37 killed on roads over Christmas, New Year period

The number of people killed on the Republic's roads in the first five weeks of the annual Christmas and New Year anti-drink driving campaign has risen to 37, an increase of 13 compared to the similar period last year.

There was also an 8 per cent rise in the number of drink-driving detections since the start of the campaign. The rise in detections corresponded to a rise of about 10 per cent in the number of breath tests carried out by gardaí during the period.

The anti-drink driving campaign ended last Friday, but gardaí said the final toll of the dead will not be known until later this week.

Last week, which was week five of the road safety campaign, saw an increase of 25 per cent in the numbers arrested for drink-driving in comparison with last year. Up until Friday, 1,974 people had their breath tested for alcohol, compared to 1,794 for the same period in 2004.

The figures are marginally up on last year and appear to suggest that increased testing by gardaí reveals a greater number of offenders.

The Insurance Industry Federation has called for greater enforcement of existing speed and drink-driving legislation, commenting that people would be unlikely to transgress if they believed they would be caught.

Meanwhile three men killed in separate weekend road accidents have been named by the Garda.

The first was Father James Harbison (70), from Raheny in Dublin, who died following a two-car collision on the N3 at Cooksland, Dunshaughlin, at lunchtime on Saturday.

On Saturday night, Patrick Grimes (72), from Kells Road, Collon, died at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, following a two-car crash in Collon, Co Louth, shortly before 10 p.m.

In Co Wexford, a third man died following a collision at Townparks, Wexford, at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. He was named as Ian Rossiter (21), from Belvedere Grove, Wexford.

A woman died yesterday in Beaumont hospital from injuries she received in a traffic collision in Borris-in-Ossory, Co Laois, on December 29th.

She has been named as Valerija Andrejeva, an 18-year-old Latvian national, with an address in Clondalkin, Dublin. The death brings to 380 the number of people killed on the Republic's roads in 2003.

Eight people have been killed on the roads since the start of the year, according to provisional figures from gardaí.

From January 20th a new, lower speed limit of 19 m.p.h. applicable to built-up areas will be introduced as part of the conversion of speed limits to the metric system.