Bank holiday weekend sees 218 arrests for drink and drug-driving
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More than 200 people were arrested for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and 40 were arrested for dangerous driving offenses over the bank holiday weekend.
Between 7am on Thursday, October 24, and 7am on Tuesday, October 29, gardaí conducted a major road policing operation, setting up Mandatory Intoxicant Testing (MIT) checkpoints and monitoring vehicle speeds on roads across the country.
During this period, 218 people were arrested for driving under the influence of an intoxicant, with 60 of those arrests occurring over a 24-hour period from Monday to Tuesday morning.
Additionally, 2,150 drivers were caught speeding, including one motorist recorded driving at 167km/h along an 80km/h stretch of the R162 in Leggagh, Castletown, Meath, and another traveling at 146km/h in an 80km/h zone on the R339 at Glenrevagh in Oranmore, Co Galway.
Gardaí also arrested 40 people for dangerous driving offenses and seized 512 vehicles for a range of violations under the Road Traffic Act, 1961.
They issued more than 850 fixed-charge notices, including:
- 209 notices to motorists for using a mobile phone while driving,
- more than 200 to unaccompanied learner drivers,
- more than 75 for failure to wear seatbelts while in a vehicle,
- and over 375 to motorists who failed to display their motor tax or insurance disc.
Three people also lost their lives in separate crashes in Cork, Dublin, and Sligo on Friday and Saturday.
A Garda spokesperson said it was "disappointing" that despite public awareness campaigns and appeals for drivers to slow down, "drivers continue to travel at dangerously excessive speeds on Irish roads."
"Enforcing road traffic laws is a core element of road safety; however, there is a personal responsibility on every road user to exercise caution to ensure their safety and the safety of others," the spokesperson added.
"Anyone prepared to drive at the speeds detected over the Bank Holiday weekend has the potential to destroy lives, including their own."