Gardaí to use 'secret' vehicles and new speed cameras in push to catch reckless drivers

Over this period, 3,750 drivers were caught speeding and 268 were arrested for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Chief Superintendent Jane Humphries of the Garda National Road Policing Bureau said those who take the decision to get behind the wheel while intoxicated are selfish.

“It is no accident. It is a deliberate act that you have taken,” she said, while asking people to call out friends and family they see attempting to get behind the wheel while under the influence.

Eight fatalities in just over a week is shocking at any time of year, gardaí said, but the number of road deaths for December is in keeping with the average.

The notable trend this month is the high number of pedestrians being killed, and that there have been multiple hit-and-run incidents. On Saturday, a pedestrian in his 50s was hospitalised following a hit-and-run near Cork city.

Chief Supt Humphries told drivers involved in collisions that they will inevitably be caught and must face the consequences of their actions. “Running away from them is not the right thing to do. It’s creating a lot of heartache for the families,” she said.

The death yesterday of a man in his 80s following a St Stephen’s Day crash in Louth is the 179th fatality so far this year — four fewer than the same period last year.

“If you cast your mind back to the beginning of the year, we honestly thought we would be looking at higher fatalities,” said Chief Supt Humphries, while acknowledging that that death toll is still too high.

Detection success with unmarked vehicles 

The move to introduce more unmarked vehicles follows on from the introduction of high-performance unmarked patrol cars, high-performance unmarked motorcycles, and an unmarked lorry cab earlier this year.

In September, the so-called secret spy truck was first deployed to catch drivers breaking the law.

The unmarked HGV was deployed as part of the national garda operation on dual carriageways and motorways, Operation Iompair. 

In a very short space of time, more than 100 drivers were caught breaking the law by the truck. 

The operation and others like it has led to more people being caught speeding or using a phone.

High-visibility and checkpoints 

An increase in checkpoints has also led to more people being caught drink driving, driving with defective tyres, and/or with no car insurance.

Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty said:  More unmarked bikes are having an impact. That unmarked truck is having an impact on specific days of operation and we are looking at getting another one or two of those as well.

“They will be around the entire country, rather than just based out of one region. 

"We are also looking at how many variations that we can use.

“At the moment, the unmarked traffic cars we are putting out there are small, Golf GTI-type cars, small little hatchbacks, and cars that wouldn’t necessarily be expected to be a patrol car.

“We will have a significant unmarked presence on our roads as well as a marked presence.

"It is all about trying to get that blend right of the high-visibility, but also then knowing that people do stuff when they don’t see us or don’t think we are around, and we need to catch them."

Officers have also slammed “misinformation” around the lack of enforcement by gardaí around the area of road safety.

A spokesperson told the Irish Examiner: “If the public believe the misinformation that An Garda Síochána is not enforcing roads offences, this misinformation is countered by the level of enforcement activity that is taking place.”

A garda spokesperson said that, up to the end of November, there had been nearly 48,000 checkpoints on Irish roads, an increase of 14% on 2023.