The use of speed detection cameras operating on Irish roads is to rise by 20 per cent following agreement between Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to increase funding for the GoSafe service by €1.2 million.
The announcement came as gardaí conducted a national slow down day on Monday to reinforce the message that speed kills.
The first 12 hours of the initiative saw GoSafe cameras check the speed of 142,796 vehicles, detecting 310 which were travelling in excess of the applicable speed limit.
Examples of high speed include a motorist doing 161km/h in a 100km/h Zone on the N53 at Philipstown, Dundalk Co Louth.
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Another person was detected doing 155km/h in a 120km/h zone on the M6 at Killavally, Tyrrellspass, Co Westmeath.
The number of deaths on the State’s roads so far this year is running 25 per cent more than the total in the same period last year and more than 40 per cent ahead of the 2021 figure.
Ms McEntee offered her “heartfelt sympathies” to families and communities who have lost people on the roads in recent weeks saying it is “absolutely devastating to see”.
The extra speed detection cameras will amount to an extra 1,500 monitoring hours per month until the end of this year, bringing the number of hours up to 9,000 per month.
Ahead of a meeting on Tuesday with Minister of State with responsibility for road safety Jack Chambers, Ms McEntee also signalled that she would support his plans to bring in a tougher penalty points regime.
The Irish Times reported how Mr Chambers plans to address an “anomaly” in road traffic legislation where, if a driver commits two offences or more, only the most serious offence is subject to penalty points.
Mr Chambers said motorists would in future face a cumulative sanction, receiving separate penalty points for every offence detected.
Asked about the proposals, Ms McEntee said: “I would be supportive of any change that I think would change people’s behaviour...
“We’ve seen in the past where legislation has been changed, where penalty points have been introduced for certain types of offences, it has actually changed people’s behaviour.
“We have seen reductions in those type of offences.”
She added: “This should always be about trying to prevent people from taking risks when they’re out driving and so any legislation that will do that, I’d fully support it.”
Referring to an upcoming review of speed limits on the roads Ms McEntee said she would support reductions where they are recommended.
There have been 127 deaths on Irish roads to date this year, which is 23 more than in the same period in 2022, and 38 more than the same period in 2019 pre-Covid.
A third of all deaths (43) to date on Irish roads were people younger than 25. There were 25 deaths alone in August.
The latest road incident fatality, a male cyclist in his 60s, was killed when he was hit by a car on the Killorglin to Cromane Road in Co Kerry on Sunday morning. A woman arrested as part of an investigation into the collision has been released and a file has been prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Garda said on Monday.
Operation Slow Down was picked to coincide with the full return of all schools and the related increase in roads users, particularly vulnerable road users, pedestrians, pedal cyclists and specifically younger road users.
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Road Safety Authority (RSA) chief executive Sam Waide said there is currently a “speed epidemic in Ireland”. In 2021 over three-quarters (77 per cent) of drivers observed on 50km/h roads were exceeding the speed limit.
In addition, 29 per cent (almost one in three) of drivers observed on 100km/h roads exceeding the speed limit on these higher speed roads.
“This must change. We must tackle the attitude that speeding is safe and acceptable,” he said.
Enforcement of road regulations is the key to reducing crashes according to Conor Faughnan, veteran commentator on road issues and Chief Executive of the Royal Ireland Automobile Club.
Mr Faughnan, who is a former director of AA Ireland, told Morning Ireland, on RTÉ Radio 1, that it was “encouraging” to “at last” see road safety high on “Government radar”.
A barrister specialising in road traffic law says that there is a “clear and tangible disconnect” between enforcement and ultimately convictions and prosecutions in court.
David Staunton told Today with Claire Byrne, on RTÉ Radio 1, that the Road Traffic Act is “too complex”.
“It does not allow for proper and effective prosecution of certain types of offences and the Road Traffic Act should probably be ripped up and simplified to a large extent. When the case does come to court there is absolutely no doubt that often cases fall because of the manner at which legislation has been drafted.”
Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae told the show that students should be taught to drive as part of the transition year curriculum in secondary school.
“When a child goes in to secondary school in first year, second year and third year they should learn the theory of road safety, and being a good driver it should be on the curriculum.”
The Kerry TD added that “less glamorous measures” to reduce deaths include cutting back of hedges on roads and increased culling of deer.
