Detections for people not wearing seat-belts in Co Donegal up by 70%

The number caught driving while using a mobile phone up by 200%

The number of detections for people not wearing seatbelts in Co Donegal has risen by 70 per cent this year compared to the same period last year.

Despite a number of serious incidents on the county’s roads, gardaí have stopped an alarming number of motorists who were not wearing seatbelts.

Insp Michael Harrison, head of the Garda Traffic Corps for Co Donegal, said the trend for overall traffic violations in the county was rising.

He noted that a total of 41 people were arrested for not wearing seatbelts in January and February this year, compared to 28 arrests for the same period last year.

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Drink-driving detections are also up from 43 in the first two months of last year to 68 detections in the first two months of this year.

Five people have lost their lives on Donegal’s roads this year, including the four friends killed in a single-vehicle crash at the end of January.

Mobile phone

Insp Harrison said the number of drivers in the county caught driving while using a mobile phone has risen by more than 200 per cent from 24 for the first two months of last year to 77 for the same period this year.

“It has been proven that the non-wearing of seatbelts, drinking while driving and using mobile phones increase the chance of people being involved in a serious accident,” he said.

“And yet here in Donegal people continue to take a chance on it. On a personal level, I simply cannot understand it. I simply do not have the answers.”