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GARDAÍ HAVE DETECTED over 1200 drivers speeding, according to provisional figures, in a road policing operation over the bank holiday weekend.
Three men have lost their lives on Irish roads from Friday, one of whom was a pedestrian. The fatal road accidents occurred in Co Cork, Co Dublin, and Co Sligo.
Gardaí have also said that 158 people have been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated since they began their operation on Thursday morning.
“These are drivers who knowingly consumed an intoxicant, alcohol or dangerous controlled drugs in a recreational environment and then made the conscious decision to drive a vehicle putting themselves and other road users at serious risk,” a garda spokesperson said.
“This is unacceptable behaviour and should be called out by every responsible and law-abiding person.”
Slow down this weekend, and when driving please give it your full attention.#SaferRoads pic.twitter.com/w66yov32HE
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) October 25, 2024
Gardaí responded to four incidents on motorways yesterday in which drivers tested positive for drugs and alcohol, in which 18 people, including children, were involved.
A man in his 20s was arrested and charged with dangerous driving yesterday after 10am in Cork when he was detected driving in excess of 170km/h on the M8. The L-driver had no insurance and tested positive on the roadside for the presence of drugs, gardaí said.
“Day Light saving time changed on Saturday night, resulting now in earlier darker evenings. Weather conditions are also changing, wetter and colder.
“Speeding and driving while intoxicated are the most dangerous driver behaviours on our roads.”
Gardaí are appealing to all road users to slow down when driving and not to just drive to the posted speed limit but also to the road, weather and traffic conditions.
“If you feel tried, stop and take a short break. It is important that every road user returns home safe to their families everyday.”
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A learner driver on drugs, with no insurance, doing 170 km/h ! A miracle that nobody was killed by this simpleton. Well done to the Gardai that stopped him.
@Regular John: hell get a suspended sentence and be back on the roads in a week
@Joe Mc Dermott: For being a self-obsessed fanatic and breaking the law, you mean.
@Joe Mc Dermott: Burke is in jail for refusing to comply with a court order and contempt of court, not for transgender ideology. The man thinks he is above the rule of law.
@Joe Mc Dermott:
WITH EVERY BOX OF KELLOGG’S CORNFLAKES!
Well then again, no, I’d probably stand outside the Kellogg’s factory in a strop until they agreed to give me my money back.
@Regular John: Crash the car the learner driver was using and also jail them for at least 3 months!
@pauldorgan: Sad to say, Paul, you are more than likely 100% correct. I say, if your licence is taken of you so should your vehicle, for the same amount of time. Even if the vehicle is their’s or not.
@Regular John: was it a TD?
@Pork Hunt:
Huh ? I wouldn’t think so, think he was only a young fella.
Hit them in the pocket. €100.00 for every kilometre over the posted speed limit !!
@Lulu: Speed vans are there for that, Gardaí on the roads save lives.
@Brian D’Arcy: Speed vans are on motorways 90% of the time.
127,176 checked over weekend. Journal says 1,200 caught speeding and lowest reported was Extra.IE saying 283..
1200 is 0.9% – 283 is 0.2%.
So headlines really should say over 99% of drivers checked over weekend were not speeding, so stop the hysteria people.
@Michale Kane: At last some sense. People seem to make up some wild versions of reality on here.
@Thesaltyurchin: Fed up of these reports and figures without context ..
@Michale Kane: “campaign of awareness”… 100s of millions spent on it, to keep us guessing.
@Thesaltyurchin: :)
@Michale Kane: 127,176 check out of 2.36million cars that are on the road on average.
1200 caught (doesn’t mean others weren’t speeding at other times)
Which means in total across the nation there were approx 21,240 vehicles above the speed limit.
there’s a good chance that the true number of habitual speeders is higher since many slow down only near checkpoints. This means the 21,240 estimate might actually be conservative, as it only reflects those actively speeding during checks, not accounting for the ones who adjust temporarily.
And lets not forget – 3 people are dead this weekend.
@Rafa C: I never said anything about all drivers , I said over 99% of the 127,176 checked were not speeding.
All road deaths are tragic. But using ur figures of 2.36 million cars on average, it’s not a huge number. All these figures need context.
We need to see also figures for numbers of cars, miles driven etc year on year for context and to drive proper policy’s and not based on knee-jerk reactions.
@Michale Kane: I’m saying a fair few (unable to know for sure) slow down for the speed check then speed up again – I see it every day with Garda checkpoints or the Speed Van – it’s easily noticeable. If they put a 2nd van or a garda around the corner from the van they’d catch a lot more.
@Michale Kane: It’s a massive number – you’re forgetting that a lot of the drivers slow down after being warned of the speed traps ahead – and then speed up again. So that figure is relatively skewed based on the fact that people are prewarned.
@Rafa C: As I said we need real facts and figures not hyperbole nor people’s stories.
Personally I cannot stand those speed vans, supposedly in accident blackspots, in reality outside the Chinese in my lil town where there never has been an accident.
I see every day, people on phones, almost no one using indicators, cannot use roundabouts, wandering across road and lanes, no ideas how to use lanes on carriageways or motorways, no clue what parking lights are, but they not speeding so they all a ok.
Basic simple driving skills are shocking in this country, but only thing punished is speeding or drink driving.
@Rafa C: Look mate, I think I tend to agree with most of your comments in general on the journal, but as ex motorcycle racer and a previous professional driver of coaches and trucks in my younger years we not going to agree on this.
It doesn’t matter what initiatives, rules, warnings etc you put out there costing millions at the end of the day you’re dealing with reckless morons who just dont care. The judicial system doesn’t help either with leniently.
What’s wrong with you people? Your told to SLOW Down and you can’t.
Why is this? Why can’t you slow down? Why do you think it’s a great idea to take drugs or drink and hurt someone else? You are just being so selfish it’s unreal.
@Tommy: Yeah Tommy, they all waiting for you to tell them on the journal lol.
@Tommy: why are drivers over 50 doing 70 in a 100 and not pulling in. They need to spend up.
Lower insurance altogether for people with no points stop fleecing them aswel. If they know they’ll save significantly they will not risk it thereby lowering fatalities.
It shouldn’t be just speeding the media classes as dangerous driving.
@jiminybillybob: The mighty RSA should just tell us what the cause of the crash was in each situation. Was it the car, the road, the driver, another driver, a lorry, a fallen tree a cyclist a pedestrian?… Let’s all guess and shout at each other?
@Thesaltyurchin: The RSA would need at least one road safety engineer, of which they have none, to do that.
What do you call a road safety organisation with no road safety engineers? The RSA.
Making the switch to electric vehicles is the only solution to stopping this madness!
It’s the petrol that’s making them drive like clowns!
@J B: All EVs sold in the EU since around 2018 make an audible sound below 30km/h.
@Ross: no thanks, wont be getting an electric car.
@Shane O Mac: There’s either five people who picked up my sarcasm, or five morons who agreed with my comment!
@Ross: Autonomous vehicles and a public transport system, but Irish people will try their hardest to find fault, it’s a sort of a financial defence mechanism which we’ve develop from years of living in this monetary prison, where our government rewards multinationals while financially punishing the people who live here.
Just use your cruise control.
have your say