The death toll on Irish roads reached 470 last year, the highest level for seven years, despite a high-profile road safety campaign by the Gardai.
The number of people killed in 1997 was 17 higher than 1996, and the provisional figure of 470 for last year could rise slightly when the official statistics are announced. Although there were fewer accidents during the Christmas season than during the same period last year, more people died and up to 150 more were arrested for drink driving over the period. With more cars on the road, the task facing the Garda Traffic Policy Bureau is an unenviable one.
Gardai are at present assessing the effects of Operation Lifesaver which was launched in Cos Louth and Meath in September. Within days of the campaign's introduction, four people died in a crash near Drogheda.
But the number of admissions to hospitals in the Louth and Meath areas as a result of traffic accidents dropped during the months of Operation Lifesaver.
The number of fatalities continues to rise, however, with bank holidays proving particularly deadly. Fifteen people died in a four-day period in October last year, with 52 deaths recorded that month. The worst single month was May when 53 people were killed.
The National Safety Council has expressed "considerable sadness and a sense of failure" that the combined efforts of education, enforcement and engineering had not been successful in reducing the number of road deaths.
It said Irish motorists were more likely to exceed speed limits and ignore seat-belts than motorists in Britain; speed limit observance was 64 per cent in Ireland, compared with 93 per cent in Britain: front seat-belt observance was 56 per cent in Ireland, compared with 91 per cent in Britain.
The campaign against drinking and driving has seen some success and this was now generally regarded as "anti-social behaviour", according to the council.
"Regretfully, the same change of mind-set does not apply to excessive speed and the disregard of the legal obligation to wear seatbelts, which, if brought to the level of compliance that exists in Britain, would dramatically reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries," a statement said.
Supt John Farrelly, of the Garda Press Office, said attitudes to drinking and driving had improved. "People are making arrangements for alternative transport. It is not the culture now to be associated with drink driving, but you still have people bragging about going from Dublin to Clondalkin in 15 minutes." The morning after an anti-drink driving campaign in the Louth/ Meath areas, 35 cars were left in a pub car park and collected the following day. But such incidents are few and overshadowed by the detection of drunk drivers at checkpoints.
In the first week of Operation Lifesaver, 21 drunk drivers were caught by the Traffic Corps Unit alone.
During the annual Christmas crackdown last year up to 850 people were arrested and provided gardai with samples - around 150 more than in 1996. The majority of arrests were made outside Dublin and in rural areas.
Chief Supt John O'Brien, of the Traffic Policy Bureau, said Operation Lifesaver had demonstrated Garda efficiency in arresting drivers who were over the legal alcohol limit, but had also indicated that the drink driving message was not getting through.
"The hallmark of a real change in people's habits is when fewer people are caught," he said.