A NEW RTÉ series featuring members of the Garda Traffic Corps has been criticised by the Road Safety Authority over fears that some road traffic offenders are being treated too leniently.

Gardaí have been warning motorists not to drink and drive this evening as they celebrate New Year's Eve.

TAXI drivers have claimed the industry is in crisis due to the rising number of plates being issued and lack of taxi rank spaces in the leading cities and towns.

THE Road Safety Authority (RSA) has warned that more lives will be lost on the roads unless the Government confirms funding for the provision of speed cameras in today’s budget.

The first in a wave of three-day Garda checkpoints to root out rogue hauliers will hit the country’s roads today.

ROGUE haulage operators are to face a Garda crackdown after claims that up to a fifth of all hauliers operating in Ireland are bogus.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has led calls for safe driving over the Easter holiday weekend as more than 1,000 additional gardaí will be on duty in an effort to clamp down on drink driving and speeding.

The Gardaí are reiterating their warning to motorists not to drink and drive this Christmas.

GARDA Commissioner Noel Conroy yesterday warned gardaí they face disciplinary action if they access information about people without good reason.

RANDOM checks on how gardaí access private data on the public will be revealed today in a move to prevent Garda abuse of personal information.

Gardaí have renewed their warning to drivers to stop using their hand held mobile phones.

Gardaí have said their clampdown on speeding will intensify in coming months.

Motorists are being urged to heed road safety messages when taking to the roads this bank holiday weekend.

AT LEAST 80 lives have been saved since the roll-out of random breath testing on Irish roads nearly a year ago.

INSURANCE companies are to come under the scrutiny of data protection officials following news reports over the illegal disclosure of sensitive personal information by gardaí and the Department for Social Welfare civil servants.

THE use of hands-freemobile phones while driving is more likely to distract a motorist than talking to a passenger or changing a radio in the vehicle.

GARDAÍ yesterday insisted the war against dangerous driving would still be stepped up after end-of-year figures showed massive increases in policing on roads last year.

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has said the Government will introduce technology to test motorists for drug-driving as soon as it is available.

Last year the death rate on our roads increased and continued to rise during the early part of this year. The fear instilled by the introduction of the points system had obviously waned, because so many people were able to evade the system.

UP to lunchtime yesterday 263 motorists were nabbed for drink driving as part of the Garda road safety offensive during the bank holiday weekend.

MORE than 400 people will be arrested over this bank holiday weekend for drink-driving, gardaí have estimated.

Gardaí are to launch a major new road safety initiative targeting seat belt wearing, excessive speed, drink driving, young drivers, HGV and pedestrian behaviour next month.

Gardaí are today carrying out a road safety blitz on speed and seat belts on 15 national routes.

Foreign nationals living in Ireland may be drink-driving because they are depressed about missing their families, it was claimed tonight.

Almost 30 drink drivers a day have been arrested so far this year, it emerged today.

WIDESPREAD random breath-testing of motorists is still some way off but gardaí are immediately beginning a more limited form of testing in the vicinity of pubs.

Some foreign nationals in Ireland are drinking heavily at weekends and getting involved in fatal road accidents, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said today.

Gardaí will be mounting high profile checkpoints this weekend in a major clampdown on drink drivers in the run up to Christmas.

The Garda operation to tackle gangland crime is to be extended nationwide and increased by nearly a third, it emerged today.

GARDAÍ are to increase the use of unmarked patrol cars to clamp down on dangerous driving and speeding.

THE National Safety Council has branded the Government’s road safety strategy as “a spectacular failure” similar to other political controversies such as electronic voting, PPARS and decentralisation.

SPECIAL unmarked garda cars will be used next year to crack down on dangerous driving.

A fleet of unmarked garda cars is to be set up to target dangerous drivers, it emerged today.

THE psalm which Aimee McCabe had sung in church the day before she died rang out yesterday at her funeral.

GARDAÍ earned €83.5 million in overtime last year, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

TWO non-nationals were fighting for their lives in hospitals last night after separate vicious assaults over the weekend.