A learner driver caught speeding in Co Cork had no insurance when stopped by gardaí and tested positive for drugs during a roadside test on the M8 as part of the Garda’s bank holiday weekend road enforcement operation.
In total, 158 drivers were caught, suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs between Thursday at 7am, when the Garda operation began, and Sunday night. During the same period, more than 1,200 speeding detections were made.
Gardaí have warned drivers that Monday is often the most dangerous period on the roads over a holiday weekend, as people return home from trips.
They have also outlined three other incidents of note on the roads involving vehicles being driven unlawfully while carrying total of 18 people.
Aside from the incident on the M8 in Cork on Sunday morning, that afternoon another driver hit the central median on the M7 in Kildare at about 3pm, overturning their vehicle. The driver, who was in his 30s, had no driving licence and tested positive for drugs.
Just after 5pm, also on Sunday, on the M7 in Tipperary two vehicles crashed, and one driver was charged with dangerous driving.
In another incident, on the M8 in Cork just after 8pm on Sunday, two drivers crashed, and one of them was found to be over the legal limit of alcohol.
“These four incidents directly involved 18 people in the vehicles, including children; thankfully nobody appears to have been seriously injured,” said Supt Liam Geraghty of Garda Headquarters.
He added the combination of the clocks going back this weekend and the wet conditions underlined the need for drivers to slow down. Though the second and third quarter of this year had “seen significant reductions” in road deaths – after a spike in 2023 and in the first quarter of this year – still “far too many” people had been killed this year.
While enforcement could be increased by the Garda on the roads, the single biggest factor that could reduce fatal crashes, and those involving serious injury, was drivers’ taking responsibility for their actions, said Supt Geraghty. He urged people to “call out” irresponsible and unlawful driving by their family members, friends and loved ones.
On the first two days of the weekend three people were killed including a driver (43) who crashed on Friday on the R571 in Co Cork, a male pedestrian (52) who died when hit by a driver in a truck in Dublin on Friday and a man (23) who was driving a car that crashed on the R294 in Co Sligo on Saturday.
Although road deaths in March were 14 higher than the corresponding period last year, they have since fallen compared to 2023. As the bank holiday weekend began, some 147 people had died on the roads since the start of the year, 10 fewer than the same period last year.
Gardaí have highlighted speeding, and intoxicated driving, as main factors in crashes causing fatalities and serious injuries. In one case this weekend a driver was detected travelling at 167km/h in an 80km/h zone at Leggagh, Castletown, Co Meath, while another driver was caught travelling at 157km/h in a 100km/h zone in at Quigley’s Point, Co Donegal.
“These speeds are not accidental, these are deliberate and conscious decisions by drivers to substantially break the speed limit and put their lives and the lives of their passengers and other road users in danger,” said Supt Geraghty.
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