Gardaí urge motorists to take 'personal responsibility' on the roads this Easter

Gardaí will take part in a roads policing campaign this bank holiday weekend. File picture: Stephen Collins/Collins

Gardaí have said “it is not inevitable” road deaths will rise this year as they urged motorists to take “personal responsibility” and stay safe on the roads this Easter weekend.

“Unfortunately, we’re up 13 [road deaths] on this time last year,” Sergeant Gavin Coleman told reporters Friday. “So, the statistics are showing us at the moment that we have more fatalities than last year but we can change that.

“We can decide not to pick up our phones. We can decide to pay more attention to what we’re doing. We can make that decision if you’re going on a night out to nominate a designated driver or to get a taxi.”

Sgt Coleman was speaking as An Garda Síochána highlighted its roads policing campaign to take place this bank holiday weekend.

He said: “Don't put yourself in that position that you might decide to drive home when you've had a few drinks. It is within our power, as in every driver on our roads, to take that personal responsibility to reduce those numbers. We can do it.” 

Road Safety Minister Jack Chambers said drug driving was 'absolutely getting worse'. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

So far this year, 55 people have died on Irish roads. This is a sharp increase on the same period in 2023, which was in itself a year that saw the number of fatalities surge.

Earlier this week, Road Safety Minister Jack Chambers admitted more than 200 people could be killed in crashes this year, as he said driver behaviour was “getting worse”.

“[Drug-driving] is absolutely getting worse,” he said. “There is a very worrying, increased trend of drug-driving that we're seeing with the checkpoints that are occurring that's being flagged by the RSA to us.

“That’s a very serious trend that I think is feeding into [the overall issue of road safety]. People who are under the influence of any substance — that increases the likelihood of speeding, distracted driving and putting them at risk of a serious collision or fatality — drug-driving is absolutely playing a very worrying role in all of this.” 

Sgt Coleman said the gardaí’s enforcement operation this Easter was focused on intoxicated driving, speeding, mobile phone use and distracted driving.

In the first 24 hours of this campaign, we’ve seen 19 drivers arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. 

“And so our appeal over this weekend to drivers is to please don't drink or use drugs while driving. Slow down and stay within the speed limit. And don't let anything distract you while you're driving such as use of your mobile phones. We all have a responsibility to keep our roads safe.” 

The garda said driving was one of the most dangerous things people do on a daily basis but sometimes people get complacent and drop their guard.

“We're just appealing to people to leave their phones alone when they're driving,” he said. “Don't get distracted by anything, concentrate on the task.

“If people just take a second, think about those 55 people [who have died so far this year]. That's 55 people that won't be having Easter dinner on Sunday with their families. They are real. They're not statistics.”