Latest figures released by the gardaí reveal there were 391 deaths on Irish roads to date this year.
Excessive speed has been classed as the number one cause of the incidents.
Meanwhile, the Garda’s Christmas drink-driving campaign, launched at the end of November, is currently in its third week.
A garda spokesman said in its first two weeks the campaign resulted in the arrest of 510 people out of a total of 1,213 breathalysed at checkpoints throughout the country.
In 2000, a total of 415 people died on the roads throughout the State.
Fine Gael TD, Mr Denis Naughten, criticised the Government for not implementing the penalty points system sooner. He said "this measure in itself would have a dramatic impact on the number of fatalities on our roads."
A spokesperson for the Government was unavailable this evening.
