New technology could reduce the rate of fatal accidents by up to 35 per cent a workshop on road safety was told in Dundalk yesterday.
The technology requires building a database on all the speed limits on the country's roads and linking this to the acceleration system of cars so that no matter how hard you press the accelerator the engine will not respond.
Prof Oliver Carsten, professor of transport safety at Leeds University, told the workshop organised by the cross-Border body Co-operation And Working Together that trials using the technology, "Intelligence Speed Adaptation" have been run in many other European countries.
Next month the findings of the latest trails in the UK will be presented to the British government. Results to date show it "can lead to a 30 to 35 per cent reduction in fatal accidents and reduce an individual accident risk by 20 per cent," he said.
The growth in recent years of a satellite navigation systems or GPS means this is now the opportune time to introduce it, he said.
"We have recommended that it should be fitted on a pan-European basis on all new cars and governments should require people to use it."
The conference was also told that speed cameras, even ones that are in place but not working are effective in getting drivers to slow down and reduce their speed after they have passed the camera.
Prof Frank McKenna, from Reading University surveyed drivers sent on a speed awareness course after being detected by a camera and found 72 per cent were not aware they were over the speed limit.