Laois Gardaí make a number of arrests for intoxicated driving

Laois Gardaí who were out in force on the roads over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and made a number of arrests. 

Despite the heightened presence on the roads around the county, Gardaí said it wasn’t an “overly busy” for officers. 

“We had a concerted effort to have an increased visibility on the roads,” a senior officer in Laois stated. 

“We would have aimed to have done, within a 12 hour tour of duty, there would have been five or six checkpoints done in every area,” the officer explained. 

He said the figures were still being compiled but at least four people had been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drink or drugs by Monday of the weekend. While some incidents may have not yet registered on the Garda PULSE computer system, the figure wasn’t “extraordinarily high” for a weekend, the officer said. 

Gardaí are seeing an increase in the number of motorists being detected for drug driving with the figure being equal if not a bit above the drunk driving figures. The officer said some drugs can remain in the user's system for a longer period of time than alcohol.

Gardaí said the increased garda presence was necessary to try and improve road safety and prevent fatalities. The officer acknowledged the high numbers of road deaths nationally was a concern. 

“Of course it is and hence our concentration on checkpoints this weekend. How do you stop road deaths? It is very difficult but if you are visible  it creates a mindset that might slow people down,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the officer said Laois had won both in the hurling and football and although there were a lot of people out and about there were no major incidents.

Gardaí say it was the same as an average weekend from a policing perspective.