The number of people killed on Irish roads this year has increased by 12 compared to 2019.
There have been 143 such deaths so far this year according to the Road Safety Authority (RSA), who along with Gardaí and the Dublin Fire Brigade have launched this year's Christmas Road Safety campaign.
According to the RSA, 18 people have lost their lives on Irish roads between Christmas and New Year over the past 5 years.
This year, gardaí have also noted the number of drug drivers has doubled since December 4th compared to the same period last year.
This year's campaign will feature a number of ads over the Christmas period, one of which will highlight the impact road collisions have on first-responders.
Chief Fire Officer, Dennis Keeley urged motorists to pay particular care when driving over the coming weeks as they may not have been driving as much during the lockdown.
Data published earlier this year by the RSA showed that between January 1st and October 31st this year, Cork had the highest number of road deaths with 19, followed closely by Dublin with 18.
At that point, Leitrim, Longford and Laois were the only counties with no road deaths recorded in the 10-month period.
