Most speeders exceeding limits by at least 20km/h

Figures released yesterday debunk the popular myth that most people caught speeding have been driving at a speed just above the legal limit.

Of the 115,394 notices for speeding offences issued between February and September this year only 610, or 0.5 per cent, were issued to drivers who were driving at 10km/h or less above the speed limit. The majority - almost 84 per cent - were driving at 20km/h or more above the limit.

More than 34 per cent of offences were detected on roads with speed limits of 50km/h .

Some 33 per cent of people found speeding were caught on 60km/h roads, while 80km/h roads accounted for 20 per cent. And roads with a limit of 100km/h accounted for 23 per cent of speeders.

The figures were released to Labour TD Éamon Gilmore following a question tabled to the Minister for Justice asking if he was aware of "soft targets" on the roads where Garda checkpoints are set at the interface of two speed limits.

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell replied that "Garda enforcement under road traffic legislation is not concentrated at perceived soft target areas but in a fair and balanced manner".

Speaking to The Irish Times last night, Mr Gilmore said he had a number of complaints from people caught for speeding on roads such as the N11 at Loughlinstown and Cabinteely where the limit drops from 80km/h to 60km/h and at Lucan on the Galway Road where a speed camera was positioned just after the change of the limit from 100km/h to 80km/h.

"I have also had complaints from people who received penalty points perhaps doing 58 kilometres in a 50 kilometre zone," he said. "But clearly the figures don't bear that out."

Conor Faughnan of AA Roadwatch said the urban myth of gardaí targeting minor speed breaches did not hold up.

"Gardaí don't set out to police speed limits to the bone, it is not practical or desirable," he said. "Prosecutions are only triggered when the offence is unambiguous."

He said the Traffic Corps had brought much more "rationalist methodology" to their approach on speeding and the setting of speed traps at the point between two speed limits had decreased. However, he did express concerns about some speed limits set by local authorities that he said were unsuitable for the roads to which they were applied.