Almost 600 road traffic collisions occurred on Irish roads over the bank holiday weekend.
New figures have been released from An Garda Síochána's road policing operation for the June Bank Holiday period, running from 7am last Thursday morning to 7am Tuesday morning.
Eight people died in six separate road collisions over the bank holiday period.
There were also ten serious injury collisions in which 11 people were seriously injured, 53 non-serious injury collisions and 515 collisions in which only "material damage" had been caused.
A further two people received serious injury in the fatal road collisions.
During this period, there were also 2,960 detections for speeding offences, while 182 drivers were arrested for alleged drink or drug-driving offences.
This afternoon, a man in his 80s died in a road crash near Bandon, Co Cork, while a 17-year-old boy died last night, bringing the number of road deaths in the space of a week to ten.
There have been 80 deaths so far this year, this is an increase of 33 when compared to the same period in 2021.
It is also an increase of 16 on the same period in 2019, which gardaí say is a more comparable year, pre-pandemic.
Gardaí have issued an appeal for motorists to slow down and not just abide by the speed limits.
Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman said that the "speed limit is not a target" and that motorists should also drive at appropriate speeds taking the weather conditions into account.
She said that a 5% reduction in speed can reduce fatal collisions by 30%.
There has been an increase in drink and drug detections, she said, and she urged people not to take the risk of driving while under the influence of drink or drugs.
Assistant Commissioner Hilman said that with all these figures, it is important not to lose sight of the human aspect of this.
Road deaths leave people devastated, she said, and mean there is someone missing from families and communities.
