Garda expanding speed enforcement zones to over 1,000

Gardai are expanding the number of speed camera locations by 355, bringing the total to over 1,000 nationwide from next Friday.

In total, there will now be 1,031 speed enforcement zones nationwide where safety cameras operate effective from midnight on May 27.

Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid said “an Garda Síochána is delighted to announce the expansion of this vital road safety measure. The safety cameras are proven life savers and only operate in areas which have a speed related collision history where fatal, serious injury and now minor injury collisions occur.

By identifying and targeting these high risk areas our aim is to continue to reduce the number and severity of collisions, thus save more lives and prevent more injuries from occurring. This makes them roads safer for every road user.”

Safety cameras only operate in areas where there is a history of speed related collisions, known as speed enforcement zones, using a fleet of marked vehicles. Prior to the introduction of safety cameras, approximately 31% of fatal collisions occurred in these zones. In 2015 this figure had reduced to 14%. This shows a dramatic reduction in terms of risk in these areas and a huge increase in terms of road safety. All locations are available on the Garda website.

An Garda Síochána recently initiated an updated collision analysis of the road network based on the most recent collision statistics post four years of operation of the Garda mobile safety cameras. The objective was to identify new speed enforcement zones not currently being monitored as part of the current project and to remove those existing zones which were no longer high risk zones.

Chief Superintendent Reid said  “there is no doubt these safety cameras save lives. This has been independently confirmed. They actually operate at a financial loss, but the human savings are incalculable. Saving lives and preventing injuries is our number one goal and we urge every driver to become familiar with the full list of speed enforcement zones, freely available on the Garda website, so that they know to take extra care when travelling on these 1,000 plus stretches of high risk road.”

Gardai said since the introduction of safety cameras in 2010, 938,000 speeding tickets have been issued.