valium.

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