Drivers warned on road rules as Freeflow under way

Gardaí have warned motorists that the rules of the road will be rigorously enforced during the Operation Freeflow traffic-management plan for Dublin, which starts this morning and runs for six weeks.

More than 160 student gardaí are being drafted in to bolster the force's efforts to minimise traffic disruption over the Christmas shopping period. The operation continues until January 5th.

AA Roadwatch yesterday warned motorists against false expectations from Operation Freeflow and predicted Dublin's traffic would often be "lousy" over the Christmas period, regardless of the plan. "Operation Freeflow is a band-aid measure, not a solution to the city's traffic problems," said AA Roadwatch spokesman Conor Faughnan.

"It's a useful ad-hoc measure and traffic in December would be worse without it, but there will be days when things go wrong and traffic is badly affected."

Mr Faughnan said the plan had worked fairly well last Christmas but that there were "good years and bad years".

He acknowledged that it would not have prevented last Wednesday's major snarl-up in Dublin traffic, which was caused by emergency water works on the N11.

No park-and-ride facilities are being provided this year as part of the plan because Dublin Bus said the take-up in the two previous years was too low.

Under Operation Freeflow, all non- essential roadworks in the Dublin area are postponed until after Christmas. However, work on upgrading the M50 will continue, on the basis that this is a major infrastructural improvement that needs to be completed as soon as possible.

Irish Rail has said many services from Heuston next week will require bus transfers because of track improvement works between Inchicore and Sallins.

The Deputy Garda Commissioner, Fachtna Murphy, said areas such as quality bus corridors, Luas junctions, major traffic junctions and Nitelink services would be targeted for special attention from gardaí.

Addressing senior gardaí with responsibility for implementing the plan, Mr Murphy said on Saturday that the air support unit, mountain bike unit, regional traffic division, mounted unit and communications centre would also have roles to play.

"Traffic disruption will be kept to a minimum for users of both public and private transport," he said.

A dedicated website, www.freeflow.ie, will provide information on the various public transport services, including bus and train timetables, Luas locations, as well as maps and guides, giving clear directions on the most suitable transport modes depending on location.

Traffic information is also available on LiveDrive 103.2FM each weekday from 4 pm-8 pm.