Huge hike in drivers getting caught using their phones.

There's been a 55 per cent increase in motorists getting caught using their phones in the past month.

Man using a mobile phone and driving a car. Image: Mint Images Limited / Alamy

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will tell the Oireachtas Transport Committee this afternoon that Gardaí have issued 2 thousand 148 fines for phone use since April 12th.

Since then, uniformed Gardaí have been required to conduct half an hour of high visibility roads policing per shift, which has also led to a 40 per cent increase in breath tests at MIT checkpoints.

The committee is examining a 20 per cent increase in road deaths.

However, Labour TD Sean Sherlock says agencies also need to look at data from crashes in which people are seriously injured.

'There was 188 fatalities last year. What we're not able to measure is the number of non fatal road collisions because there's no data sharing now between the RSA and the local councils but even if there was data sharing,  the budget line for fixing those accident black spots is 11 million for the entire country.'