CLARE’S most senior garda has expressed concern about a “significant” increase in the number of people caught driving while intoxicated, writes Fiona McGarry.

Chief Superintendent Seán Colleran highlighted a 27% increase in Driving Under the Influence (CUI) incidents between last November and January, when compared to the same period in 2020/21.

Addressing the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting last week, the chief was critical of drivers who are willing to take risks with their lives and those of others.

In terms of the numbers of people detected driving while intoxicated, Chief Superintendent Colleran said: “It’s up to 38 for this three-month period, as opposed to 30 for the previous three months.

“As much as we talk about driver behaviour, and messages getting through, it points to the fact there are still people out there that take risks, and they take risks with other people’s lives because of the offences they commit.”

In respect of road traffic collisions, he said this year’s figures to-date were a cause for concern.

“In terms of road traffic collisions, the figures for 2021 were very small,” he said.

“For the three-month period coming into this year, we’ve had two [fatal] collisions this year, which would certainly not be in line with other years. It’s something that we’re vigilant towards.

“We’re very conscious of the fact that there’s a lot more traffic on the roads. It’s something where we take a very proactive approach in terms of how we investigate and enforce road traffic legislation.

“But, again, you can have a period of time where there are no fatal collisions and then there can be a number of incidents that are either serious or fatal. The figures for serious injury are small.”

Speeding detections were also up in the figures presented by the Chief Superintendent.

“Speeding has gone up by 9% to 1,239 for that three-month period, which is quite a significant number,” he said.

“We continually advise as best we can, but there’s not just the enforcement aspect of complying with road traffic regulations, the speeding offences go to show that there’s still a percentage of people out there that are breaching speed limits.

“In terms of [driving with] no insurances, there’s been a slight increase up to 31. In a three-month period, that’s still a significant number of people that we interact with that have no insurance.”

“So, in terms of speeding, no insurance, driving while intoxicated, that’s something we’re very concerned about. But again, our proactive response results in an increase in detections in those key areas.”