The father of a teenage girl who died in a hit-and-run nearly 20 years ago has called for cars to be confiscated from drink drivers.
Leo Lieghio's 16-year-old daughter Marsia died after she was hit by a car while crossing the road on October 16th, 2005
The driver responsible for the death of Marcia stopped momentarily but then left the scene.
A jury later found her guilty of careless driving and she served 10 months in jail.
Mr Lieghio told Newstalk Breakfast there isn’t a “day that goes by that we don’t think about her”.
“We only got to love her for 16 years and she’s gone 19, and that pain is still there,” he said.
“It was years before my wife was able to drive past the scene of the collision.
“The kids, you can’t talk to them [about the crash], they can’t talk to me or we just break down.
“People don’t see that - all they see is the numbers and say, ‘Aw that’s terrible’.
“What do we have to do to make you understand that cars are lethal weapons?,” he said.
Drunk driving laws
Some 61 people have been killed on Irish roads since the start of 2024, an increase in 19 by the same time last year.
Mr Lieghio said serious reforms are needed around driving laws to prevent further deaths.
“People know the Gardaí have stepped on the road checks and they still don’t care - they still think they're going to get away with it.
“When they're getting caught, if they are given a ban, they're not handing in their licences, so they’re not being banned.”
One suggestion for reform is to have those charged with drink driving to install an ‘alcolock’, a breathalyser within the car that will only allow the vehicle to start once the driver has been tested and has a low enough blood alcohol content.
A car driver blows in a alcohol-test-system (Alcolock-System), 05/11/1997. (AP Photo/Christof Stache)Mr Lieghio explained this method is “an alternative to let them keep their licence” while lowering the risk of reoffending.
“It’s a start - personally if it was up to me, anyone caught drunk driving would have their car confiscated,” he said.
“In this day and age everyone knows it’s wrong to drink and drive - people are dying.”
Alcolocks are already common in countries such as the US and France. A study by the Road Safety Authority found that in-car breathalysers would be 25% more effective in Ireland than in the US and 30% more effective if the State pays for the installation of the alcolock.
