The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has announced his plans for the establishment of a specialised traffic corps within the Garda Síochána.
The minister says the corps will operate within a ring-fenced budget and have its own staff.
1,200 gardaí are to be assigned to the unit by the time it is fully up and running in 2008, but in the next 14 months the number of gardaí on traffic duty will be increased by only 32 to 563.
The minister has also announced a new strategic review of traffic policing.
Around 600 gardaí will be diverted from the existing traffic units and an extra 500 will come from the new recruitment plan.
Officers will concentrate exclusively on policing traffic. They will only deal with other crimes if they come across them during their traffic duties.
They will drive a separate fleet of clearly marked patrol cars, and will be backed up by unmarked vehicles.
332 people have died on Irish roads so far this year, 22 more than last year.
Drink driving and speeding will be specifically targeted by the new traffic corps.
