Gardaí to mount 60 checkpoints per day over Christmas

WITH An Garda Siochana’s Christmas road safety campaign underway in Mayo, motorists can expect 60 garda road checkpoints per day between now and January 6.

Mandatory alcohol testing will be taking place on the national and regional roads at night and in the mornings as gardaí target drivers the 'morning after' as well as at night, who decide to drink and drive.

Over the garda Christmas safety crackdown in the western region last year almost 100 drivers were caught for drink driving while up to 400 people were holding a mobile phone while driving.

To date, in 2015, 28 people have died on the roads of counties Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, Longford, and Clare. Twelve of those occurred in Mayo.

Noel Kelly, regional traffic superintendent for west, said the force want to ensure the number of fatalities on our roads do not increase over the festive season so that families do not have to suffer as a result of the death of a loved one due to a traffic accident.