Locations for new speed cameras revealed as road traffic fines set to double
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Sixty-one new speed camera zones become operational on Irish roads this morning in efforts to reduce speed-related collisions while road traffic fines are set to double.
It comes as four people died in road traffic collisions in the space of 24 hours in recent days, including a couple in their 30s in Limerick, a man in his 40s in Mayo, and a 19-year-old man in Kerry.
The deaths bring the number of fatalities on Irish roads so far this year to 94, an increase of 33 over 2021 figures.
The new "safety camera zones" were chosen following analysis of collated Garda data taken from fatal, serious and minor collisions, with further consideration given to locations of concern highlighted by local communities.
The new safety camera zones are spread across 23 counties, with 49% on regional routes, 31% national routes, and 20% on other routes such as motorways and local roads.
See here for a list of locations of speed cameras.
GoSafe vans operate in areas that have a speed-related collision history where fatal, serious injury, and minor injury collisions occur.
In addition, locations which have been highlighted by members of the community as being areas of concern, have been included in the new zones. By identifying and targeting these high-risk areas, the aim is to reduce the number of fatal and serious injury collisions."
Since 2010, An Garda Síochána has used service provider ‘GoSafe’ to operate speed camera vans on its behalf.
At the end of 2021, GoSafe completed over one million hours of enforcement and checked over 307m vehicles.
Over two million fixed charge notices for speeding offences have been issued in the same time.
In addition to this, it’s emerged that Junior Transport Minister Hildegarde Naughton is to introduce regulations to double road traffic fines.
It means that fines for speeding, phone use and non-wearing of seatbelts will surpass the €100 mark for the first time.
This will see the fine for speeding increase from €80 to €160 and the fine for using a mobile phone while driving or for not wearing a seatbelt will double to €120.
Fines will be doubled for other offences that put the safety of vulnerable road users at risk.
Ms Naughton said: "I am gravely concerned about the high number of deaths on our roads this year. We need to act now to stem this increase. Accordingly, I intend to double the fines for key road traffic offences which are putting drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists at most risk of death on our roads."
She added: "Increasing fines for these offences will act as a stronger deterrent to those who break our lifesaving rules of the road."
Liz O’Donnell, Chairperson of the Road Safety Authority, said there has been a "devastating increase in road trauma" this year.
"94 people have died and 673 seriously injured. All of us have a responsibility to stop this upward trend in road crashes. I want to commend the Minister’s decision to double the fines for drivers who break lifesaving rules of the road.
"There are too many people being killed and seriously injured and we must act to prevent more families from going through this trauma."