Mrs Doyle on Mayo roads

Gardaí appeal for extra care on roads over Bank Holiday weekend

MOTORISTS in Mayo will be seeing a lot of Fr Ted character Mrs Doyle thanks to a new road safety initiative.
Cardboard cutouts of the nation’s favourite housekeeper will be dotted around the county to remind motorists to take a break when feeling fatigued.
For the purposes of the ‘Go on Go on take a break’ campaign, devised by Mayo County Council’s road safety office, Mrs Doyle is swapping her beloved tea for coffee. The campaign aims to remind motorists to re-energise by taking a break and to think about the consequences of driving while tired.
The campaign has been given the thumbs up by Pauline McLynn who played the part of Mrs Doyle and also by Hat Trick productions LTD which produced the show.
Mayo County Council Road Safety Office and An Garda SióchΡna have teamed up for the campaign ahead of the busy bank holiday weekend.
Figures released last year by An Garda SióchΡna and the Road Safety Authority revealed that 12 people had died and 27 people had been seriously injured on Irish roads over a five year period on the  August Bank Holiday weekends.
This August Bank Holiday period, An Garda SíochΡna is appealing to all road users to take extra care when using the roads. There will be an increase in traffic as many will be travelling to different parts of the country.
For the upcoming weekend, Garda resources will be deployed with the aim of increasing compliance amongst road users and improving overall road safety.
Motorists are advised that inappropriate speed, drink driving, seatbelts and faulty tyres are the greatest contributory factors to road deaths and serious injuries.
Gardaí will be patrolling the road network throughout Western Region over the August Bank Holiday Weekend period in both marked and unmarked vehicles and would like to remind drivers that in addition to mandatory breath testing, they can breath-tested if they commit any road traffic offence.