The number of motorists caught drug-driving has more than doubled this year, which gardaí link to people driving home after house parties, due to restrictions on pubs and nightclubs during Covid-19.
Chief Superintendent Ray McMahon of the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau, said people were now more likely to be taking drugs at house parties, as drink-only pubs and nightclubs were shut.
Rather than taking a taxi home from the pub or club, people were then driving home themselves, he said.
“We have to look at Covid and people’s behaviours during Covid, so our licensed premises are closed, people are drinking at home,” he said.
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“While the number of people caught drink-driving has reduced broadly in line with traffic volumes, the same cannot be said of those who have been caught drug-driving,” he said.
Det Supt McMahon was speaking at the launch of a new road safety campaign appealing for people to drive responsibly over the Christmas period, along with officials from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and Dublin Fire Brigade.
“We’ve seen high numbers of drivers speeding in recent months, traffic volumes have reduced by almost 30 per cent throughout the year, and yet the numbers of people being caught speeding has increased by 25 per cent,” he said.
Sam Waide, RSA chief executive, said there had been a 113 per cent increase in motorists caught drug-driving this year, compared to 2019.
Despite the drop in traffic levels during periods of lockdown, 143 people had been killed on the roads to date this year, 12 more than last year.
Mr Waide said the higher number of fatal traffic collisions was “unsettling and concerning,” given overall traffic volumes had fallen.
“Despite the travel restrictions, lockdowns, reduction in traffic volumes this year due to Covid-19, road deaths are up,” he said.
While there was less traffic on the roads, it appeared motorists who were driving were more likely to speed, he said.
The road safety official said a “large number” of those killed in traffic collisions this year had been pedestrians.
“We do know that increase in pedestrian fatalities can be linked to lots of people having been walking and exercising on the roads this year compared to previous years,” he said.
The coming Christmas period was always a “high risk” time on the roads, Mr Waide said. Eighteen people had been killed in road traffic collisions between St Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Day in the last five years.
Det Supt McMahon said vehicle passengers had also accounted for a high proportion of those killed in collisions in 2020, which he attributed to people “still not wearing seatbelts”.
A number of new advertisements will run in the coming weeks, as part of the road safety campaign, featuring testimony from emergency service responders appealing for people to drive safely.
