This press release is being issued by way of advance notice of a substantial operation which will be put in place over the Easter Weekend.
Leading up to and over the course of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend a range of additional Garda enforcement activities will be undertaken in an effort to reduce deaths on Irish roads and generally increase the safety of all road users.
This press release is being issued by way of advance notice of a substantial operation which will be put in place on Thursday 9th of April and run through until Tuesday 14th in the greater Dublin area.
This year, to date, there has been one fatality on the roads in the greater Dublin area compared to ten (10) and eleven (11) in 2007 and 2008 respectively which is a 91% decrease.
This is a very welcome development and An Garda Siochana would use this opportunity to acknowledge this development which represents a change in driver behaviour and wish to complement the contribution of the various agencies involved in road safety and particularly the motoring public.
Unfortunately, there has been an increase in the number of persons arrested on suspicion of drunk/drug driving a total of sixty nine (69) persons were arrested during the Easter period in 2008 which represented a 41% increase on the previous year, 2007.
Excessive speed, drink driving and non-wearing of seat belts continue to remain the key contributory factors to death and serious injury on Irish roads. This latest Dublin operation aims at tackling all of these activities in an endeavour to encourage a positive change in driver attitude and behaviour.
Throughout Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, an extensive static vehicle checkpoint operation will be in place at strategic locations throughout the city, including sixteen (16) super checkpoints (super checkpoints are heavily resourced allowing for large numbers of persons to be processed through the Mandatory Alcohol Testing provisions).
All checkpoints will operate Mandatory Alcohol Testing, in addition to the enforcement of all aspects of road traffic legislation.
Road users should also be advised that, in addition to this specific operation, other Garda enforcement activities will be undertaken throughout the region over the bank holiday weekend.
Garda Press Office.
20:10 hrs, 6/4/09
