Cork garda urges: ‘For the Christmas period, let’s get home safely’

Seventeen people have lost their lives on Cork roads in the city and county since the start of this year, a senior garda said.

Speaking in Mallow at a joint briefing by An Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority, on Monday, before the most recent deaths on our roads, Inspector Fergal O’Donovan, who is in charge of roads policing in Cork county, said 10 people had died on Cork county roads so far this year, and seven in the city.

That figure compares to the 19 road deaths recorded in the city and county across the 12 months of 2024, which had in turn marked a 30% increase on the 15 people who died on Cork roads over the previous year, 2023.

The 19 people who lost their lives on Cork roads last year marked the highest figures for road fatalities in Cork since 2020, when 24 road deaths were recorded across the city and county.

Nationally, 179 people died on Irish roads since the start of this year, already a 3% increase on the 174 road fatalities recorded across the 12 months of 2024.

Insp O’Donovan said roads policing gardaí had carried out a mandatory intoxicant testing checkpoint on the N72 near Mallow Racecourse, as part of An Garda Síochána Christmas and new year road safety campaign, which launched on December 1.

“This checkpoint is all about enforcement, but enforcement alone doesn’t save lives, your individual choice will save lives when driving,” 

he said.

This Christmas, he said, An Garda Síochána is asking the public to do one simple thing, to arrive home safely: “You do it by slowing down, you do it by wearing your safety belt, you do it by not driving after drink or taking drugs, and you also do it by not using your mobile phone while driving — don’t be distracted while driving.”

The Christmas period is one of the busiest on Irish roads, and one of the periods during which road users are at the highest risk of being involved in a fatal or serious road traffic collision.

Insp Donovan said he was asking people to make a choice about road safety: “For the next 20 days, for the Christmas period, let’s go home to our families safely.”