There’s been a 1,000% increase in incidents of drug driving across Kilkenny.
Today’s (Monday’s) meeting of the county’s Joint Policing Committee heard that there have been 30 such cases so far in 2020- up from just 3 in 2019.
Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick, Chair of the Committee, says the huge jump in drug-driving figures is partly due to the increased roll-out of local checkpoints;
“A lot of it now is to do with more of the road-blocks that are out there and checkpoints. There are rolling checkpoints as well” he explained. “We all know there’s a checkpoint on the Temple Martin Rd, but they’re also right across North Kilkenny, right across South Kilkenny and the city, where they are detecting [these incidents]. A lot of arrests have come from these rolling checkpoints, and that’s very important.”
Meanwhile, there’s been a drop in the number of drivers found to be under the influence of alcohol. There were 314 incidents of drunk-driving in 2019, which is down to 214 this year.
