A Garda spokesman said Operation Samhradh, the summer road safety campaign, had helped reduce road deaths from 90 in July-August 1999 to 70 in the same period this year.
The results of the Garda operation have not been fully evaluated but the spokesman said the force was happy with initial findings. "Early indications are that it has been successful and has played a significant part in reducing road deaths this year." The campaign began in mid-July and concluded on Sunday - one of the most dangerous periods on Irish roads. Almost a quarter of road fatalities in 1999 occurred in July and August.
This July 39 people died on the roads and 31 in August. These figures are an improvement on last year, when 48 died in July and 42 died in August. In 1998, the figures were 38 and 40.
Latest figures show that 273 people died on the roads so far this year. A total of 413 died in 1999. Road deaths are down 15 on this time last year.
Operation Samhradh focused on three issues: drink-driving, speeding and seat-belts. A Garda spokesman said 31,514 on-the-spot fines were issued for speeding during the seven-week campaign, 10,558 for not wearing seatbelts and 1,496 drivers were stopped on suspicion of drink-driving.
Gardai say they were particularly vigilant on drink-driving and used blitz-style operations to target certain towns and villages.