Mr. Mark Toland:

We looked first at the structure and found there is a Garda national traffic bureau and a Dublin metropolitan region traffic unit, each division in Dublin has a traffic unit and there are traffic units throughout the country. We make recommendations about how these should be deployed in the future and welcome the fact they are to be renamed as roads policing, so they focus on criminals using the road networks. The traffic corps has seen a significant reduction in the number of gardaí assigned to traffic duties, as have community policing units seen such a reduction. Many people have been lost through promotion and have not been replaced. We recommend that the divisional model considers how these people are deployed.

Currently, people from other units deal with serious car accidents where people are injured. I believe traffic officers should deal with the most serious accidents. Motorways are probably the most dangerous places for police officers to operate on. Those police officers should be properly trained traffic officers. The report considers this issue. We recognise the need for the Garda to clarify the role of traffic officers and to ensure they are deployed to the sort of incidents identified, because these are serious issues. Officers need skills to cure traffic problems and to deal with serious accidents and collisions.