If you use your phone while driving, things are going to get a lot stricter in 2017

Employers are being asked to show zero tolerance from this year onwards.

The Road Safety Authority has called upon employers to show zero tolerance to staff using their mobile phones while driving. The chief executive of the RSA, Moyagh Murdock, told Richard Chambers on Newstalk earlier on Monday, "We need the employers to take more responsibility to ensure that their employees get that message, that there is zero tolerance about using mobile phones while driving.

"We want people to take heed of the risk they are posing to themselves and to other people. The message is very clear: if we didn’t have the level of enforcement and messaging out there, it could be a lot worse."

The number of road deaths in Ireland in 2016 rose from the previous year; 187 people perished on our roads last year, compared to 162 in 2015.

Dublin and Cork had the largest number of fatalities with 21, with Limerick following on 16 according to The Irish Times.

As well as carelessness due to the use of phones while driving, Murdock point to speed, alcohol and lack of seat belts as major killers on the road.

"Any loss of life is a tragedy, so there is no such thing as a good year. It all comes down to the same causes: alcohol, speed and seat belts," she added.

"Unfortunately, people are still taking unnecessary risks; they’re behaving irresponsibly when it comes to making that decision whether to drink and drive, and it’s had tragic consequences on our roads in 2016 despite all the messaging."

Selfishness

She pointed out that people continue to act selfishly when they decide to drink and drive, but that An Garda Síochána are doing great work despite depleted numbers.

“I think people are still behaving very selfishly. They may have been doing this in the past and think they can continue to get away with it, but as you will have seen from the figures in December, the Garda Síochána were very public about their enforcement campaign.

“We accept that there are reduced numbers in An Garda Síochána, but they have been extremely strategic and targeted in their approach, indicating that there is still a problem with non-compliance, so even with the reduced numbers in the Garda Traffic Corps they are very effective at picking up people that take that line of action, and they will be caught.

“This December [2016] was slightly better than last year, so we can assume there is a small number of people who drink and drive. Most people are very responsible, they do make other arrangements.

“I would say the campaign this year was very effective; the numbers could have been much higher only for it. I believe people are listening, but it is a small number [who are irresponsible] – it only takes one or two people to cause a serious crash and, tragically, we have to get those people to stop engaging in that behaviour.

“The best thing that could happen to them is that they are caught. The worst thing that could happen to them is that they are killed or they kill someone.

“There were over 738 people detected for drink-driving [in December] and today they will be waking up, maybe tomorrow facing into going back to work with some news for their employer saying that they will now be facing a driving ban. It could have severe career implications for them.

“The message from the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána is never, ever drink and drive.”