Over quarter of NI motorists admit to speeding

Over one quarter of drivers in Northern Ireland exceed the speed limit regardless of road type, figures released today showed.

The Northern Ireland Road Safety Monitor 2003 survey is the latest in a series of research on attitudes, behaviour and awareness of road safety issues in Northern Ireland which has been carried out since 1995.

Released on Tuesday, figures showed that men are twice as likely as women (35% compared to 17%) to speed on roads while almost three fifths (57%) of respondents thought it was likely that they would be stopped by the police for speeding.

In 2003, over one third (34%) of motorists who drink, said it was likely they would drive after one drink. This reduced to 19% after two drinks and 7% after three or more drinks.

Meanwhile, an ongoing Police campaign to reduce road deaths continued at the weekend with an operation to target drink driving and other main causes of road fatalities.

As part of Operation Viper, police saud that 519 detections were made for road traffic offences in the Greater Belfast area between 4pm and 4am on Friday and Saturday.

A further 12 arrests for drink driving were made elsewhere in Northern Ireland as part of normal Police action against drinking and driving.

During the Belfast operation, particular attention was paid to roads with a history of serious collisions as Police targeted drinking and driving, speeding, the non-wearing of seatbelts and driving without due care and attention.

This year has seen 143 deaths on Northern Ireland's roads caused, for the most part, by these five factors.

(MB)