Shane Ross: fewer checkpoints probably led to more road deaths

Fewer Garda surveillance checkpoints have probably contributed to the increased number of road deaths this year, Minister for Transport Shane Ross has said.

But speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mr Ross also said the attitude of young men to drink driving needed to be tackled urgently.

He said road safety was at a “crisis situation” with the number of road deaths up 20 per cent in 2016.

There has been a 34 per cent increase in drink driving arrests this Christmas with over 500 people arrested so far during this year’s campaign.

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Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael Finn said in the past two days 40 people, all male, were arrested. Nine were detained at checkpoints, five were involved in collisions and the majority were observed driving impaired. Some were speeding, he said.

"All of these [drivers]were putting people at risk," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.

“The message we want to get across is - do not drink and drive, the consequences are too severe.”

He said it is very frustrating for An Garda Síochána.

“The majority of road users comply, but there is a small cohort that put others at risk. It’s not only drink driving, but also speed, mobile phones and pedestrians or cyclists who are not visible.”

Mr Finn urged people to plan ahead if they are going out over Christmas. “Take a taxi, a bus, leave the car behind,” he said.

He said driving while impaired the morning after a night out is also a problem.

“Two drivers of articulated trucks were recently arrested after they were found to be driving impaired the morning after.”

He said the number of checkpoints is up 45 per cent on previous years and they will continue until January.

“We have to get the message across - never, ever drink and drive.”

Speaking at the beginning of this month’s initiative, Mr Ross said drink-driving has become more socially acceptable in recent years and is again a serious problem on Irish roads.

Mr Ross said drink-driving was seen as acceptable in the 1980s and 1990s and while the problem may have dipped in intervening years, it had recently been resurrected. “It never went away,” he said.

An RSA report shows alcohol was a factor in 38 per cent of all fatal crashes between 2008 and 2012, accounting for the deaths of 286 people.