Nine out of 10 drivers found to be be over the limit at Garda random alcohol checkpoints are men, and one in five "morning after" fatal road crashes is alcohol-related, according to new figures realeased by the Road Safety Authority (RSA).
More than 24,000 people have been arrested for drink-driving since mandatory breath-testing was introduced at the end of July 2006.
This year so far gardaí have recorded 15,711 drink-driving incidents.
Almost 40 per cent of all fatal crashes involve alcohol, and even in a large number of crashes which take place in the morning motorists were found to have alcohol in their systems.
Speaking at the launch of the RSA's Christmas and New Year Anti-Drink-Driving Campaign, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said people who would no longer consider driving home from the pub at night, were still getting behind the wheel in the morning with alcohol in their systems.
"One fifth of crashes which take place between 6am and noon are alcohol-related.
"If you kill somebody as the result of having drink the night before, that person is as dead as if they had been killed the night before."
Mr Dempsey said he was particularly concerned by the large number of people killed on weekend nights and early mornings.
"Three out of five fatal crashes occur on Friday, Saturday or Sunday night, or early on Monday morning, it's a real killing zone."
RSA chief executive Gay Byrne said 31 people were killed in fatal crashes last December and the RSA hoped that situation would not be repeated this Christmas season. "365 people died in fatal crashes last year. Alcohol was probably involved in around 150 of those deaths.
"That's 150 cases in which there was a useless, pointless and preventable waste of life."
The same people continued to resist obeying the drink-driving laws Mr Byrne said.
"Nine out of 10 people who are over the limit at Garda checkpoints are men, the majority are middle-age men, they are the ones who are refusing to change."
The RSA campaign was this year putting a particular emphasis on the dangers of driving the morning after drinking, chief executive Noel Brett said.
"We want people to plan ahead for the festive season, we want them to be particularly aware of the dangers of driving the morning after, to know that if they have consumed a large amount of alcohol it won't have left their system."
The body takes 60 minutes to process one unit of alcohol, which is defined as one "standard drink" or a glass of lager, stout or cider (284ml), a small glass of wine (100ml) and a pub measure of spirits (35.5ml). The RSA asked people to remember that the measures of drink they would pour at home are usually larger than those they would be served in a pub.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy asked pedestrians to be aware of their alcohol intake and be conscious of their own safety on the roads during the Christmas season.
