Gardaí arrested 137 motorists on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol over the bank holiday weekend.
It’s part of a Garda road safety campaign, which continues until 7am tomorrow morning.
It comes as a teenager remains in critical condition after a car with five young men in their teens was involved in a single-vehicle collision in Mayo earlier this morning.
The crash happened on the N5 at Deerpark near Swinford shortly before 4am.
Bank holiday fatality
Superintendent Liam Geraghty of the Garda Press Office is appealing to road users to exercise caution on the roads.
“Our campaign started last Thursday morning and unfortunately, over the weekend, we have had one road fatality – a pedestrian was killed on a road in Clare," he said.
“Overnight there was another unfortunate incident where a vehicle was in a road traffic collision with five teenagers on board and one is in critical condition.
“We’re trying to show people the dangers of our roads and we are appealing to every driver and road user out there to be careful.”
Garda with newly installed body cams. Image: An Garda SíochánaSuperintendent Geraghty said Gardaí also rolled out body cameras in Dublin city centre this bank holiday weekend.
“They are initially being used in Dublin city centre and up to 150 Gardaí are trained in their use at the moment,” he said.
“That will be increased to around 400 by the middle of this month.
“Those cameras are active, and members on the beat in Dublin city centre are wearing them.
“It’s a huge assistance to An Garda Siochana to protect ourselves but also protect the general public in terms of the job we do on the front line.”
A line of Safety Camera vans. Image: Simon Price / Alamy Stock PhotoThe Superintendent said the plan is for all Gardaí to wear a body camera in 2025.
“The concept will be extended to Limerick and Waterford divisions later this year so by the end of the year we will have a better understanding of how we want to use body cameras,” he said.
“Hopefully we can do a national rollout to all Garda, very quickly in 2025.”
Some 79 people have died on roads so far this year.
Main image: Gardaí carrying out breath and drug roadside tests, 14-03-2019. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews
