Gardaí to up ante on risky drivers after deaths surge

GARDAÍ will target danger- ous driving behaviour in a new campaign, after a ‘bad summer for road safety’.

The campaign, called Operation Teorainn, will continue until the end of the year.

It follows a concerning number of deaths on Irish roads. There were 24 deaths in August – the highest number in a single month for more than nine years.

Gardaí are also concerned about the driver death toll this year.

They reported a 19% increase in the number of drivers killed, which stands at 58 so far this year.

This is up ten from 48 in the same period in 2020.

The total number of deaths on Irish roads this year is 112 – down nine on the same period last year.

Almost four in five road deaths throughout this year have taken place on rural roads with a speed limit of 80kph or above.

Operation Teorainn, which is the Irish word for limit or boundary, will focus on dangerous driver behaviour such as speeding, driving while intoxicated, mobile phone use and not wearing seat belts, as well as unaccompanied learner drivers. The gardaí and the Road Safety Authority have urged drivers to make a ‘greater effort to stay safe’ for the rest of the year.

Chief Superintendent Michael Hennebry, from the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau, said: ‘Every fatal or serious injury collision has a devastating impact on the family, friends and communities of the people involved.’

He added: ‘Our focus for the remainder of 2021 will be to reduce these collisions through this roadsafety enforcement campaign.’

The RSA is supporting the plan with ‘an intensive education and awareness-raising programme of activity’. RSA chief Sam Waide said this will include ‘mass media campaigns’ on problem driving.

‘The RSA also plans to deploy two new radio and digital-led interventions in support of the Garda enforcement effort,’ he said. ‘The first will target learner and novice drivers to remind them that they are subject to a lower penalty point threshold than ordinary drivers.’

He continued: ‘The second campaign is targeted at male drivers. Analysis of collision data clearly tells us that road safety is a significant male problem: 79% of driver fatalities between 2016 and 2020 were male. We will be... challenging males to examine their road behaviour in our new campaign.’

‘Significant male problem’