Hundreds arrested for drink driving over Christmas period
As another key part of the Christmas and New Year Safety campaign, An Garda Síochána conducted a "National Slow Down Day” on December 11-12 to detect those speeding on our roads.
An Garda Síochána have revealed that hundreds of people were arrested for drink driving after details of the Christmas and New Year Road Safety Campaign for 2020 were revealed.
In total 790 were stopped driving while intoxicated between Friday, December 4 and Tuesday, January 5.
The Christmas campaign had a primary focus on Mandatory Intoxicant Testing – detecting those who drive having consumed alcohol or drugs.
Despite reduced traffic for certain periods over Christmas, the numbers detected for driving under the influence has remained high.
There were a 5,513 Checkpoints performed and 12,858 Breath tests carried out.
As another key part of the Christmas and New Year Safety campaign, An Garda Síochána conducted a "National Slow Down Day” on December 11-12 to detect those speeding on our roads.
The operation consisted of high visibility speed enforcement across the 1,300 speed enforcement zones, as well as the delivery of a road safety message through national, local and social media.
In total, An Garda Síochána and GoSafe checked 186,125 vehicles and detected 892 vehicles travelling in excess of the applicable speed limit.
Over the entire month there were 14,780 speeding detections, 1096 FCNs issued for mobile phone use whilst driving, and 314 FCNs issued for not wearing seatbelts.
There were sadly, 10 fatalities on during the month-long period. This compares with 16 for the same dates in 2019. This is a reduction of 6 fatalities (38% decrease).
In 2020 there were a total of 148 fatalities on Irish roads. This compares with 140 in 2019. This is an overall increase of 8 (+6%)*.
For 2021, Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman, Roads Policing and Community Engagement Bureau continues to appeal to all road users to remember the basics of road safety.
“The message is clear, never drive if you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or a combination of both.
“We also ask that drivers increase their compliance with speed limits in order to lower speed related collisions. This will reduce injuries on our roads and save lives.”