Gardaí issued a road safety alert on Monday as 137 motorists were arrested for intoxicated driving over the bank holiday weekend.
So far this year, 80 people have died on Irish roads, the worst on record in a decade.
Reporters invited by An Garda Síochána to a Garda road safety checkpoint on the M7 near Nenagh, Co Tipperary, saw officers arrest a man on suspicion of committing an offence under the Road Traffic Act, and transport him to a nearby Garda station.
Dozens of motorists were breathalysed at the scene to check for alcohol or drugs in their system.
Inspector Noel Barry, Tipperary and Clare Garda Roads Policing, said gardaí were “checking for alcohol or drugs and any other offences that might be disclosed”. He said the high numbers of arrests this weekend were “in line” with last year’s arrest figures.
“Over the weekend we have had people arrested for intoxicated driving. The figure up until 7am this morning was 137 people arrested for alcohol and or drug driving, and we expect that figure will probably climb in the next 24 hours,” Insp Barry said.
Inspector Barry passed on his condolences to the family of a pedestrian killed on the N18 at Portdrine, Co Clare, around 4am on Saturday, as well as thoughts to the family of a male youth who was in a critical condition in hospital, following a single-vehicle road traffic collision near Swinford, Co Mayo, on Monday.
“Unfortunately the figures (for road deaths) for quarter one this year were very high, we’ve had eighty road deaths, that’s eighty families and friends, motorists, pedestrians, all affected by this,” said Insp Barry.
However, the trend in high numbers of road deaths was “starting to plateau” from the second quarter of this year, “so we are hoping that trend will continue”, Insp Barry added.
His appeal to road users, particularly motorists, is a simple one: “We want the public to pay attention and help us to bring that (death) trend down.”
“The main message we have is for motorists to be a bit more cognisant of their driving,” he said.
Inspector Barry described sledding , the non-wearing of seat-belts, and using mobile phones whilst driving as “lethal” offences.
“All those contribute to accidents on the roads, and they take the driver’s attention away from their own driving and other roads users.”
“We are appealing to road users to think twice before you press the accelerator or pick up the phone. Please put your seatbelt on, and don't drink and drive.”
A motorist’s split-second decision to look at their mobile phone or not wear their seat-belt or speed can have “life-changing” consequences, Insp Barry said.
“This will effect not only you and your passengers but other road users, all for the sake of that moment that you decide to make that decision,” he said.
At Monday's checkpoint on the M7, Gardai used numberplate recognition technology, as well a mobility app to receive “alerts” about vehicles approaching the checkpoint.
Gardaí are also looking at implementing a system whereby motorists with dash cam footage of road traffic offences will be able to upload the footage to an online portal system to allow gardaí to check it and possibly use it in road traffic prosecutions.
“It’s part of our operation, we are embracing technology, we have our garda mobility app where every car that comes into (the checkpoint) is checked, to make sure everything is in order, if there are any alerts in relation to disqualified drivers, or other criminal alerts, are notified to our members here,” said Inspector Barry.
“We also have ANPR (automatic number-plate recognition) technology, monitoring the vehicles that come into the checkpoint and they will send alerts too, so anything thats comes into the end of the slipway will be pulled in and whether it is disqualified drivers, or a crime alert, we will deal with it.”
