Gardai operating a checkpoint in Dundalk, Co Louth in recent days caught one driver in breach of two serious road offences.
While on patrol on the M1 near Drogheda, they found a driver of a HGV not wearing a seatbelt and using their phone while they were driving.
Officers pulled the vehicle over and issued them with a Fixed Charge Notice.
According to An Garda Siochana, international research shows that you are four times more likely to crash if using a handheld phone while driving.
Texting, using social media, or messaging increases the risk substantially to yourself and other road users.
In fact, drivers spend up to 400% more time with their eyes off the road when text messaging than when not texting messaging.
Confirming the incident, gardai wrote on Twitter: “Dundalk Roads Policing Unit were on patrol on the M1 near Drogheda when they found the driver of this HGV not wearing their seatbelt and was using their phone while driving.
“They were stopped and FCPN was issued.”
Speaking on the subject, Mr Sam Waide, Chief Executive of the Road Safety Authority said: "If you take your eyes off the road for just one second, a car moving at 50km/h will travel 14 metres - that’s approximately four car lengths.
“That is 14 metres where a driver is not paying attention to the road.
“Taking a call, sending a text or checking your apps while driving is dangerous behaviour which could result in catastrophic consequences for you or some other road user. So put the phone away, it is not worth the risk.
“Nothing is that urgent that it cannot wait until you are safely parked up. If you know someone is driving, avoid phoning them, it can wait until later.”
