Gardaí plan to increase drink-driving detections

GARDAÍ plan to increase drink driving and speeding detections by 15% this year.

The newly formed Garda Traffic Corps is also targeting a 15% increase in detections of dangerous driving offences.

The targets are set out in the Garda Policing Plan 2006.

The plan’s publication coincided with the death of three men in a horrific accident in Navan, Co Meath, early yesterday morning and the end of the Christmas road safety campaign on Saturday night.

The deaths bring to nine the number of people killed on the road in the first eight days of the new year.

The number of road deaths rose to 399 last year, compared to 374 in 2004 and 335 in 2003. The death toll for 2005 was the highest since 2001.

The Garda Policing Plan for 2006 sets out overall traffic targets for the year:

* 30% of Traffic Corps duty time will be spent on speed enforcement.

* 20% will be spent on patrolling single-lane carriageways at collision-prone locations.

* 20% will be devoted to static, high-visibility vehicle checkpoints.

* 10% of time will be spent on covert road traffic policing.

The plan said the strength of the Traffic Corps would increase from 563 to 805 during 2006.

The publication of the plan comes as the Garda Christmas/New Year road safety campaign ended on Saturday. The six-week campaign was launched on November 27.

During the first four weeks of the campaign, a total of 1,297 people were arrested for suspected drink driving. This represented a 14% increase on the same period in the 2004/2005 campaign, when 1,138 were arrested.

There was also a 21% increase in the number of motorists breath tested, from 1,589 in to 1,921.

The Garda Policing Plan is also targeting a 2% drop in headline, or serious, offences, and a 2% increase in detection rates of such crimes.

Garda bosses want a 10% reduction in the number of assaults.

Management is aiming for a 2% increase in public satisfaction ratings and a 5% reduction in the number of admissible complaints.