Gardaí have urged all motorists to take care on the roads during the busy bank holiday weekend.
Significant extra volumes of traffic are expected from about lunchtime today.
Assistant Garda Commissioner Kevin Ludlow said: “There is no room for complacency among road users and I am personally appealing to everyone who uses Irish roads to make safety their number one priority this coming bank holiday weekend. We in An Garda Síochána are reminding all road users to exercise personal responsibility at all times.”
He appealed to anyone who felt their personal safety was being put at risk by reckless drivers “to exercise the necessary peer pressure to bring about a positive change in attitude and behaviour”.
He urged drivers to slow down and allow adequate time for their journey, to wear their seatbelts at all times and never to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Three people died on the roads during last year’s August bank holiday weekend.
So far this year, 116 people have been killed on the roads, a decrease of 20 on the same period last year. Seventy of those who have died this year were in the 16-35 age group.
Mr Ludlow said gardaí would focus this weekend on the enforcement of drink-driving legislation, speeding, wearing of seatbelts by all passengers and the use of mobile phones while driving.
Garda Operations will include increased mandatory alcohol checkpoints, the deployment of Garda speed detector vans supported by mobile patrols and speed checkpoints.
AA Roadwatch warned of wet road conditions in many places today, including Roscommon, Sligo, Cavan, Clare, Galway, Laois, Limerick, Mullingar, Navan and Longford.