Gardaí today begin a major initiative targeting motorists on all main routes in an effort to reduce the number of road deaths.
The traffic policing operation will be carried out along the five national corridors during the first two weeks of April. It will straddle the five main routes out of Dublin and will take in the arterial corridors to Galway, Cork, Limerick, Wexford and Castlebar and along the main Dublin-Belfast road to the Border at Dromad.
Garda units will concentrate on different routes for approximately two days each. Today they will be on the Dublin-Galway route, but they would not disclose on what other dates or routes their monitoring will be in operation.
Chief Supt John Farrelly of the Garda National Traffic Bureau said that they hoped the operation would ultimately reduce the number of road deaths.
"We're telling people to change their ways. We want people to think and focus on what they're doing. If people even behaved well on the roads for that time, it would be worthwhile and save lives," he said.
Every death affected about 100 people. They were trying to stop the fatalities, Chief Supt Farrelly said.
The operation will focus on traffic enforcement points, and motorists will see gardaí at high-visibility points along the roads. They will concentrate on collision-prone locations which have been identified. There will also be covert operations and unmarked cars. The Garda presence will be maintained daily between 8am and 3am.
A Garda press office spokesman said the operation would concentrate on all traffic infringements but would mainly focus on speeding, non-wearing of seat belts, dangerous driving and drink-driving.
Full use would be made of the Garda Air Support Unit to assist in the monitoring of the behaviour of road-users, he said.
A total of 378 people died on Irish roads in 2004. To date this year, 95 people have died, two more than at the same time last year.
"A substantial number of these fatal crashes could be avoided if all road-users took extra precautions to ensure their safety," the spokesman said.
This operation was being mounted in addition to the normal traffic enforcement initiatives, which would continue as normal, he added.