Gardaí put emphasis on traffic enforcement

The 15% increase in road deaths in 2016 has led gardaí to increase the training for new recruits in the area of road traffic enforcement.

Details of the more intensive training was revealed at a special meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Road Safety called by Transport Minister Shane Ross yesterday.

Attendees at that meeting included Tánaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, Road Safety Authority chief executive Moya Murdoch, Attorney General Máire Whelan and Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael Finn, as well as Mr Ross.

The transport minister said the purpose of the meeting was to see what immediate actions could be taken to reverse the upward trend in road fatalities which saw 187 people killed last year.

“I am determined to bring the number of deaths on our roads down in 2017,” said Mr Ross. “That is the bottom line. The new laws we have already introduced combined with the measures agreed today by all stakeholders are aimed at achieving this goal. I am committed to doing everything within my power as minister to reduce the horror of needless road traffic deaths, particularly among young drivers.”

Assistant Commissioner Finn told the meeting it was intended to have a stronger focus on road traffic enforcement in the training provided to new recruits at Templemore.

Welcoming that development, Frances Fitzgerald said the Government had committed to increasing the overall Garda workforce, with the recruitment of 3,200 new members on a phased basis over the next four years, to ensure that the service was “renewed” and had the capacity to provide “visible, responsive and effective policing, including in the area of road traffic enforcement”.

She also said the Garda Commissioner had indicated that there will be an additional 10% increase in the traffic corps during the course of 2017 “which should also lead to better outcomes in relation to road traffic enforcement”.

Shane Ross congratulated gardaí on an effective Christmas drink drive campaign which saw a 34% increase in the number of detections of people driving while over the limit.

He said he was “adamant” those checkpoints must continue along with increased enforcement if further lives are to be saved and he reiterated his plans to introduce legislation “in the near future” to name and shame disqualified drivers.

In addition he said: “We will also legislate to ensure that all drivers, if caught drink driving, will in future receive a mandatory disqualification.”