Average-speed cameras are to begin monitoring motorists on the N5 in Co Mayo and the N3 in Co Cavan from Friday, the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, has announced.
The new “average safety cameras” (ASCs) are between Lislackagh and Cuilmore in Swinford, Co Mayo, and between Kilduff and Billis in Co Cavan, operating in both directions in both locations.
ASCs measure the time taken for a vehicle to travel from one camera to the next and so measure whether the vehicle has been travelling over the speed limit.
These cameras are already in the M50 Port Tunnel and on the M7 between junctions 26 and 27, and studies have shown they encourage drivers to slow down and reduce the number and seriousness of collisions.
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Studies in Norway and Sweden have shown the cameras can reduce road deaths by between 38 and 49 per cent.
Since 2022, more than 22,500 fixed-charge notices of €160, and penalty points, have been issued as a result of the ASCs on the M7. The equivalent figure for the Port Tunnel is almost 7,000.
Currently there are three penalty points for ASC-related speeding.
“Technology can play an effective role in changing behaviours,” Ms McEntee told reporters when announcing the development. “I welcome the roll out of these two average speed cameras this week, and the ongoing roll out of static speed cameras.”
Garda Assistant Commissioner for Roads Policing Paula Hilman said the two sites had been chosen as they were “high collision sites” where there had been a high number of road crashes involving injury, serious injury and deaths.
Six new static speed cameras are to go live by the end of this year, and a further three in the first quarter of 2025, the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, said.
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