TAOISEACH Simon Harris has urged drivers across Ireland to “slow down” this weekend while they are out enjoying the first bank holiday of the summer.
“Bank holidays are a huge relief for people across the country and the June bank holiday is a moment to celebrate summer for so many people,” he said.
“However, we have seen too many lives lost on our roads and the June bank holiday has in the past been a fatal one bringing devastation to too many families across Ireland.
“This bank holiday I’m urging drivers and all road users to think of their own safety and the safety of others out there.”
His statement comes as a raft of new laws and regulations have come been implemented to enhance safety and reduce fatalities on Ireland’s roads.
On Friday (May 31) legislation came into effect which requires anyone involved in a serious collision on an Irish road to take a mandatory drugs test.
This is in addition to the mandatory alcohol test legislation that is already in place.
Mandatory drugs tests are now taken at all serious collisions in Ireland“I welcome the start of mandatory drug testing of drivers at the scene of serious collisions,” Mr Harris said.
“It is important that momentum is maintained on priority actions to ensure we bring down the recent worrying trend in road fatalities.
“The Government is committed to taking all action necessary to reduce the number of people injured and killed on our roads.
“Each life lost is a terrible tragedy, every death is one too many.”
Speed limit changes are also due to be implemented across the country, following a “statutory speed limit review process” by each local authority.
The first phase of this will see the default speed limit on rural, local roads change from 80km/h to 60km/h.
Future phases will introduce changes to the speed limits on national secondary roads and on urban roads.
There have been 79 deaths on Irish roads so far this year, compared to 71 deaths at the same point in 2023.
Of the 2024 deaths, 30 have been drivers, 14 have been pedestrians, 20 have been passengers, 10 have been motorcyclists and there were five cyclists killed.
