Over half of motorists don’t believe the proposed speed camera system will be fair according to the results of a survey published today.
The survey, undertaken by AA, found that 53 per cent of drivers did not believe that the introduction of new speed cameras will be used fairly for road safety purposes.
Conor Faughnan of the AA said the distrust could be down to badly set speed limits and opportunistic, poorly targeted enforcement in the past.
He said: “The Garda need to heed the warning that people are cynical and unconvinced about speed cameras.”
Under the Garda’s policing plan for 2009 privatised speed cameras are due to be introduced by the second half of the year.
This week the force unveiled the next generation of speed cameras capable of reading five car registration plates a second and operational at night.
The Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system comprises two cameras, one mounted at the front and one at the back window of a Garda car, linked to a microprocessor.
The processor will automatically recognise and notify the operating garda if the car detected is untaxed or on Garda records as stolen or wanted in connection with a crime.
Last year 276 people died on the Republic’s roads, the lowest annual total since records began 40 years ago.