Over 1,000 motorists were caught by gardai on suspicion of breaking the rules of the road over Easter weekend.
A special operation was put in place over the Easter Bank Holiday, starting on Holy Thursday and lasting until Tuesday morning.
The operation placed a particular emphasis on the problem of drug driving.
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During this Easter Bank Holiday period there were 930 Mandatory Intoxicant Testing checkpoints carried out by gardai right across the country; which saw gardai make 73 arrests for drug driving and a further 111 arrests for drink driving.
Detections for other road offences during the period included
- Seatbelts – 61
- Mobiles – 166
- Speeding – 1810
Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman, Roads Policing and Community Engagement said: "I want to sincerely thank the majority of road users who drove responsibly and did not put other road users at risk over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
"However, given that two people lost their lives on our roads between Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday and a further thirteen received life changing injuries, I again appeal to the minority who persist in disregarding public safety messages to remember the devastating effect that fatal and serious injury collisions have on our families and communities.
"I urge all motorists to play your part in ensuring our roads are safe for everyone.”
There were two Road Traffic Collisions which resulted in two fatalities over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and 10 Serious Injury Road Traffic Collisions resulting in 13 persons injured.
This compares to 1 Fatal Road Traffic Collision (1 fatality) and 19 Serious Road Traffic Collisions (20 persons injured) in 2019 (the last pre-covid traffic statistics).
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