Clampdown on dangerous drivers unveiled

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

The cars will contain lights under the grilles and sirens which will be switched on as soon as offenders are detected.

The head of the Garda Traffic Corps, Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock, said tackling dangerous driving was one of his top three priorities – the others being drink-driving and speeding.

“It’s downright ignorance on the road and it can be described as nothing else. It’s oblivious to your safety on the road,” he said.

He said the drivers who will be targeted included those who passed other cars on bends and those who played chicken with oncoming drivers, forcing them to move out of the way.

He said he was not talking about the normal human errors made by every driver, such as looking too long in the rear mirror or being distracted by children in the back seat.

“We cannot, by enforcement, enforce out those things because they do happen. But there are mistakes which are a conscious and a deliberate violation of the law and downright good manners. As motorists, we see it all the time.”

Although the exact size of the fleet has not been decided on, Mr Rock said he expected the unmarked cars to be on the road by next year.

The Garda Traffic Corps, which was launched last year, will increase in size from 531 members to 1,200 by 2008.

Further resources are expected to be freed up if the Government accepts the recommendation of an expert group to privatise the operation of speed cameras.

At the launch of the National Safety Council’s new television advert on motorcycle safety, Assistant Commissioner Rock said drink-driving was still the number one priority for the traffic corps.

“The culture is changing but it’s not changing fast enough.”

There has been a 16% increase in arrests for drink-driving this year and during the last Bank Holiday weekend alone, there were more than 300 arrests for the offence.