Think before flashing those lights!
A large jump in serious injury collisions on roads in Tipperary and ongoing increases in the speeds at which motorists are driving has sparked a call by the Chief Superintendent of an Garda Síochána in the county urging drivers to quit the practice of flashing their lights at oncoming vehicles to make them aware of the presence of speed detector vans.
Chief Superintendent DerekSmart made his appeal at last Friday’s meeting of the Tipperary Joint Policing Committee where he also revealed trends that are making driving on roads in the county less safe, with hikes in intoxicated driving and motorists holding a mobile while behind the wheel.
The Chief Superintendent said that serious injury collisions in the county were up 100pc in the twelve months up to the end of January.
Garda checkpoints across the county had increased dramatically since the most severe pandemic lockdowns, which had contributed to a 67pc increase in detections of drink driving.
The Chief Superintendent said breaking of speed limits was also on an upward trend. Speeding offences in the three months up to the end of January in the country jumped by 28pc compared with the same three month period up to January 2020 – a jump from 3,528 detections to 4,504 detections.
A total of 872 people were caught driving while holding a mobile phone, a rise of 14pc in the same period.
The Chief Superintendent said the figures showed that there were still drivers who were prepared to take a risk and put their own lives and the lives of other roadusers at risk by their behaviour.
He said that excessive speed was resulting in a lot of accidents and the gardaí were trying to get people to look at their behaviour.
FLASHING LIGHTS
The Chief Superintendent said the speeds people were driving at were increasing all the time. People were not heeding the limits. The consequences were that they were losing their driving licences and putting their own lives and the lives of others at risk.
He said motorists who flashed their lights to make drivers of oncoming cars aware that there was a speed van ahead might think they have high intentions. But such activity was not helping to change behaviour or contribute to a lowering of speeding.
Cllr Ger Darcy said the 4,504 detected for speeding in a three-months period was not even an accurate indication of the real extent of the problem as it only took garda checks into account and not those detected by roadside detection vans.
“The roads have become a lot more heavily trafficked over the last six months, so I appeal to people, for God's sake, take it easy,” said Cllr Darcy, who stressed that very little time can be spared breaking speed limits.