Road Traffic Act 2011
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Obligation to provide blood or urine specimen while in hospital. |
3.— The Act of 1994 is amended by substituting for section 15 the following: | |
“15.— (1) Where, in a public place, an event occurs in relation to a mechanically propelled vehicle in consequence of which a person is injured, or claims or appears to have been injured, and is admitted to, or attends at, a hospital and a member of the Garda Síochána is of opinion that, at the time of the event, the person was driving or attempting to drive, or in charge of with intent to drive or attempt to drive (but not driving or attempting to drive), the mechanically propelled vehicle, then, subject to subsection (4) and unless the member is of opinion that the person should be arrested, the member shall, in the hospital, require the person either— | ||
(a) to permit a designated doctor or designated nurse to take from the person a specimen of his or her blood, or | ||
(b) at the option of the person, to provide for the designated doctor or designated nurse a specimen of his or her urine, | ||
and if the doctor or nurse states in writing— | ||
(i) that he or she is unwilling, on medical grounds, to take from the person or be provided by the person with the specimen to which the requirement in either of the foregoing paragraphs related, or | ||
(ii) that the person is unable or unlikely within the period of time referred to in section 49 or 50 of the Principal Act, as the case may be, to comply with the requirement, | ||
the member may make a requirement of the person under this subsection in relation to the specimen other than that to which the first requirement related. | ||
(2) Subject to section 23, a person who, following a requirement under subsection (1)— | ||
(a) refuses or fails to comply with the requirement, or | ||
(b) refuses or fails to comply with a requirement of a designated doctor or designated nurse in relation to the taking under that subsection of a specimen of blood or the provision under that subsection of a specimen of urine, | ||
commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both. | ||
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), it is not an offence for a person to refuse or fail to comply with a requirement under subsection (1) where, following his or her admission to, or attendance at, a hospital, the person comes under the care of a doctor or nurse and the doctor or nurse refuses, on medical grounds, to permit the taking or provision of the specimen concerned. | ||
(4) Before making a requirement of a person under subsection (1) the member of the Garda Síochána concerned shall consult with a doctor treating the person, and if a doctor treating the person advises the member that such a requirement would be prejudicial to the health of the person the member shall not make such requirement. | ||
(5) A member of the Garda Síochána may, for the purpose of making a requirement of a person under subsection (1), enter without warrant any hospital where the person is or where the member, with reasonable cause, suspects the person to be. | ||
(6) A designated doctor or designated nurse may, for the purpose of taking from a person a specimen of his or her blood or being provided by a person with a specimen of his or her urine under subsection (1), enter any hospital where the person is or where the doctor or nurse is informed by a member of the Garda Síochána that the person is. | ||
(7) Section 1 (1) of the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 does not apply to an offence under this section. | ||
(8) Nothing in this section affects any power of arrest conferred by law apart from this section. | ||
(9) It is not a defence in any proceedings, other than proceedings under subsection (2), to show that a member of the Garda Síochána did not make a requirement under this section.”. |