Garda to deploy 100 new cameras

More than 100 new mobile speed cameras are to be bought by the Garda and deployed later this year as part of efforts to reduce what it sees as endemic speeding on Irish roads.

This will be in addition to the small number of mobile units - mainly installed in vans - currently in operation.

Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock of the Traffic Corps told The Irish Times last night that the new cameras were being purchased in addition to the contract to outsource speed cameras to a private company which will install and operate another 60-100 cameras at various locations set by the Garda.

Assistant Commissioner Rock said speeding has not yet received the same level of enforcement attention or resources as drink driving. "As our resources increase, as they will again over the next 18 months to two years, we will be putting greater emphasis on speed enforcement."

He said a tender for the new garda-operated speed cameras would be issued shortly and that he expected the additional cameras to be in operation on Irish roads "within three to four months."

The cameras will be installed on garda vehicles and have the capacity to detect speeding vehicles when patrolling in traffic or while stationary.

"The equipment is there and we are already using a small number but not enough to have any real impact. If we are in a position to put out two to three cars with this technology per division, then we have a much better chance of changing drivers' behaviour."

He said the new cameras would be in operation ahead of the first tranche of privatised cameras which are now expected to appear on Irish roads in early 2008. The new Garda cameras will predominantly be deployed in marked garda vehicles, he said.

"The issue is visibility. You don't change the culture or improve compliance with unmarked cars. We have unmarked cars to detect deliberate breaking of the rules of the road. We treat that differently.

"Speeding is much more a general issue than dangerous overtaking which is confined to a very small minority."

A second reason for not using the cameras in unmarked cars is that gardaí are keen that increased speeding enforcement is not seen as a revenue generation exercise.

"We are conscious of the fact that people will say it is a revenue gathering exercise so that is why we will be putting out information on our website and we will also be highlighting the list of dangerous roads."

This list is the result of research into the roads and times of day where serious collisions occur and where speed enforcement is required. It will be used by the Garda to decide where and when it wants the private company to deploy speed cameras.

The research coded almost 900 routes and junctions as either red, yellow or green depending on the risk of collision. The Assistant Commissioner added that the Traffic Corps also plans to invest in a number of high-powered pursuit vehicles for speeding enforcement on motorways.

His comments come after a June bank holiday weekend in which four people were killed on the road in crashes that happened between 3pm and 7pm, rather than late at night.

In a statement yesterday the Garda said that they arrested 372 drivers for suspected drink driving last weekend, the same number as in June 2006, "spite a significant increase in Garda enforcement."

The statement added that 21 people died on the roads in May, the lowest ever number of fatalities for that month, suggesting "that the message is getting through".

A further indication of the impact so far of mandatory breath-testing came from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) which said that since the new enforcement regime came into force in July 2006, there has been a 23 per cent fall in fatalities on the roads.

The RSA said 80 fewer people were killed during the 11-month period since random breath testing was introduced, compared with the previous 11 months.

Noel Brett, chief executive of the RSA, added that drink-driving remained a predominately male issue with 89.7 per cent of drivers or motorcycle riders for whom alcohol was a contributory factor in their crash being men. Research from Dr Declan Bedford for the HSE suggested that alcohol was a factor in almost two-thirds of crashes where there was just one person in the vehicle.

So far this year 142 people have been killed on Irish roads compared with 176 to the same date in 2006. This is a fall of 34 deaths and approximately 200 fewer serious injuries as a result of crashes.