17 people are killed on State's roads in August

Just 17 people were killed on the State's roads from August 1st until yesterday afternoon. The figure, if maintained until midnight, represents just the second time road death numbers have fallen so low since 1980.

The last month in which numbers fell to 17 was November 1999.

The number of fatalities contrasts with 24 deaths during August 2005, and 35 deaths during August 2004.

Up to yesterday, 257 people were killed on the roads since the beginning of the year.

While this month's reduction coincides with the introduction of random breath testing of motorists by gardaí, the National Safety Council said yesterday "it was still too early to be definitive on the cause".

The random breath testing coincided with increased Garda activity during the recent bank holiday weekend.

A spokesman for the safety council, Brian Farrell, said it would appear that motorists were changing their behaviour, and this was to be welcomed.

He said the challenge for the immediate future would be to sustain the reduction and ensure that drivers do not revert to bad habits which would lead to a rise in road fatalities once again.

The number of road deaths also dropped dramatically on the introduction of the penalty points system for drivers in 2003, but rose again in 2004. The resurgence was attributed to a belief among some motorists that while the penalties were more severe they still would not be caught.

However, gardaí are now able to ask motorists to provide a breath specimen without having first formed the opinion that the driver was impaired through the use of alcohol.

The reduction in fatalities follows research released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) which revealed that there has been a significant increase in "safe attitudes" among the public towards drinking and driving in the Republic.

The research findings, which tracked the effectiveness of TV road safety advertising, revealed that between 2000 and the beginning of 2006 there was a 63 per cent increase in the number of people saying drivers should "Never, Ever Drink and Drive".

There was also a 45 per cent drop in the number of people saying it was okay to drink and drive after more than one unit of alcohol.

The research findings also pointed to a groundswell of public support for the efforts of the Garda and greater enforcement. Some 79 per cent of the public said they wanted to see more road-side breath testing for drink drivers.