Over the course of the long weekend, three lives were unfortunately lost on the roads in Ireland. Several others were also seriously injured due to various traffic incidents.
The accidents began on Friday with a man in his fifties being struck by a lorry on Arran Quays in the heart of Dublin. Then, on Saturday, a young man in his twenties tragically died following a single-vehicle crash in Tubbercurry, County Sligo. The bank holiday weekend’s final fatality was an older gent in his sixties, who was involved in a solo vehicle accident in Kerrykeel, County Donegal on Tuesday.
These sad incidents happened amidst a major road safety campaign enforced by the police. Over the course of the weekend, more than 880 compulsory sobriety checkpoints were operational, resulting in 218 arrests for suspected drunk driving. From Monday 7 am to Tuesday 7 am, 60 of these arrests were made.
Speeding drivers were also a significant issue, with 2,150 drivers caught exceeding speed limits over the weekend. Extreme cases include a motorist caught doing 167km/hr in an 80km/hr zone in Castletown, County Meath, and another recorded at 159km/hr in a 100km/hr zone in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. Additionally, a driver was caught in Oranmore, County Galway, speeding at 146km/hr, again in an 80km/hr zone.
A total of 512 vehicles were impounded for breaches of the Road Traffic Act 1961, and 40 drivers were caught driving dangerously. Numerous fixed charged notices were handed out over the weekend, ranging from mobile phone usage while driving, unaccompanied learner drivers, lack of seat belts to no tax or insurance.
A spokeswoman from Garda expressed her disappointment in people driving at excessive speeds despite public awareness campaigns and calls from authorities, including the Road Safety Authority, to slow down. She warned that such high-speed driving could potentially be fatal, not just to others on the road, but to the drivers themselves.