Drivers speeding in accident black-spots will only slow down when gardaí embark on high-visibility patrols in those areas and publish details of where most motorists are caught speeding, according to Senator Tom Morrissey, the Progressive Democrats spokesman on transport.
Senator Morrissey said while the National Roads Authority and the National Safety Council both had databases of accident black-spots around the country, the Garda did not compile information on how many people were caught speeding in those areas.
"Without that kind of information you would have to question how the gardaí could possibly deploy resources effectively. Are we about shooting fish in a barrel and raising revenue or are we about bringing credibility to penalty points and saving lives?"
"I was driving up from Cork to Dublin over the weekend and at one point I saw two Garda speed checks within two hundred yards of each other on a dual carriageway where both lanes were completely separated from each other. These type of roads are not where most accidents happen. We have to move away from the mentality of trying to set speed traps to raise revenue rather than checkpoints to get people to slow down and prevent accidents."
He added that he had written to Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park requesting a list of locations where most drivers were caught speeding. However, he had been informed that because the penalty points system is a manual one, no record is kept of the locations where drivers are detected speeding.
The Department of Justice is introducing a new software system that will computerise the administration of penalty points. A spokesman said that a live pilot of the system will take place later this month. It should be fully rolled out in the autumn, when a map of speeding black-spots will be available.
