BY NUALA MCALOON
Police have confirmed that 'Operation Roadsafe', which ran throughout the county from Friday last until Monday, helped crack down on the key driver dangers, with a total of 285 detections made.
Drink-driving, speeding, dangerous driving, mobile phone use and the non-wearing of seatbelts were the key targets hitting the agenda throughout the four-day operation. It ran over the course of the Southern Bank Holiday weekend, covered Cookstown and Omagh as well as Fermanagh, and was supported by the Garda Síochána.
Speaking yesterday following the close of the operation, Inspector Alywin Gurney, Road Policing Fermanagh District, provided provisional figures. These showed that a total of 285 detections were made, with speed continuing to prove the biggest difficulty. Some 173 people were caught for the offence.
Two people were caught drink driving, 19 people were found to be driving carelessly and a further three motorists were caught driving dangerously. Another 15 were found driving without seatbelts and six people had no insurance. Sixteen motorists had vehicle defects while a further 49 drivers fell into the 'miscellaneous' category.
Commenting on the figures, Inspector Gurney insisted that while the statistics seemed high, the public were beginning to heed road safe advice.
"They look a big figure but for me personally, I think that the weekend was a success in that the vast majority of the public seem to have listened to us and are agreeing and complying with the law.
"However", he went on, "they haven't listened to the speeding part. There has been a big improvement on people wearing their seatbelts and using their mobile phones, but speed is an issue.
"People need to leave more time for a journey, especially at the weekends when they are travelling or going to a sporting event. Give yourself plenty of time to get there."
Meanwhile, Environment Minister, Arlene Foster took the opportunity to personally go out on the county's border roads to see first hand a police operation to tackle serious driving offences.
The Minister said: "It was good to see Operation Roadsafe for myself, especially during National Road Victim month, and I want to thank the PSNI for their work and dedication in making our roads safer.
"It is important to remember", she added, "that, ultimately, operations like this are designed to prevent us from suffering the tragedy and heartbreak of losing loved ones because of road carnage.
"It is also important that road users realise that this exercise was not a one-off. The police are out every day enforcing safety on our roads. This operation is supported by the Garda Síochána, so anyone who thinks that they can break the law and get away with it can rest assured that there is no place to hide."
Mrs Foster said it was particularly important to get the road safety message across in rural areas. "Over the last five years, 70% of our road deaths happened on rural roads and more than three quarters of all speed-related deaths and serious injuries occur on rural roads. That is of great concern to me and not just as someone from a rural area.
"I can assure you that I will continue to examine the causes of all collisions to help me to determine what more can be done."
In Fermanagh, there were five road fatalities this year to date compared with 10 last year. At 126, road deaths in Northern Ireland in 2006 were at their lowest level for almost 60 years.
