Byrne says drink-driving arrests and deaths depressing

Chairman of the Road Safety Authority Gay Byrne has described as "terribly depressing" the increase in drink-driving arrests and continued fatalities on the roads over the May bank holiday weekend.

Commenting on figures released by the Garda last night indicating that 320 motorists were arrested for suspected drink or drug-driving over the weekend, up nearly 20 on last year, Mr Byrne said it was "disappointing that people are still taking a chance".

"There are obviously people who don't read a newspaper, don't watch the television or don't listen to the radio and simply don't get the message," he told The Irish Times. "But they will find out the hard way."

The Road Safety Authority has requested figures from future Garda road safety operations in relation to the number of people breathalysed, rather than one set of figures dealing with positive tests. Mr Byrne believed these more comprehensive figures would fully reflect the level of drink-driving in Irish society. However, Mr Byrne said the Garda were clearly out in force at the weekend.

"If they caught 320 then they must have tested 1,000 or even more. I said when I took the job that it was always going to be a very long period of education, sermonising and enforcement until people come around."

Commenting on the last road deaths, those of a man and woman both aged 20 in Dundalk at 3am yesterday, Mr Byrne said it was clear excessive speed was a factor. The BMW car involved, which hit a pedestrian barrier, was "clearly not doing 20 miles per hour", he said.

The number of people arrested for suspected drink and drug-driving increased despite one of the biggest road safety campaigns ever undertaken in the media in recent weeks.

A major weekend high visibility Garda operation specifically aimed at drink-drivers was also undertaken.

The number of arrests was mirrored by a significant number of fatalities on the roads at the weekend.

Six people were killed in the Republic over the weekend, bringing to 140 the number of road fatalities so far this year. This compares with 118 in the same period last year. In April 38 people lost their lives, up from 23 deaths in April 2005, despite 31 penalty point offences being added at the start of the month.

It was the worst April on the roads since 2000.