Gardaí begin a countwide blitz on drink drivers

December 1991

KERRY motorists can expect to be stopped by Gardai at regular intervals over the next few weeks as a major anti drink-driving campaign gets underway throughout the county.

Chief Supt Donal O’Sullivan said this week that motorists will find themselves being stopped more often than during any previous Christmas campaign, with more Garda checkpoints in operation throughout Kerry than ever before.

“People will have to be prepared to be held up regularly but we hope they will understand that it is in their own best interests. We hope this will not inconvenience people. We aim to make sure that nobody is killed on the roads in Kerry this year,” he told The Kerryman.

Supt O’Sullivan noted that thirty people were arrested and convicted for drink driving offences in the county during the 1990 campaign, and that this figure was considerably down on previous years.

“It is obvious that people have become very educated and they have started acting sensibly. We hope that the figure will be down even more this year,” he said.

He said it was worth noting that there were no fatal accidents on Kerry roads during December of 1990 and he felt this was largely attributable to the Garda drink driving campaign.

“For the entire month of December and right up until the period after Christmas, we will have more Gardai on the streets and on the roads and we will be devoting all the energy of the traffic core to this campaign.”

As well as being a success during Christmas of 1990, Supt O’Sullivan said the campaign had changed the behaviour of drivers during the rest of the year.

“When people are planning a night out now they either drink in their turns on different nights, or organise to use a hackney car or a taxi to take them home.”

He said he would advise people who have to drive during the next few weeks not to have more than one drink, or none at all if possible.

Supt Pat Fennessy of Killarney said that the campaign was already underway in Killarney and its surrounding districts.

All available Garda resources were being used and this meant there were more squad cars and more Gardai involved in the campaign than ever before.

“We expect that there will be a few arrests but by and large the public have become very sensible and they appreciate what we are doing,” he said.

A look down Main Street in Kenmare.