The number of alcohol breath tests carried out at Garda checkpoints has dropped by more than half compared with pre-pandemic levels while the number of gardaí assigned to roads policing is at its lowest level since 2017.
An analysis of enforcement trends by The Irish Times also reveals far fewer motorists are being caught using mobile phones, while speeding detections by the Garda are much lower compared with the pandemic period, when traffic volume plummeted.
News of these trends emerges at a time of concern over increasing road deaths. To the end of last week, 144 people had been killed on the roads, 30 more than the same period last year. Five further road traffic deaths occurred last weekend in counties Waterford, Roscommon, Kerry, Louth and Limerick.
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The latest trends on Garda roads enforcement and detections reveal:
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- Some 88,734 drink-driving breath tests were carried out at checkpoints to the end of July, on course to reach just over 150,000 by year end. This compares with 314,000 tests in 2018 and 316,000 in 2019.
- Some 12,600 fixed charge notices (FCNs) for holding a mobile phone were imposed to the end of August, on course to reach about 17,000 by year end, compared with 29,705 in 2019 and 24,478 in 2020, when traffic was greatly reduced due to travel restrictions.
- A total of 103,427 speeding FCNs were imposed to the end of August, on course to reach about 160,000 by year end. This compares with 181,000 in 2020.
Some of the information was contained in responses to Dáil questions to Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, tabled by Patrick Costello TD of the Green Party. He said the decline in breath testing and mobile phone use detections was a concern.
“If it’s a change in the weight given to the enforcement of very serious or lethal road traffic offences, that is serious, and it’s something the Policing Authority could take a look at,” said Mr Costello, adding any sense of decreasing enforcement may led to more offending on the roads. However, he added that increased Garda recruitment, and negotiations to resolve the Garda dispute over pandemic rosters, should result in more gardaí for enforcement duties
A comprehensive set of questions for Ms McEntee, sent by The Irish Times to the Department of Justice, was acknowledged but not replied to. Garda Headquarters, Phoenix Park, Dublin, said it was “gravely concerned with the increase in fatalities on the road”. The Garda confirmed the number of gardaí assigned to roads policing was now 659 nationally – down from 692 at the end of last year and at the lowest since 2017.
However, the Garda added that roads policing personnel numbers would soon increase as Garda recruitment was accelerating. The bigger Garda force generally would also bolster road traffic enforcement as non-fulltime roads policing personnel were responsible for up to 70 per cent of detections for some road traffic offences.
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When asked why far fewer alcohol breath tests were being carried out this year, the Garda said: “Lower traffic volumes (which are still 7 per cent lower than 2019), along with a shift in societal behaviours, will have an impact on breath-testing figures but no one cause can be attributed to the question posed.”
The Garda added more vehicles now had hands-free connectivity, thus reducing the need to hold a mobile phone when driving. Many drivers still breaking the law had also switched to placing a mobile phone on their lap and this was harder to detect. The Garda also said speeding detections had increased during the pandemic due to an unprecedented Garda presence on the roads, mainly to enforce travel-related restrictions but also boosting speeding detections.
