MINISTER JACK CHAMBERS wrote to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in September raising concern at reduced traffic enforcement activity by gardaí, which the Minister suggested risked undermining other measures by the state to improve road safety.

Chambers, the junior minister responsible for road safety, noted that Garda detections of mobile phone use by drivers were down 40% as of 15 September compared with the same period in 2019, while the number of motorists stopped for speeding was down 30% and arrests for drink driving were down 14%. 

The letter of 22 September and minutes of a subsequent meeting between ministers and the Commissioner were obtained under Freedom of Information by the Dublin Commuter Coalition, which said the enforcement data was “very concerning”, particularly on mobile phone use by motorists which is now “endemic” on Irish roads.

Feljin Jose, chair of the campaigning group, said: “This could be one of the worst years for road fatalities in a decade.”

Last night, the Department of Justice defended the strength of the Garda roads policing unit, which at 659 gardaí is smaller now than in any of the previous five years. A spokesman said Minister Helen McEntee was “confident” An Garda Síochána “will provide effective roads policing, and ultimately enforcement, where it is most needed”. 

An Garda Síochána said: “On average, every hour of every day, [gardaí] detect at least one driver for alleged drink or drug driving and approximately 20 drivers for speeding, and every 24 hours detect nearly 50 drivers for using a mobile phones, 16 drivers for not wearing seatbelts, 15 drivers for dangerous driving, 20 unaccompanied learner drivers and 6 drivers for cars with defective tyres”.

The 26 September meeting – at which Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Road Safety Authority (RSA) chair Liz O’Donnell were also present – discussed the use of Garda overtime to boost roads policing. The meeting was requested by O’Donnell in response to rising road fatalities. 

As of Monday, 168 people had lost their lives on Ireland’s roads in 2023, a marked increase on the same period in 2022, in which 133 people died. In 2019, the number of lives lost as of 20 November was 122, which is 27% less than this year so far.

In his letter to the Commissioner, Chambers noted that Garda detections of people travelling without a seatbelt were down 56% on 2019, along with other reductions in enforcement activity.

“Given that volumes on our roads are stable or increasing, and the evidence available does not show marked improvements in driver behaviour, it can only be concluded that lower enforcement levels are driving the decrease in detections,” the minister wrote.

Without increased enforcement, and in a visible manner, I believe that the other measures we are all working towards to improve road safety will struggle to be successful or deliver all the hoped for benefits and lives saved.”

Speed cameras

Chambers noted in his letter that while speeding detection by cameras was up 45% since 2019, the reduction in the number of motorists intercepted by gardaí for speeding was “marked and significant”.

He cited research by the RSA showing drivers rank more gardaí on the roads as the single most influential factor that would stop them speeding or using their phones.

Minutes of the meeting on 26 September state that Chambers raised the “concerning” trends in enforcement and noted that “detections are down across all key measures”. 

Chambers told the meeting that “visible enforcement is needed to back up other initiatives” such as a review of speed limits, penalty point changes and mandatory drug testing at accident scenes. He asked if more garda overtime could be used. 

Assistant Garda Commissioner for roads policing Paula Hilman told the meeting that “overtime is available for roads policing as required”. 

Commissioner Harris told the meeting that road policing was deployed on a 24/7 basis. That meant fewer gardaí on the road during businer day periods, but night-time enforcement was important, the minutes indicate the Commissioner said.

The Commissioner said more cameras were needed, “not just vans but also fixed and average, and not just [for] main roads but also towns and villages”, the minutes state.

At present there are only two average speed detection systems in place nationwide. 

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee told the meeting that “everyone agrees on the value of enforcement”. She also emphasised the need for more use of technology, specifically average and fixed speed cameras. 

However, RSA Chair Liz O’Donnell said that “intercept by An Garda Síochána members on the roads, not cameras, is the real fear for motorists and deters bad driver behaviour”, the minutes state.

The RSA also told the meeting that it would spend an additional €3m on on education and awareness campaigns before Christmas.

Feljin Jose of the Dublin Commuter Coalition said mobile phone use by motorists was “endemic” on Irish roads, adding: “It’s not people just having conversations, it’s texting and watching videos, some of the most distracting things [drivers] could do.”

He suggested more use should be made of technology to free up gardaí to focus on other road safety issues.

He noted that in Dublin, where running red lights is a widespread problem which has – anecdotally – worsened since the pandemic, there are no enforcement cameras at traffic lights.

He added: “A garda parked up on the side of the road to prevent people using bus lanes is a waste of time. This should be automated.”

“There is a mountain of footage from dashcams and cycling cameras showing dangerous drivers which could be used to get them off the road – but no way to give that to gardaí. An online portal to submit footage of dangerous driving would be transformative,” he said.

An Garda Síochána responds

The Journal asked An Garda Síochána if additional gardaí had been deployed to roads policing – using overtime as suggested by the minister, or otherwise – in response to the worrying increase in deaths on the roads.

In a lengthy statement, the force said roads policing and the prevention of fatal road traffic collisions was “a responsibility of every member of An Garda Síochána”, with all frontline members having a role to play in the enforcement of road traffic offences “on a daily basis”.

Last year, non-roads policing personnel detected 70% of drink driving cases and a quarter of mobile phone, seatbelt and speeding offences.

“There is no organisational policy to reduce numbers assigned to Roads Policing Units,” the force said, adding that continuing recruitment would see more gardaí assigned to that and other priority areas.

“Roads Policing is one of many competing priority areas, and numbers deployed on Roads Policing remain consistently higher as a percentage of the entire organisation (over double) compared to other priority areas, including Domestic Violence, Drugs Interdiction, Economic Crime and emerging Cyber Crime,” the statement continued.

During the period 2014-2017, the number of Gardaí assigned to roads policing decreased by 20%, while the number of road fatalities reduced by 25%. Enforcement is an important element of road safety. However, it is not a simple correlation.”

Asked about lower enforcement activity in relation to mobile phones – given anecdotal evidence that this behaviour has increased – An Garda Síochána said “mobile and smart devices now provide a wide variety of different distractions for drivers”.

“Driver behaviour is now generally using the device on their lap or in a cradle. This behaviour is more difficult to detect and is of serious concern to An Garda Síochána as there is more distraction on the driver now than there was prior to smart phones.”

Almost one in four drivers admit checking notications on their phone while driving.

An Garda Síochána further stated that while there has been an increase in traffic since the pandemic, Transport Infrastructure Ireland data indicates traffic volumes are still down 7% on 2019 figures.

Department of Justice responds

The Department of Justice said the introduction of a new Garda roster will provide more gardaí for frontline policing. 

It said that while visible enforcement was an effective deterrant to dangerous behaviour, An Garda Síochána must devise plans that are “evidence-based and data-led”. 

As of 8 November, almost half of fatalaties this year had occurred at the weekend, almost half at night and over 70% on rural 80km/hour roads.

It said the Garda roads policing division had, as such, developed operational plans for the coming months focused on weekends, late night checkpoints with mandatory intoxication checks, and the locations which account for the most collisions and fatalities.

“It is right that An Garda Síochána plans to focus its resources where and when we know the most serious injuries and fatalities arise,” the Department said.

Walking and cycling

Jose, of the Dublin Commuter Coalition, said that the deterioration in road safety – and the perception that the roads are unsafe – had a particular impact on pedestrians and cyclists.

“Most people won’t let their children cycle on the road. It’s the whole thing about shark infested waters being the safest – because no-one goes swimming there. No-one goes walking on country roads either, because it is so unsafe,” he said.

He added that he hoped forthcoming reviews of speed limits would bring acceptance that the speeds currently permitted on some rural roads are too high to be safe.