Motorists have been urged to take care over the bank holiday weekend as roads remain wet and mucky following recent weather conditions.
An Garda Síochána will be carrying out an enhanced Road Safety and Traffic Enforcement campaign across the St Brigid's bank holiday weekend with dedicated checkpoints in place.
The campaign began yesterday and will run until 7am on 3 February.
Superintendent Liam Geraghty said that this weekend will be challenging on Irish roads, as roads are very wet across the country.
He said that there will be increases in road safety with additional checkpoints and a traffic enforcement campaign, but weather conditions will determine where the checkpoints can be placed.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland he said that even outside the counties with Status Yellow rain warnings in place, roads are very wet with additional muck and debris present from strong winds.
He added that, particularly on rural roads, drivers should not take the chance of driving through a road blocked with water, as flood waters could damage their vehicle, and you could have to be rescued by emergency services who are already quite busy this weekend.
He said that driving slower gives more opportunity to react to danger and that gardaí are concerned by distracted driving, which he said was a major cause of accidents.
"We are concerned about the increased use of mobile phones by drivers."
He said that gardaí have seen people eating, drinking, watching videos, women applying makeup, or men shaving behind the wheel.
Over the last five years, An Garda Síochána has issued nearly 110,000 Fixed Charge Notices for holding a mobile phone while driving.
