James Cox
Eight people lost their lives on Irish roads between St Stephen's Day and New Year's Day in the last five years.
That's according to the Road Safety Authority (RSA), who say so far this year there have been 143 fatalities on Irish roads, an increase of 12 compared to 2019.
A new campaign launched by the RSA with the Emergency Services aims to encourage road users to be extra cautious over the festive period.
Extra time
Drivers are being urged to allow extra time for journeys and to take breaks to avoid becoming tired at the wheel.
CEO of the RSA Sam Waide says that the number of people being caught drink driving is down but warns there is a growing problem with drug driving.
Mr Waide said: “Drink driving continues to be an issue, and we will focus on this over the Christmas period, we've already conducted 2,3000 mandatory testing checkpoints.
"While the number of people drink driving has reduced broadly in line with traffic volumes, but the same cannot be said for those caught drug driving, these figures have more than doubled compared to the same time last year.
“That is a trend [rising drug driving numbers] we have seen right throughout the year," he added.
