LAST UPDATE | 18 Mar

OVER 210 MOTORISTS were caught driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs over the St. Patrick’s Bank Holiday Weekend.

Gardaí conducted an extensive roads policing operation throughout the St. Patrick’s Bank Holiday Weekend between Thursday (13 March) and 7am this morning, and carried out 1,025 Mandatory Intoxicant Testing (MIT) checkpoints.

Across the checkpoints, 4,969 breath tests were performed, as well as 190 oral fluid tests performed.

According to gardaí, 214 drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of an intoxicant over the five days. 

There were more than 125 drivers detected as being unaccompanied learner drivers, and 62 people were found to have not been wearing their seatbelts.

Over 285 drivers were issued fixed charges for using their mobile phones while driving.

Throughout the weekend, over 2,650 drivers were detected for speeding offences – including a motorist caught travelling at 124km/h in a 50km/h zone on R188 near Drumbear, Co Monaghan.

Other notable speeding offences included one driver caught doing 178km/h in an 80km/h zone on the N2 near Drumcaw, Co Monaghan, and another caught travelling at 171km/h in a 120km/h zone on the M18 in Kinvara, Co Galway.

Two people lost their lives on Irish roads during the five-day garda operation, and seven serious collisions resulted in eight people receiving serious and life-threatening injuries.

A man aged in his 60s was killed in an early morning collision in Letterkenny, Co Donegal yesterday, where he and his brother was struck by a runaway car.

A second fatal collision occurred on Saturday when a motorcyclist, a man aged in his 50s, was killed in a single-vehicle crash in Co Wexford.