The Garda roads policing operation, which targets speeding, drink and drug driving and mobile-phone and seat-belt offences over the long weekend, is due to continue until Tuesday, 4 August. Officers detected around 1,600 speeding offences in the opening 48 hours alone – close to 800 drivers a day. It comes against a grim backdrop for Irish road safety, with the number of people killed on the country’s roads so far this year standing at 108. You can follow more Irish news as the weekend continues.

With traffic volumes high over the break, Gardaí are maintaining checkpoints and speed enforcement across the network until the operation ends on Tuesday. The absence of any fatal collisions in the opening two days will be welcomed, though the sheer number of drivers caught speeding underlines why the campaign is running. As The Journal reported, roughly 1,600 speeding offences were detected in the first two days, and drivers are being urged to slow down for the remainder of the bank holiday.