A report on the enforcement of road safety law in Europe has placed Ireland 13th of the 25 member states of the European Union.
Finland was in first position while Poland was last.
Ireland was particularly faulted for poor enforcement of drink-driving laws.
The report was compiled by the European Transport Safety Council, a non-profit road safety lobby group based in Brussels.
It has produced what it claims is the first independent report on road traffic law enforcement across the 25 states of the EU.
It looks at the introduction of best practice law enforcement in the three priority areas the EU states themselves agreed on - speeding, drink driving and seat belt use - and suggests that strong law enforcement gets the best results.
Ireland ranked in the middle. It scored well on speed control, average on seatbelt use, but poorly on drink driving control, mainly due to the absence of random testing.
Finland scored top marks in all categories and was noted for its use of new technologies such as alcolocks, which prevent cars starting if the driver is over the limit.
Several eastern European states fared badly, due to shortages of equipment and legal problems.
In terms of road deaths Ireland is among the safer countries, lying in eighth position. Number 25 is Latvia, the most dangerous EU state for road users.
