00:00 [Sounds of traffic]
00:24 Okay, so this is the first time that there has been a cross-border element on focusing on speeding.
00:28 Can you tell me the purpose of this today?
00:31 Yeah, the purpose of this joint operation with our colleagues in the PSNI is to keep people safe on the roads.
00:35 Unfortunately, both in the Garda area of operation and the PSNI area of operation,
00:40 a large number of people have been fatally injured and died on the roads, and we're trying to prevent that.
00:47 By concentrating on what I would term the lifesaver offences,
00:51 being drunk driving, drink driving, speeding and not wearing a seatbelt,
00:55 we're trying to educate the public that needs to do this to keep themselves safe on the roads.
01:00 That's why we're working together today.
01:02 You mentioned there that there are a number of life's advantages.
01:05 You're focusing on speeding, but there are also other elements as well, as you said, the not wearing seatbelts.
01:09 Now it's about to come up to Christmas, the darker nights,
01:12 would you ask people to think more when they get onto the car?
01:16 Absolutely. Lots of things are going to play at this time of year.
01:20 The road conditions. We frost this morning earlier, for example.
01:23 You've got leaves on the road, the dark nights.
01:25 All these things are factors.
01:27 Speed limits, for example.
01:28 Sometimes the speed limit is fit for a purpose based on normal driving conditions.
01:33 Other times it's not. It's not a target to be achieved.
01:36 You're only supposed to drive in accordance with the conditions that are prevalent at the time.
01:40 And that's what we're trying to ask people to do.
01:42 I suppose to keep it simple, what I say to people is,
01:45 no matter how good a driver we think we are, we're not.
01:48 And the other thing I would say is, we're only as good as the other driver we meet.
01:52 We have that in mind.
01:53 If you're driving conservantly and safely, leave extra time to get to where we need to go.
01:58 I think, hopefully, we'll have no more deaths before Christmas.
02:01 [ambient traffic noise]
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