Gardaí catch 226 speeding drivers on ‘Slow Down Day’

Gardaí detected 226 vehicles breaking the speed limit over National Slow Down Day, which ended at 7am on Saturday. .

In total, 134,739 vehicles were checked as part of the 24-hour operation with An Garda Síochána taking the unusual step of announcing the locations of a number of their speed checks on Friday.

A motorist on the R418 at Athy, Co Kildare was found to be driving at 100km/h in a 60km/h zone while a driver on the N3 at Daggan, Co Cavan was discovered travelling at 131km/h in a 100km/h zone.

Other notable detections included a vehicle on the R198 at Aghadegnan, Co Longford travelling at 84km/h in a 50km/h zone while another motorist was found driving at 94km/h in a 60km/h zone on the N25 at Raheen, Co Kilkenny.

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More than 1,000 separate checks were set up across the country with Garda personnel also providing road-safety advice and handing out road-safety leaflets at display stands.

Gardaí said the aim of Slow Down Day was “to remind drivers of the dangers of speeding, increase compliance with speed limits and act as a deterrent to driving at excessive or inappropriate speed.”

“There was a marked increase in road deaths in 2016, resulting in 188 road deaths. This upward trend in 2016 must be reversed,” according to the Garda press office.

It said as a general rule a 1 per cent reduction in average speed brought about a 4 per cent reduction in fatal collisions. “This is why reducing motorists’ speed is essential to improving road safety”.

There were 115 road traffic collisions which included one fatal collision during the May 2016 Slow Down Day with 927 speeding offences detected over the 24-hour period.

There were 38,267 speeding detections between January and March 2017.

Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn of the Garda Roads Policing Bureau said: "We would like to thank the 134,513 drivers who were found to be compliant and drove within the speed limit and would encourage all drivers to drive safely, comply with and respect speed limits.

"I would like thank the Road Safety Authority and all the organisations who were involved in and supported this campaign. Drivers, please think about the consequences of speeding the next time you get behind the wheel and reduce your speed accordingly."