A slew of increased road safety fines are coming into force ahead of schedule from midnight.
This includes the fine for speeding, which will increase from €80 to €160; while the fine for using a mobile phone while driving or for not wearing a seatbelt will double from €60 to €120.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, told Newstalk Breakfast these are the main safety areas.
"The doubling of fines that are going to come in at midnight tonight are the main reasons why we have the numbers of fatalities and serious injuries on our roads," she said.
"It's the number of people speeding, using a mobile phone when driving, not wearing a seatbelt - all of these are going to double.
"For learner drivers who drive unaccompanied, and for learner novice drivers who are not displaying L plates or N plates, those fines will also double - and also for children that are not restrained in a car.
"All of these are key dangerous behaviours that really are having a huge impact on the numbers of people dying and being seriously injured on our roads."
'I wanted to do something fast'
Put to her that a larger Garda presence - or putting people off the road - could be a bigger deterrent, Minister Naughton said: "This is only one part of a whole strategy.
"This by itself is not going to help to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on our roads.
"Obviously there's an enforcement piece, there's a public awareness campaign, and that's why I chair a high-level ministerial group.
A Garda stops a car at a checkpoint on the N3 in Dublin in 2006. Picture by: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie"This is just one of the actions that I am expediting today, it's one of the actions from the Road Safety Strategy that wasn't to come into play for a number of months.
"During the summer, looking at the number of fatalities on our roads, I wanted to do something fast rather than waiting for legislation which does take time to get through the Oireachtas," she added.
Some 122 people have died on Irish roads so far this year.
It comes as Transport Minister Eamon Ryan received Government approval on Tuesday for the drafting of official amendments to the Road Traffic and Roads Bill.
The wide-ranging bill includes legislating for electric scooters and electric bikes, and addressing the anti-social use of scramblers.
It has passed the Dáil and second stage in the Seanad, and will be scheduled for committee stage in due course.
