Speed cameras contract signed

The Government has signed a contract with a private firm to provide up to 6,000 hours per month of speed camera enforcement.

Speaking at the Templemore Garda College today, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said the cameras should be in place by the middle of 2010.

The Go Safe consortium, which includes Spectra, French firm Egis (the parent company of Transroute, which operates the Dublin Port Tunnel) and Australian multinational Redflex, was identified as the preferred bidder in June 2008.

Mr Ahern said the cameras were being introduced to reduce speeding and not to raise revenue, although he said the estimated €16 million annual running cost of the cameras would be offset by fines imposed on motorists.

The project will remain under the control of the Garda, through a new Garda Office for Safety Camera Management, who will decide the location, frequency and timing of speed checks. These decisions will be also be based on 700 collision prone stretches of road which have been identified by gardaí.

“This is not a revenue generating exercise; instead its purpose is to stop people speeding on our roads in the interest of the safety of us all”, Minister Ahern said.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said educing excessive and inappropriate speed on roads was key safety issue.

Go Safe will provide and maintain the speed cameras, conduct speed checks and process data from motorists caught speeding using their equipment, and existing Garda speed cameras.

The chairman of the Road Safety Authority, Gay Byrne, welcomed the signing of the contract and said “excessive and inappropriate speed is the biggest single killer on Irish roads”.

“The public also need to know that they have nothing to fear from the appointment of a private operator to manage the system of safety cameras.”