Privatised speed cameras delayed

The long-awaited roll-out of a network of privatised speed cameras will not be in place until next March at the earliest, it has been confirmed.

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen had hoped to have the first 300 privatised speed cameras in place by the end of this year, after enabling legislation in the Road Traffic Bill 2006 was passed over the summer.

However, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, whose department is running the tender process, has said the cameras will not now be in place until "the first half of 2007".

In a written reply to a parliamentary question from Labour transport spokeswoman Roisín Shortall, the Minister said the procurement was a complex process.

When in place, up to 600 speed cameras will be concentrated on rural or regional roads which are where 60 per cent of fatal crashes and 75 per cent of collisions resulting in serious injury occurred. Although a private company will operate the system, including processing the fines, all decisions on where the cameras are located will be taken by senior gardaí. The Garda and the NRA are currently involved in identifying a list of high-risk locations. To date there are more than 3,300 sites, or collision zones, where a fatal or serious crash occurred in which speed was a factor, or where there is frequent evidence of speeding.

These zones are now being graded by colour: red for the most dangerous, amber for medium risk and green for low risk. Ultimately about 700 sites will be identified as suitable for a speed camera.

When complete this information will be placed onto a series of maps. Gardaí will also be able to use this data to show the times at which collisions are happening.

Using this information gardaí will be able to place a camera at a site during the most dangerous period of day or night, before moving it to another location, if required. A mixture of visible and covert speed cameras will be used.

Mapping collision-prone areas nationally will allow gardai to explain to motorists and the general public why enforcement activity is taking place in certain places at certain times.

This approach has been welcomed by motorists' lobby group AA Ireland, who said it was vital that there was public support for the new initiative, and it was not perceived as a revenue generating mechanism.

An AA spokesman noted that the value of fines collected from motorists had increased by 54 per cent to €11.8 million over the nine months to the end of September, compared with the same period last year.

In his reply to Deputy Shortall, Mr McDowell said: "I assure the House the central focus of this initiative is on saving lives rather than earning revenue. There will be no link between the fees paid to the private operator and the number of detections."

The Department confirmed last night that up to €70 million could be collected each year in fines from privatised cameras.

It is expected that these revenues will drop as the cameras have an effect but will continue to exceed the operating costs. The standard fine is €80 and the department estimates that 10 per cent of the 11 million speed checks will result in a detection.

It is understood gardaí are working towards a March deadline for introducing the cameras. However, this assumes there are no delays in the tendering process, which is outside Garda control. A team of consultants, IBI Group (UK) Ltd, have been appointed to advise the Department of Justice on the tendering process.

They have recommended a two-stage process with expressions of interest being sought from firms with traffic management expertise. Following evaluation a shortlist of candidates will be asked to submit a detailed tender. Each stage takes a minimum of 35 working days. IBI is to be paid a fixed fee of €136,800.