How does the Garda explain erratic road traffic enforcement and detection trends?

Road traffic enforcement – at least in some areas – has fallen as road deaths have increased. Drink-driving, mobile phone use while driving, and speeding are the three main issues in the latest data released to Patrick Costello TD (Green Party) in a series of Dáil questions. So let’s take those one by one.

Drink-driver breath tests

Some 88,734 drink-driver breath tests were carried out to the end of August, which is on course to reach just over 150,000 by year-end. That is less than half the 314,000 tests carried out in 2018 and the 316,000 in 2019. The number of arrests for drinking-driving to August 23rd was 3,071, which is on course to reach 4,500. That is some way off the 6,000+ arrests in the years 2014 to 2018, and only a fraction of the 19,000 arrests for drink-driving in 2007.

The Garda said that the long-term decline in arrests is largely attributable to a changing climate in Ireland in which drink-driving is stigmatised, thus helping to reduce it. The Garda pointed out that traffic volume was still 7 per cent lower this year compared to 2019. However, it also said while “a shift in societal behaviours will have an impact on breath testing figures” there was “no one cause” that can be attributed to the falling number of breath tests.

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Mobile phone use

The number of people who received a fixed charge notice (FCN) for using a mobile phone while driving was 32,440 in 2014. In 2019 it was 29,706. In 2020 it was 24,478 and in 2022 it was 18,609. This year we are on course to reach about 16000-17,000 FCNs – based on 12,574 by the end of August. It is clear then the number of detections for driving with a mobile phone has dropped very significantly over the last couple of years.

Over the long term the Garda attributes this trend to more of the vehicles now on the roads being more modern and so equipped with hands-free technology negating the need to drive while holding a mobile phone. It also says of those drivers who are continuing to break the law an increasing number are placing their mobile phone on their lap when using it. “This behaviour is more difficult to detect and is of serious concern to An Garda Síochána as there is more distraction on the driver now than there was prior to smartphones,” the Garda added.

Speeding

There were 226,740 FCNs for speeding imposed in 2014, with the level falling in the years that followed. In 2019 there were 137,140 speeding FCNs. This then increased once the pandemic hit even though traffic volume plummeted; 181,263 speeding FCNs in 2020, 178,620 in 2021 and 165,701 in 2022. This year we are on course to have about 150,000 to 160,000 – based on 103,427 to the end of August.

The Garda said “driver behaviour changed significantly when there was less traffic on the road” during the pandemic, resulting in more speeding.

It added that during the pandemic there was a very significant shift in Garda activity to the roads – mainly to enforce pandemic travel restrictions – which also helped increase speeding detections. In general the Garda added the roll-out of GoSafe speed detection vans had helped foster increased compliance with speed limits, hence the drop in speeding FCNs compared to 10 years ago

What do Garda sources say?

Some Garda members who spoke to The Irish Times pointed out that garda numbers began to decline in mid-2020 as the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary, had to close, thus halting Garda recruitment. The same sources said personnel shortages had already been felt across the Garda in the years leading up to the pandemic, mainly because specialist units were beefed up, draining resources from uniform frontline policing.

“There is a perception you can trim back on [road traffic enforcement] because maybe the public just won’t notice – you won’t immediately come under pressure over it,” said one source.

Other sources said they suspected the pandemic roster had been a factor in apparent falling enforcement since the pre-pandemic period. They believed the roster was inflexible and did not provide a surge in policing resources at those times during the week when road traffic enforcement was likely to result in more detections.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said the roster is expensive to the extent the Garda had to forego 13,000 policing hours per week under the roster.