A road safety campaign which began on 29 November, last, will continue in Waterford City and County and nationwide until 6 January, 2025.
Over a nine day period (20 December to 29 December) there were eight fatalities on the roads nationwide, with 18 serious collisions resulting in 20 people receiving serious and life-threatening injuries.
Gardaí said they have carried out over 2,500 checkpoints including statutory Mandatory Intoxicant Testing (MIT) and regular, high-visibility policing checkpoints.
Nationally, there were 268 people were arrested during this period for driving under the influence of an intoxicant (alcohol and drugs), with 74 arrested over one weekend period alone.
Over 3,750 drivers were detected for speeding offences the Gardaí and by GoSafe.
Over 550 vehicles were seized by Gardaí for a range of offences under the Road Traffic Act, 1961.
This New Year period will be extremely busy on Irish roads. It will also be one of the periods during which road users are at the highest risk of being involved in a fatal or serious road traffic collision.
To date, 178 people have lost their lives in road traffic collisions on Irish roads.
Gardaí are appealing to all those who will be taking to the roads over the New Year period and as people return to home and to work at the end of the week and early next week to slow down, take extra care and to give your driving your full attention.
