Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 1978

Obligation to provide specimen at Garda station (section 50).

14.—(1) Where a person arrested under section 50 (8) of the Principal Act or section 12 (3) has been brought to a Garda station, a member of the Garda Síochána may at his discretion do either or both of the following—

(a) require the person to provide, by exhaling into an apparatus for indicating the concentration of alcohol in breath or blood, a specimen of his breath,

(b) require the person either to permit a designated registered medical practitioner to take from the person a specimen of his blood or, at the option of the person, to provide for the designated registered medical practitioner a specimen of the person's urine.

(2) A person who refuses or fails to comply forthwith with a requirement under subsection (1) (a) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or, at the discretion of the court, to a fine not exceeding £500, or to both.

(3) A person who, following a requirement under subsection (1) (b),—

(a) refuses or fails to comply with such a requirement, or

(b) refuses or fails to comply with a requirement of a designated registered medical practitioner in relation to the taking under this section of a specimen of blood or the provision under this section of a specimen of urine,

shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or, at the discretion of the court, to a fine not exceeding £500, or to both.

(4) (a) A person convicted of an offence under this section who has been previously convicted of an offence under section 49 or 50 of the Principal Act (as amended by the Act of 1968), section 49 or 50 of the Principal Act (inserted by this Act) or section 30 (3) of the Act of 1968 shall, for the purpose of determining the period of a disqualification under a consequential disqualification order, be treated as having been previously convicted of an offence under this section.

(b) The reference in subsection (4) (a) to section 49 or 50 of the Principal Act shall, notwithstanding section 9 (2), be construed as including a reference to section 49 or 50 before the commencement of section 10 or 11 (as may be appropriate).

(5) In a prosecution for an offence under this section it shall be presumed until the contrary is shown that an apparatus provided by a member of the Garda Síochána for the purpose of enabling a person to provide a specimen of breath is an apparatus for indicating the concentration of alcohol in the breath or blood.