Gardaí to tackle drink driving as number of deaths escalates

the Gardai and the Road Safety Authority (RSA) are implementing a major enforcement and education offensive targeting drink driving behaviour.

The road safety push is being mounted as casualty figures show that road deaths have risen by 15% in 2016. Of concern too is the fact that July and August (19 and 14 deaths respectively in 2015) are among the most dangerous months of the year and is a high risk period for drink driving.

The campaign comes as preliminary findings from a new report from the National Drug Related Death Index (NDRDI), part of the Health Research Board reveals that 32% of drivers who died in 2013 were drink driving.

The NDRDI report confirms the findings of the RSA’s recent Pre- Crash Report on Alcohol, which was published in early June and found that alcohol was a factor in 38% of all fatal crashes. Of this 38%, a drink driver accounted for 29% of these crashes between 2008 and 2012.

Speaking about the rise in deaths and enforcement campaign, Superintendent Con O’Donohue, Garda National Traffic Bureau said everyone, including the authorities must take all necessary and urgent steps to reverse the upward trend in road deaths.

‘For our part An Garda Síochána is increasing its day to day enforcement activity. Specifically we have added 7 national 24 hour drink driving operations to our operations plan for these months. We are placing a particular emphasis on targeting drink driving late at night over weekends. My colleagues around the country will put additional effort into targeting those counties that have a track record of drink driving related fatalities.’

The worst counties in the country for drink driving related fatalities include Cork (10.6%), Galway (9.7%), Dublin (7.9%), Donegal (7.6%) and Cavan (5.5%). County Cork also accounts for nearly a fifth all road deaths in the country this year (16 deaths).