Gay Byrne said yesterday that it would be a "fantastic breakthrough" if some of the "magic" of the smoking ban could be worked in relation to driver behaviour.
Mr Byrne, chairman of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), was launching the third in a series of campaigns to promote road safety in Co Donegal, a county which has had several high-profile motoring tragedies in recent years.
Speaking in Letterkenny, he said the problem of speeding was not just confined to young people.
There were also older people "driving around as if they were on the M50 or M1 rather than on inadequate roads where they should drive in accordance with the conditions".
He expressed his full backing for a new campaign in the county to warn people of the dangers of drinking and driving.
Calling for a change in attitudes about how we drive, he said that the single greatest cultural change in his lifetime in Ireland was the introduction of the smoking ban in public places.
"Many people were opposed to it and said that it would not work, but it did - and we love it.
"If we can work some of that magic in relation to driver behaviour it would be a fantastic breakthrough." He welcomed the introduction of new legislation which will lead to random breath testing this year.
It is also intended to take 11 million pictures from speed cameras over the next year, while stricter penalties for motoring offences, including drink driving, are expected to have an impact on motorists' behaviour.
"It is a long road but this is all part of the solution to the problem," Mr Byrne added.
Minister of State for Transport Pat the Cope Gallagher said that over 4,000 people were convicted of drink-driving offences last year, an increase of 30 per cent over 2004.
Garda chief superintendent John McFadden stressed that people must realise that when it came to road crashes they could not afford to have a "it won't happen to me" attitude.
He said the Garda would rigorously enforce the law, and would target towns to clamp down on drink-driving offenders.
Yesterday's road safety campaign launch was organised by the Donegal Road Safety Working Group, which is made up of representatives from a number of public bodies, politicians and the Garda.
Earlier this year it launched campaigns on the importance of seatbelts and the need to drive at slower speeds.