Gardaí catch 28 motorists driving under the influence of drink or drugs

Twenty-eight motorists were caught driving under the influence or drug driving in Cavan and Monaghan over the festive period.

The detections by gardaí came under the Christmas and New Year Road Safety Campaign which ran from December 1 to January 3.

Of those detections in Cavan/Monaghan 26 were for driving under the influence and two were for drug driving.

An Garda Síochána conducted an information led operation which targeted the four life saver offences of intoxicated driving, speeding, use of mobile phone while driving and non-wearing of seatbelts. These offence types were targeted as evidence shows they are the key contributors to causing fatal and serious injury road traffic collisions.

Nationally, 7,405 checkpoints were conducted resulting in 745 people being arrested for Driving Under the Influence, 136 of whom were arrested on suspicion of Drug Driving; 256 seatbelt offences were detected; 932 drivers were detected using their mobile phones; 14,704 speeding offences were detected; and 4,829 road traffic collisions were reported to An Garda Síochána

"In December 2022 sadly 16 people lost their lives on Irish roads," said Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman. "We are committed to reversing the trend in deaths and serious injuries on our roads. In 2023 we will continue to work with all agencies to ensure we play our part in making our roads safer and delivering the Governmental Road Safety Strategy.

"I would appeal to all road users to consider their actions and behaviours on the roads. We all share the road space and therefore there it is a shared responsibility for making our roads safer’ I would ask all road users to work with us to reduce serious injury and fatal road traffic collisions by adhering to the rules of the road and adapting their behaviour to suit road and environmental conditions’.

DUI Drug Driving Total