Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne today appealled to young male drivers to drive with care and consideration as he announced an expansion of the road safety initiative Operation Lifesaver.
Mr Byrne said all road deaths were preventable adding: "it is not the roads that are dangerous, it’s how we use them".
Under the umbrella of Operation Lifesaver, the Garda is planning a series of initiatives during the coming year targeting speeding, drink driving, wearing seat belts and young drivers, particulary young male drivers.
The announcement came after four more people died in road crashes in the last three days, including a two-year-old child in a crash in Co Meath today.
Two teenage girls died in the early hours of Sunday morning after the car in which they were travelling with five others plunged down a 25-foot ravine outside the village of Boolteens near Castlemaine in Co Kerry.
Ms Rachel Greensmyth (19) and Ms Claire O'Donnell (18), of Camp, Co Kerry, died instantly in the crash.
And a 19-year-old man died in a single vehicle crash in Co Limerick this morning.
Over 40 people have been killed on the State’s roads since the beginning of the year. In 2000, 415 people were killed in road crashes.