National slow down day under way as Christmas rush begins

Last day of work for many before Christmas will see gardaí enforcing enhanced speed checks

Photograph: Cyril Byrne
Garda Mark Connaughton from the Regional Traffic Division, Dublin Castle operating a speed lazer camera on the  Belfield Road, Stillorgan, yesterday at the start of the penalty points for speeding operation.
169 people have lost their lives on the roads this year. Photograph: Cyril Byrne / The Irish Times

An Garda Síochána’s final national slow down day speed enforcement operation of the year began early on Friday morning.

It is the third week of a garda seasonal road traffic enforcement operation which began on Friday, November 30th and will continue until January 6th.

Between Friday December, 13th and Thursday, December 19th, there was one fatality on the roads and 15 serious collisions resulting in people receiving serious and life-threatening injuries.

Over the past week, gardaí have carried out over 2,046 checkpoints, with 177 people arrested for driving under the influence of an intoxicant.

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Over 2,301 drivers were detected for speeding offences, including someone driving at 203km/h in a 120km/h zone on the M1 near Lusk in Dublin.

A further 18 speeding detections were made between 7am and 9am this morning, including someone driving 131km/h in a 100km/h zone on the N15 near Keeldrum in Donegal.

Approximately 481 vehicles were also seized by gardaí, while 268 fixed charge notices were issued for the offence of using a mobile phone while driving in the past week.

A third static speed camera, which is in commissioning and testing phase, will go live on Friday on a notorious accident black spot on the N13 at Newtowncunningham in Co Donegal.

To date, 169 people have lost their lives in road traffic collisions on Irish roads this year, nine fewer than the equivalent period last year. On Thursday, a cyclist died in an incident involving a lorry in Castleknock, Dublin.

Gardaí are appealing to all those that will be taking to the roads over the festive period to slow down, take extra care and to give your driving your full attention.

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy is a news reporter with The Irish Times