Speeding had to be made as socially unacceptable as drinking and driving, the Minister for State with responsibility for road safety, Mr Bobby Molloy, has said.
He was speaking after the publication of figures showing the number of fatal road accidents so far this year is 396. In October alone, 46 people died.
The Department of the Environment is to allocate a further £50,000 to the National Safety Council's winter advertising campaign to emphasise the dangers of speeding as well as drink driving.
Reckless speed more than anything else was the principal cause of fatal road accidents, Mr Molloy said. "We must apply the same discipline to speed as has happily been applied in more recent times to drinking and driving. A new generation of drivers is adopting a much more responsible attitude to drinking and driving.
"I would appeal to drivers in all age groups to apply the same responsible attitude to speeding."
In 1996, there were 453 deaths on the roads. In 1995, there were 433, an increase of 29 on the previous year. "We are headed for another year of appalling tragedy on our roads . . .it is ultimately our own behaviour, and not just law enforcement and accident prevention measures, which dictates the level of deaths on our roads."