DUBLIN — 25 August 2026 — Four days after the RSA published Ireland’s first official checklist for drivers who meet a car coming the wrong way, the Irish Times (Monday 24 August) and RTÉ carried Transport Infrastructure Ireland figures that put a number on the week. odo.ie has checked TII’s Motorway Operations Control Centre totals as reported by both, plus what the GRA and the RSA said beside them. The useful distinction is the same as Friday: detections are not a new offence, and they are not a crash count.
What TII counted
TII confirmed to RTÉ that its Motorway Operations Control Centre recorded 62 wrong-way driving incidents on motorways so far this year, against 47 in the same period last year — a 32% increase. The Irish Times dated the comparison as January to mid-August. The arithmetic holds: 15 extra detections on a base of 47 is 31.9%, rounded to 32%.
Full-year 2025 was 85 detections. Do not treat 62 by mid-August as a forecast that 2026 will finish at 85 plus 32%. TII has not published a year-end projection.
The most recent monthly slice, per RTÉ: sevendetections from 1 to 17 August — more than all of July (six) and the same as June (six). TII said there is “no specific time of year which shows a trend for more wrong-way events.” Historical monthly averages over the last seven years peaked in March, June and September; the lowest months were February, July and November.
Detections, not a census
TII’s file is camera detections and reports from other drivers, not a count of every contraflow run on every Irish motorway. The Irish Times, carrying the same data, said it is understood the figure under-reports the true number, and that the agency’s camera network is predominantly focused on motorways in and around Dublin and Cork, with incidents elsewhere less likely to be captured.
That geography caveat is the GRA’s point too. It is also why a 32% rise can be real and incomplete: more cameras, more driver reports, or more actual runs would all move the same number. TII has not split those three.
GRA: “out of control”
The Irish Times headline quote is the Garda Representative Association’s. GRA deputy general secretary James Morrisroe said wrong-way driving is “out of control” and “a clear and present threat to every road user in the country.”
Separately, GRA vice-president John Joe O’Connelltold RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh that the TII figures were “not a surprise” but “maybe underestimated.” Gardaí, he said, are dealing with such incidents “24/7, 365 days a year.” “I think those figures that are captured are maybe Dublin and Cork geographically, but we have numerous incidents north, south, east [and] west of this type of driving.”
O’Connell said the GRA wants pursuit training that stops an incident before it reaches a motorway, and that senior Garda management and government departments need to sit down on solutions. He also said road deaths are “heading for the highest [figures] since 2010,” and that roads-policing numbers have “dropped by 40% since 2010.” Those last two sentences are his correlation, not TII’s detection table.
RSA advice did not change
A Road Safety Authority statement, carried by RTÉ, said the authority was “concerned by the increase” and that “while these incidents are uncommon, they carry a very high risk of serious injury or death.” It urged drivers to watch motorway signs and markings, particularly at junctions and service areas, and to contact emergency services — when safe — if they become aware of a vehicle travelling the wrong way.
The RSA pointed to the guidance now on rsa.ie — the same emergency advice that went up last Thursday after the authority had told The Journal it had never developed oncoming-driver guidance. Monday’s numbers do not rewrite that checklist.
The M9 week — attributed, tight
The detection file runs through 17 August. The M9 collision at Moone, Co. Kildare, was in the early hours of Sunday 16 August: five teenage boys dead, four people in the other car seriously injured, including a seven-year-old. Gardaí said no pursuit was taking place at impact. That crash is why RSA advice appeared last week. It is one event inside TII’s August slice of seven detections — not the explanation for the 32% year-to-date rise.
What the control centre does
TII told RTÉ that when the Motorway Operations Control Centre is made aware of a wrong-way driver, it records the incident in its Network Intelligence Management System, which then automatically posts messages on relevant motorway signs warning that there may be an oncoming vehicle ahead. The MOCC also liaises with gardaí and informs the road operator so an incident support unit can attend.
Those variable-message signs are why the RSA is telling drivers to watch the gantries. They are a warning, not a guarantee that every contraflow run is caught — especially off the Dublin and Cork camera map.
Motorway miles still need a log
Keep NCT, tax and insurance dates in one place — free for one car — so the admin is not the thing you are thinking about at 120 km/h.
Sources
- The Irish Times (24 August 2026) — TII MOCC detections 62 vs 47; camera-network geography; GRA deputy general secretary James Morrisroe “out of control” / “clear and present threat”
- RTÉ (24 August 2026) — TII confirmation of 32%; 85 detections in full-year 2025; seven detections 1–17 August vs six in July and six in June; seven-year monthly peaks; NIMS / variable-message signs; RSA statement; GRA vice-president John Joe O’Connell on RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh
- RSA — Emergency Advice: Encountering a Vehicle Travelling in the Wrong Direction (published 20 August; reported 21 August)
- odo.ie — RSA wrong-way motorway advice (22 August)