In the past week, the carnage has left five people dead. A family is grieving for the loss of two young brothers; another family has buried a mother and six-year-old child.

BBC NI's David Morgan reports on the "moments of motoring madness" in the province

The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) say a major factor in accidents is speed and they are urging motorists to slow down.

But bad driving is a growing problem and one that can kill. Young men are particularly at fault, according to the police.

"I don't believe we're any worse drivers than any other part of the United Kingdom," said Inspector John Terret of the RUC Traffic Branch.

"We do have a particular problem with young drivers within the province. They are causing a major problem.

"The statistics will show that over the past five years, young drivers, particularly males, have been involved in two out of three fatal road traffic collisions. Those figures are quite staggering."

Inspector John Terret: "Figures are staggering"

The 350 officers in the RUC's Traffic Branch aim to catch bad driving before it leads to more carnage on the roads.

And they have a powerful weapon in detecting offending drivers - the speed camera - which has made their job much easier.

Video footage has captured a motorcyclist travelling at 115mph, which is 45mph above the motorway speed limit. Another driver has been clocked at 130 mph in a 70mph zone.

There is also footage of a motorist who overtook a car on a bend, whilst travelling at at 90mph in a 30mph zone.

One officer who has seen several fatal road accidents in her five years with the traffic branch, says the brakes need to be put on offending motorists, before they kill themselves or others.

"I saw a gentleman overtaking four or five cars and got himself into an area, where he couldn't see, he had no view," she said.

"When I pulled him over and showed him the incident, he realised just how stupid and careless he had been."

Laser speed detector

The LTI 20 20, which is a laser speed detector recording speeding drivers on video tape, is the latest hi-tech device which the police use in their battle to reduce road accidents. Drivers are notified of their offence by post.

Police say 14000 offenders have been detected since laser cameras were introduced 20 months ago.

Speed cameras can detect offending motorists

There were also changes to the penalty points system in December 1998. This means recently qualified drivers could lose their licences easier than others.

But the RUC have warned they will bring more people to court in their continued crackdown on motoring madness.

Inspector Terret explained: "New legislation allows us now to issue fixed penalty tickets to young drivers.