TWENTY eight mandatory intoxicant testing (MIT) checkpoints were carried out in Donegal during the Christmas and New Year period.
In a bid to clamp down on drink and drug drivers, gardaí stepped up a roads policing operation across Donegal Division from Thursday, December 1 to Tuesday, January 3.
Figures provided to the Donegal News by An Garda Síochána show that over the one-week period from December 22 to December 28, there were five incidents of drivers under the influence of alcohol.
There was also one arrest for drug-driving offences.
Nationally 173 people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence over the Christmas holiday period.
Gardaí say that 24 of those were arrested on suspicion of drug driving after 1,380 checkpoints were carried out across the country between December 22 to December 28.
Eight people lost their lives on Donegal roads in 2022.
Nationally, 157 people died on the country’s roads last year – a rise of 25 from the same date in 2021.
More than 5,500 checkpoints were conducted during December, with 600 arrests made for driving under the influence.
There were also 186 seatbelt offences identified along with 11,647 speeding offences and 724 offences for the use of a mobile phone while driving.
A total of 4,142 collisions were reported to gardaí in 2022, according to the statistics.
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