Gardaí will be out in force this bank holiday weekend to ensure all motorists are wearing their seatbelts.

Figures for 2015 show one in four drivers who lost their lives on the country's roads were not wearing their seatbelt at the time of the collision.

More than 10,500 fixed charge notices were issued to drivers who failed to put their seatbelt on, or properly restrain children in a car last year.

Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid of the Garda Natioanl Traffic Bureau said: "The Easter weekend, as we approach the holiday period, is a particularly high-risk period. Our focus is on seatbelts.

"One third of all persons who were fatally injured in 2015 were not wearing their seatbelts. Half of those were aged between 20 and 40 years of age.

"At the same time there were 10,800 fixed charge notices issued to people not wearing their seatbelts."