A report on road safety in the 25 EU member states has placed the Republic in 13th place in terms of law enforcement.
The European Transport Safety Council study measured the progress of member states in enforcing speeding, drink- driving and seat-belt laws from 2003 to 2004. The council says its report is the first independent analysis of road-safety enforcement across the enlarged EU.
It found that Ireland was improving in areas of speeding and seat-belt use, but was behind in the enforcement of drink-driving laws. It said Ireland has the second-lowest number of drink-driving checks in the EU per road user.
This poor record, which showed the number of detections actually fell between 2003 and 2004, was due to the absence of random breath-testing, the report said.
Finland had the highest score, with "exemplary speeding and drink-driving enforcement records". It was followed by Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany.
The worst countries for enforcement were Poland, Cyprus, Slovakia and Spain.
Fewer than 1 per cent of drivers in Ireland were caught not wearing seat-belts, while the most recorded offenders for not wearing belts were in Slovenia, where over 6 per cent of motorists were caught in 2004.
A spokesman for the ETSC, Timmo Janitzek, said Finland's record was due to tough penalties, the regularity of its alcohol checks, as well as its pioneering of various technologies.
"Finland is very progressive in terms of alcohol checks; they undertake 1.4 million tests annually, and this means that only a few drivers drive under the influence of alcohol. In 2005, only 1.5 per cent of all drivers [ in Finland] drove under the influence of alcohol. In many others states that figure is closer to 4 or 5 per cent," said Mr Janitzek.
Finland has also pioneered two pieces of technology aimed at cutting speeding and drink-driving, he added.
The Alcohol Interlock, a device that requires the driver to take a breath test before starting the car and, if he fails the test, locks the car's ignition, was introduced as part of a rehabilitation pilot programme in Finland last summer.
The programme offers offenders the chance to take part in a trial whereby they are issued with a temporary driving licence on condition the Interlock is fitted to their car.
A second innovation, Intelligent Speed Adaptation, uses global-positioning technology to limit the speed of a vehicle by restricting it to the posted speed limit on a given road.
A spokesman for the National Safety Council said: "What stands out in the report [ is that] in countries where mandatory breath-testing and tougher penalties are introduced, it has a dramatic effect".
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said: "Anything that can assist in improving driver behaviour and improving road safety warrants serious consideration."