Garda enforcement of the rules of the road is “strong”, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said, after figures showed a drop in the number of Garda checkpoints being carried out and amid calls for tougher policing measures.
The Irish Times reported on Monday that the number of alcohol breath tests carried out at Garda checkpoints has dropped by more than half when compared to before the pandemic, while the number of gardaí assigned to roads policing is at its lowest level since 2017.
Responding to the new data, Minister of State Jack Chambers said there was “a need to strengthen enforcement”.
Mr Chambers made the comments as he announced a proposal to increase penalty points for road offences that take place over bank holiday weekends. The Government is to consider emergency legislation that contains several road safety measures this week.
A further five fatalities over the weekend, all men, brings the total number of road deaths so far this year to 149, up from 114 for the same period last year.
Ms McEntee said it had been “a devastating weekend” on the roads and offered her condolences to the families affected.
“This is not the direction we want trends to be moving,” she said, speaking to reporters in Athlone.
“I think enforcement is strong. I think we will need to do everything we can to make it even stronger. I think what we are seeing is changing trends, and changing behaviours, and we need to be able to respond to that.”
She said the roads policing teams meet on a monthly basis to look at trends and identify incident black spots for the deployment of GoSafe mobile speeding-camera vans.
“Gardaí are always looking at the facts and figures, responding to various trends, and we are of course trying to do everything we can to increase the number of people working in those roads units, but it is a collective effort in raising awareness. It’s about educating people to the rules of the road, the dangers of the road, it’s about making sure the penalties are strict, it’s about using the technology that we have available to us, and it’s about enforcement in making sure that we have that strong presence on the road overall.”
The analysis of enforcement trends published by The Irish Times also reveals far fewer people are being caught using mobile phones while driving and that the number of speeding offences being detected by the Garda is much lower now than during the pandemic period, when traffic volume had plummeted.
Some 88,734 drink-driving breath tests were carried out at checkpoints to the end of July, suggesting some 150,000 would be carried out by year end. This compares with 314,000 tests in 2018 and 316,000 in 2019.
The Garda confirmed the number of gardaí assigned to roads policing was now 659 nationally – down from 692 at the end of last year, the lowest level since 2017. However, the Garda said roads policing personnel numbers would soon increase as recruitment has been accelerating.
A spokesman for Ms McEntee said the Garda’s road policing unit would have a greater presence if new rostering arrangements can be agreed with members of the force.
As part of Budget 2024, some €3.6 million in additional funding has been allocated for GoSafe speed cameras, continuing the increased level of 9,000 hours a month announced last month through the whole of next year, the spokesman noted.
“Ultimately, the deployment of additional mobile safety cameras will help to change road user behaviour and reduce the likelihood of fatal and serious injury road traffic collisions occurring on our roads,” he said.
“The Garda Commissioner has also indicated that the interim roster recently agreed between management and staff associations will also ensure greater visibility of the Roads Policing Unit. Taken together with strong ongoing Garda recruitment, it is hoped that these measures will help save lives on our roads.”
A pedestrian was killed in Castletroy, Co Limerick following a collision involving two cars on Friday night. He has been named as journalism student Joe Drennan (21).
A passenger, Chris Bradley, was killed on the M1 motorway at Mooremont in Co Louth in the early hours of Saturday morning. Mr Bradley was a professional drummer, playing with country singer Declan Nerney.
Motorcyclists were killed in separate incidents in Cloneish, Co Roscommon and Listowel, Co Kerry on Saturday evening. A third motorcyclist died at around midday on Sunday after an incident on Chapel Road in Stradbally, Co Waterford.
