Gardaí will be “duty bound” to investigate reports of bad driving made by members of the public via a new online portal, a superintendent has said.
The Traffic Watch reporting form opened on Thursday and replaces a 20-year-old phoneline for reporting non-emergency traffic incidents, which received 45,000 reports over the last decade. It will now be upgraded to an online alternative.
From Thursday, members of the public can find the online reporting form on the garda.ie webpage. This is a separate service to the emergency numbers 999 and 112.
The new system relies on a “partnership approach” with all road users and aims to improve driver behaviour and reduce road collisions, An Garda Síochana said.
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Supt Liam Geraghty said the initiative sends a signal to drivers that just because they cannot see a garda on the road, “this does not mean that somebody is not watching you or that somebody is not prepared to stand up and say that is irresponsible; that is unacceptable”.
He said gardaí are duty bound to investigate allegations made through the portal and to try to find relevant evidence, perhaps from CCTV or witnesses. It is not just drivers but all road users who can be the subject of reports, including cyclists, e-scooter users and pedestrians, he said.
Examples of behaviours to report include one-off incidents of careless driving or habitual inconsiderate parking, the superintendent said. He noted the scheme has been welcomed by some members of the cycling community who used the previous phone reporting system.
Online reports, made via a form at garda.ie/en/trafficwatchreport/, will be logged by staff at the force’s Information Services Centre and are forwarded to gardaí in the relevant area. Reporters must be prepared to provide a statement and there is no capacity to submit anonymous complaints.
Although video footage cannot yet be uploaded to the portal, Supt Geraghty said it can play a role further into the process. Gardaí are conscious that videos can be cut or edited to spin an event in a particular way, so they may seek extended footage and corroborating evidence, he added.
The Irish Cycling Campaign welcomed the initiative as a “significant step towards modernising traffic incident reporting”. The advocacy group said the move will “improve safety for everyone”.
There have been 116 road fatalities in the State so far this year, 13 more than in the same period last year.
Supt Geraghty said a 17-year-old was this week caught driving at 190km/h on the M8 motorway, which has a 120km/h speed limit. The boy has been fined and banned from driving for two years, he said.
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