A television advertising campaign aimed at improving driving standards has been produced by the Road Safety Authority.
Speaking this afternoon at the first public viewing of the four 30-second adverts, the chairman of the RSA Gay Byrne said people were used to road safety adverts of smashed bodies and wrecked vehicles.
He asked all drivers using the roads over the coming Bank Holiday to slow down by 5km per hour. "The five minutes someone will save by performing reckless manoeuvers if you ask them what are they going to do with that five minutes, the answer is usually nothing."
The new adverts focusing on the correct way to overtake, make a right turn, drive on a bend and the appropriate distance to keep between vehicles will provide "practical tips for all drivers, from the novice to the experienced".
Unveiling the campaign the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen said the four manouevers appeared regularly as contributory factors to road crashes.
Thanking the Irish Insurance Federation for a contribution of €620,000 towards the cost of the campaign, Mr Cullen appealed to "corporate Ireland" to come forward with imaginative ideas and proposals to get the road safety message across.
Supt Declan O'Brien from the Garda National Traffic Bureau said the adverts will help drivers who have fallen into bad habits to identify problems.
The ads will be broadcast from tonight on RTE, TV 3, TG4, Sky, E4, MTV, Paramount and Channel 6.
Minister Cullen today also announced the members of the RSA board. The list of board members are: Aine Cornally, Director of Customer Support Services, Bank of Ireland Global Markets; Myra Garrett, Partner, William Fry Solicitors; Paul Haran, former Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment; Tom Kelly, Dublin Institute of Technology and ROSPA Motorcycling Inspector; Ann McGuinness, former County Manager, Westmeath County Council; Aaron MacHale, Rally Driver; Tony McNamara, General Manager, Cork University Hospital; John O'Gorman, retired Assistant Director General of FÁS.