Rush hour might see the city grind to a halt, but it's still the most crash-prone time of day, writes David Labanyi
NEW DATA released by An Garda Síochana provides an intriguing snapshot of the day-to-day road traffic enforcement underway in the State.
In the week leading up to St Patrick's Day, more than 7,000 road-traffic offences were detected, ranging from dangerous driving causing serious harm to car theft. During that week, four people were killed and 17 others seriously injured in crashes.
Garda figures show that from March 10th to 16th there were 945 material damage collisions with a further 125 crashes resulting in a minor injury.
With car ownership in Ireland now at a record high with 2.3 million licensed vehicles on the road - or nearly one for every two adults - it is perhaps not surprising that the traditional morning and evening rush-hour periods see the highest proportion of collisions.
However, as the number of vehicles has risen, the term "rush hour" has become something of a misnomer, particularly in the capital, and the evening peak period now stretches for about four hours in the early evening.
The period between 2pm and 6pm now accounts for 35 per cent of all daily non-fatal collisions according to gardaí, with the 5pm to 6pm period the most crash-prone hour of the day.
The morning rush period has a lower level of collisions, with the 8am to 9am period having the highest rate of crashes at 6.6 per cent happening then.
During the second week of March, 311 drivers were identified for dangerous driving with garda divisions in the west, south and north central Dublin regions having the highest number of detections. Three people were arrested for dangerous driving causing serious injury. Gardaí also caught 126 drivers for driving licence offences, with drivers in Limerick the most common offenders in this category.
The highest rate of uninsured driving offences was detected in the greater Dublin and Louth/Meath areas, the Garda figures show, with 470 such offences detected that week.
A further 598 drivers were arrested for tax and registration offences and in this category the north Cork region saw the highest number of drivers detected.
Over the same period, some 792 motorists were caught speeding, with the west Dublin Garda Division accounting for more than a quarter of all detections. Parking offences were another significant area of traffic enforcement, with 637 drivers identified for this offence. The highest number of parking offences was detected in the east Dublin and Dublin south central Garda divisions.
Gardaí arrested 532 drivers for drink driving between March 14th and 18th this year, an increase of more than 100, compared with the same period the previous year.
Despite the increase in arrests, head of the Traffic Corps, assistant commissioner Eddie Rock says the introduction of mandatory alcohol testing has resulted in a change in behaviour. "The culture is changing. The people being arrested are being arrested because of mandatory alcohol testing," he said.
With a new, lower blood alcohol limit expected within little over a year, assistant commissioner Rock said public support for rigorous drink driving enforcement remained strong.
"I think the support is still there. Research from the Road Safety Authority indicates that there is an acceptance of it. The real issue is to reduce deaths on the road.
"We would hope that the numbers arrested would start to tail off along with the deaths starting to decrease," he said.
Five drivers were arrested during that week for drug driving offences and there were two cases of a vehicle being hi-jacked; one in east Dublin and the second in the Louth/Meath division.
Over that week, some 260 vehicles were reported stolen and gardaí located 170 stolen or missing vehicles. West Dublin had the highest incidence of "unauthorised taking of vehicles" with 52 reported cases between March 10th and 16th. Limerick had the highest rate of vehicle theft outside Dublin, with 22 offences recorded, followed by Cork with 18.
The Traffic Watch scheme, which allows drivers to report dangerous driving by other motorists, had 114 notifications, with the Waterford/Kilkenny region recording the highest number of reports.
The week in question also saw over 1,170 cases of general road traffic offences and a further 275 road transport offences, some of which relate to lorries or buses. In that week 23 bicycles were reported stolen.
Looking at the enforcement statistics for the week ending on St Patrick's Day, assistant commissioner Rock said the number of collisions had fallen significantly: "Based on preliminary figures the indications are that across all crashes, from material damage crashes to those involving a serious injury, there has probably been a 30 per cent drop over the last year."
This was due to ongoing enforcement of drink driving law using mandatory alcohol testing and an increase in the strength of the Garda Traffic Corps. "Some 260 vehicles were reported stolen and gardaí located 170 stolen or missing vehicles