A MOTORIST HAS been arrested for driving “erratically” and testing positive for cocaine and cannabis. 

The arrest comes as part of a national speed operation by An Garda Síochána, who posted numerous examples on social media of drivers exceeding the speed limit this week. 

Gardaí in Waterford observed a motorist driving “erratically”. The car was then located a short distance away, having been crashed into a parked vehicle. 

Gardaí said the driver was an unaccompanied learner with no insurance or NCT. 

The driver tested positive for cocaine and cannabis. The car was seized and the driver arrested. 

Meanwhile, gardaí in Tralee, Co Kerry stopped the motorist who they said “ticked all the boxes”. 

The driver failed a roadside drug test, testing positive for cannabis. They were also found not to have a driving licence, insurance or tax. The motorist was also wanted on a court warrant. 

Gardaí arrested the driver and seized the vehicle. 

A driver in Co Limerick was detected driving at 156km per hour in a 100km zone. Gardaí said a court appearance will follow for dangerous driving and having an unidentifiable registration plate. 

Another learner driver in Cahir, Co Tipperary was stopped by the Garda Road Policing Unit for driving unaccompanied with no ‘L’ plates displayed. 

The driver failed a roadside breath test and provided positive breath samples at the garda station. 

In Swords, Dublin this week, gardaí seized three cars during a crime prevention checkpoint for having no insurance or NCT and one for having no tax since 2016. 

Clancy Amendment

In December, new provisions of the Road Traffic Amendment Act 2018 were brought into law, known as the ‘Clancy Amendment’. 

These new provisions now make it an offence for the owner of a vehicle to knowingly allow an unaccompanied learner or an unlicensed person to drive his or her vehicle. 

The provisions also extend the power of detention under section 41 of the Road Traffic Act 1994 to allow the Garda Síochána to detain a vehicle being driven, in the Garda’s opinion, by an unaccompanied learner.

Noel Clancy’s wife, Geraldine Clancy (58) and his daughter, Louise (22), and were tragically killed in an accident involving an unaccompanied learner driver in December 2015.

The driver, Susan Gleeson, was subsequently given a three-year suspended sentence.

Since their deaths, Noel Clancy has been campaigning for a change in the law that would make the car owner and driver equally accountable in the law.

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