On what's expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the Christmas period, gardaí have appealed to drivers to reduce speed and be mindful of other road users.
Bus, rail, ferry and air services will operate at close to peak capacity on many routes today, as people make their way home for the festive season.
Gardaí are staging a 24-hour speed enforcement operation today to coincide with increased traffic on roads around the country.
It is the latest element in an ongoing Christmas campaign, aimed at promoting safer driving and reducing collisions.
So far this year, a total of 184 people have lost their lives on Irish roads.
Drivers are being asked to observe speed limits at all times and to take extra care given the additional numbers making long journeys.
Public transport timetables are operating as normal today, but service providers are advising intending passengers to pre-book where possible.
It will be another day of homecomings at the country’s airports and ferry ports.
More than 50,000 arrivals are due into Dublin Airport over the course of the day, with thousands more landing at Knock, Cork and Shannon.
2025 most dangerous year on record for a decade - gardaí
Superintendent Liam Geraghty said the number of road deaths this year is worrying and very, very disappointing.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said: "I suppose 2025 is already the most dangerous year on record for probably 10 years.
"In 2023, we had 182 fatalities in our road, which was the last highest, and we've now gone past that already with certainly a week yet to go of a week when there is an awful lot of additional travel takes place in our roads as people head home for Christmas, travel to socialise over the Christmas period and meet family and friends.
"So, it is a very, very concerning and very, very worrying trend in the last year or two."
He said that An Garda Síochána is out enforcing the speed limits on the roads every day of the year, in conjunction with partners GoSafe.
"There's certainly in excess of 175,000 fixed-charge notices that have been issued for speeding so far this year.
"And again, that's not something that people talk about too much.
"They'll talk about when they don't see a speed check, but they don't tell you when they've actually got penalty points or got a fixed-charge notice for speeding, because that's not something to be proud of or to brag about.
"Our national slowdown days are key days when we actually try to create a conversation around speeding, and that's the aim ... because it is something that we do need to talk about all the time.
"We do need to talk to our partners, our families, sons, daughters, whoever it may be.
"If you know somebody that tends to speed, you need to call them out and you need to ask them to slow down.
"We need to have those conversations now with people while they're still alive.
"There's no point in talking about it when they've added to the number of fatalities on our roads", he said.
In relation to an increase in people being caught driving under the influence of drugs, he said that it is also worrying.
"The numbers of people caught driving while under the influence of intoxicants continues to increase week on week during this campaign.
"Last week alone, 170. So far in December this year, 444 drivers have been arrested under the influence of intoxicants with about 44, 45% of those primarily being under the intoxicant of some sort of a drug.
"And again, yes, that is concerning.
"So, the message may be getting across a little bit around the alcohol and not driving under the influence of alcohol.
"But drugs have the same impact on your body. Drugs actually impact on your body and your system for a longer period of time and take longer to wear off than alcohol does.
"So, people need to be aware that, first of all, they should not be taking illegal drugs in the 1st place because that actually feeds into the whole organised crime and funding organised crime activity and issues like that.
"But they also put themselves at danger, put anybody else they have in the car with them at danger and also put other road users at danger as well."
Supt Geraghty said that as part of the road Christmas campaign, so far in December, there have been over 5,500 checkpoints across the country.
"And again, people will very, very quickly say, oh, well, I haven't come across a checkpoint or haven't seen a speed checkpoint.
"But the reality is those 444 drivers so far this December who have been arrested for driving while intoxicated, the chances are they have told very, very few people that they were arrested.
"Again, it's not something to be proud of. They're facing court cases.
"So, An Garda Síochána are out in strength.
"We will be on the roads again today as part of the National Slowdown Day with our partners in GoSafe enforcing speed limits.
"And I suppose while we would understand and appreciate, the vast majority of drivers are actually very, very compliant and do a really, really good job in trying to keep our roads safe.
"But there is a significant cohort of drivers out there who, as we have already said, do not listen.
"Do not think it's going to happen to them. A, that they will be stopped by and maybe prosecuted. But more concerningly, do not think that they're going to be the one that may be involved in that serious injury road traffic collision or that fatal road traffic collision.
"Nobody's getting up this morning to go out and get involved in a fatal road traffic collision, but they do happen and everybody needs to take care on our roads this Christmas", he said.
