9. Obligation to provide preliminary breath specimen.
Amendments (requiring commencement) by s. 13 of the Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023 (No. 16), published 23 June 2023.
(1) This section applies to a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place who, in the opinion of a member of the Garda Síochána -
(a) has consumed an intoxicant,
(b) is committing or has committed an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1961 to 2023,
(c) is or has been, with the vehicle, involved in a collision, or
(d) is or has been, with the vehicle, involved in an event in which death occurs or injury appears or is claimed to have been caused to a person of such nature as to require medical assistance for the person at the scene of the event or that the person be brought to a hospital for medical assistance.
(2) A member of the Garda Síochána shall, unless he or she is of opinion that the person should be arrested and subject to subsections (6) and (7), require a person to whom paragraph (a) or (d) of subsection (1) applies, and may require a person to whom paragraph (b) or (c) of that subsection applies -
(a) to provide, by exhaling into an apparatus for indicating the presence of alcohol in the breath, a specimen of his or her breath in the manner indicated by the member,
(b) to accompany him or her, or another member of the Garda Síochána, to a place (including a vehicle) at or in the vicinity of the public place concerned and there to provide, by exhaling into such an apparatus, a specimen of his or her breath in the manner indicated by him or her or that other member, or