Special traffic unit in accident blackspot extended until March
While no figures were available at this point, Justice Minister Michael McDowell claimed the pilot unit had led to an increase in the detection of motor traffic offences in the Buncrana region.
However, Mr McDowell’s remarks were made last Thursday before last weekend’s tragedy in which five eastern Europeans were killed following a two-car collision on the main Buncrana to Derry road.
In a written response to a parliamentary question from Donegal TD Cecilia Keaveney, the minister said garda management was satisfied that the extra visibility provided by the traffic corps unit had an influence on a general reduction in certain crimes such as burglary and public disorder.
Mr McDowell said the pilot programme was being extended until March 15 when a further evaluation of the scheme would be carried out.
The unit, which features five additional traffic corps gardaí, was established in response to a high number of fatalities in the Buncrana region, including the deaths of five local young people in a crash last October.
Meanwhile, arrangements are being made to have the remains of four Latvians and one Lithuanian killed in last Saturday’s accident flown home. It is expected the details will be finalised before the end of the week. Gardaí have been liaising with the Latvian and Lithuanian embassies after post-mortem examinations on the bodies were completed at Letterkenny General Hospital yesterday.
Meanwhile, a 21-year-old Carlow man has become the latest victim of road accidents this year following a crash on a road between Borris and Goresbridge at 11pm on Sunday night.
He was named as John Curran of St Brigid’s Crescent, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, and was a front seat passenger in the vehicle.
Labour transport spokeswoman Roisín Shortall said road deaths could be prevented because a number of promised road safety measures had not yet been implemented.
Commenting on the fatal accident in Donegal last weekend, Ms Shortall said such tragedies were not inevitable.
“Our sympathies go out to the families of those who died this weekend. Unfortunately, it seems that such deaths are becoming more frequent, not less,” said Ms Shortall.
She called for a ban on the use of mobile phones while driving to be introduced as soon as possible.
While welcoming a recent agreement between authorities in the Republic and the North to mutually recognise disqualified drivers, Ms Shortall said the measure did not go far enough as penalty points were still not recognised between the two jurisdictions.
She claimed uncertainty surrounding random breath testing and the large number of unqualified drivers on Irish roads were adding to the problem.
