The first full-time road safety officer outside Dublin is to be appointed in Donegal in an attempt to tackle the county's high level of fatal road crashes.
In a separate move, a two month anti-drink driving campaign for Donegal is to be inaugurated today, featuring increased Garda enforcement and community awareness.
The campaign is to be launched in the county council offices in Letterkenny by Minister of State Pat (the Cope) Gallagher. It will be addressed by the incoming chairman of the National Safety Authority, Gay Byrne. It is the second road safety campaign concentrating on Donegal, following two multiple-death car crashes near Buncrana late last year.
A new group, the Donegal Road Safety Together Group, comprising gardaí, members of the National Roads Authority, the Department of Transport and the National Safety Council, as well as the county council, is behind the campaigns and the creation of the position of full-time road safety officer. An announcement of the position is imminent, The Irish Times has been told.
Meanwhile, the Bills formally establishing the Road Safety Authority and new Road Traffic Bill have been formally approved by the Oireachtas. They will now be signed into law by President Mary McAleese.
Yesterday, a 69-year-old west Cork woman became the 205th person to die on Irish roads this year when she was fatally injured in a three vehicle collision at Durrus Cross outside Bantry. The woman, whose name hasn't been released by gardaí until all next of kin are notified, was living in Schull. She was killed when the car she was driving was in collision with a camper van and a van at the junction at 9.25am.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene and her remains were removed to Bantry General Hospital.
The occupants of both other vehicles were unhurt.