Drivers were warned yesterday to slow down over the August bank holiday after a survey found that seven out of 10 drivers think it acceptable to drive at 10 m.p.h. over the speed limit.
The National Safety Council (NSC), which conducted the survey, described the findings as disturbing and as showing "a killer attitude".
The survey also found that four out of 10 drivers believed it was acceptable to break the speed limit on local and regional roads where most fatal accidents, 60 per cent, and most fatal accidents where speed was a factor occurred.
Males at 47 per cent were more likely to consider it acceptable to break the speed limit on these roads than females, at 27 per cent.
The chairman of the NSC, Mr Eddie Shaw, said: "Clearly many of us in this country consider 'real speeding' to be driving in excess of the limit by more than 10 m.p.h. This is a killer attitude as there is no such thing as safe or acceptable speeding."
At any speed a car was a lethal weapon. Many drivers did not really understand speed and seriously underestimated the consequences of driving fast, he said.
Driving above the speed limit or driving too fast for the conditions reduced a driver's margin of safety, Mr Shaw said.
He asked how many people were aware that an average car travelling at 5 m.p.h. over the 30 m.p.h. limit would need another 21 feet (6.5 metres) to stop. For a pedestrian this was a killing distance.
"This weekend people who consider themselves safe drivers need to drive more carefully and slowly. This means leaving a bigger distance between you and the car in front. Remember the two-second rule, four seconds if it's raining. Be alert for vulnerable road-users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, the very old and the very young," Mr Shaw warned.
Put simply, if a car hit a person at 40 m.p.h., it hit four times harder than a car travelling at 20 m.p.h. If travelling at 60 m.p.h. a car hits a person nine times harder than at 20 m.p.h.
"So I would say to people: understand the nature of speed, understand the destructive force of your car and please slow down," Mr Shaw said.
The online survey of almost 2,500 drivers in the State was conducted by the National Safety Council and www.cbg.ie Car Buyers Guide and W5 Marketing in July 2004.
It found that 95 per cent of respondents thought it acceptable to drive up to five m.p.h. over the speed limit, 70 per cent up to 10 m.p.h. over and 16 per cent up to 15 m.p.h. over.
The NSC said that over the August bank holiday weekend last year five people died in four fatal crashes: 67 people were injured in 47 crashes; and there were 226 material-damage crashes on the roads.
Supt Declan O'Brien from the Garda National Traffic Bureau said: "As part of operation lifesaver An Garda Síochána will be focusing on the main killer offences of speeding, drunk driving and the non-wearing of seatbelts. We will be performing checkpoints at collision-prone locations in an effort to reduce the continuous carnage on our roads."