A DRIVER was caught over the Halloween Bank Holiday weekend doing 130km/h on the Corbally Road into Limerick City, which has a max speed limit of 50km/h.
The speeding motorist was the fastest of 1,973 speeding offences detected as part of the Garda October Bank Holiday road safety operation.
There were two road fatalities during this period, while nine serious collisions took place resulting in nine people receiving serious and life-threatening injuries.
To date this year, 157 people have died on Irish roads. That is 34 more lives lost than this time last year.
Over the Halloween Bank Holiday period, An Garda Síochána carried out 949 mandatory intoxicant testing (MIT) checkpoints. 5,852 roadside drug and alcohol tests were conducted, which led to 211 arrests for driving under the influence of an intoxicant. 41 of these arrests occurred between the hours of 6am and 2pm.
Fixed charge offences for other road users during this period included using mobile phone (288), unaccompanied learner drivers (110), and non-use of seatbelts (76).
In addition, 81 vehicles were seized from learner permit holders driving unaccompanied, while 168 vehicles were seized for being uninsured and 176 were seized for having no tax
There was a 37 per cent increase in serious injury road traffic collisions nationally in comparison to the same weekend in 2022.
The number of motorists detected as driving under the influence of drugs also increased by over 55 per cent when compared to the last Halloween Bank Holiday weekend.
Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman, of the Roads Policing and Community Engagement Garda National Roads Policing Bureau, said: “Our thoughts are with all those who have suffered the loss of a loved one on our roads or who have sustained life changing injuries caused in a serious road traffic collision.”
“We must continue to raise awareness among all road users about road safety, work together with road users and our partners, to prevent a further rise in road fatalities serious injury road traffic collisions.”
