Donegal to have highest number of speed camera sites

One of the new vans with a speed-enforcement camera

DONEGAL WILL have the highest number of speed camera locations under the plan unveiled by An Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority yesterday.ELAINE EDWARDS

The network of privatised mobile speed-enforcement cameras began operating at midnight last night.

Cameras housed in marked vans will monitor areas identified as regular sites for speed-related traffic collisions. Forty-five mobile cameras will ultimately provide more than 6,000 hours of speed checks per month across the State.

Donegal will have 63 camera sites in 52 designated zones; Cork will have 62 camera sites in 48 zones; Meath will have 52 sites in 30 zones and Dublin will have 19 sites in 37 zones. In total, there are 750 safety camera sites and 518 zones. The speed cameras will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Garda said analysis was “ongoing” and that these locations may change “over time”.

Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy was joined by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and Road Safety Authority chief executive Noel Brett as the scheme was officially launched at Dublin Castle yesterday.

Mr Dempsey said he hoped the rollout of the cameras would have a “very significant” effect on the number of deaths and injuries. He said he hoped there would be no revenue generated from fines.

“That will mean people are actually obeying the speed limits. We’re not out there to catch anybody. We are out there just to remind them how dangerous speed is. If they break the rules, if they are caught on camera then they’ll get what they deserve.”

The commissioner and Mr Ahern signed a five-year €65 million contract with the GoSafe consortium to provide the service last November.

It is the first time that a key element of day-to-day policing has been outsourced from the Garda.

The commissioner said enforcement would be “cranked up” from 750 hours for the rest of this month to the maximum of 6,000 hours a month from February.

The commissioner said 396 people died on the roads in 2005 but increased enforcement helped reduce this to 240 last year. But this was still “not enough”.

“This is about compliance with speed limits. It is about preventing excessive speeding, preventing inappropriate speeding and saving lives.”

Mr Brett said if every motorist dropped their speed by 5 per cent, along with this initiative, it had the potential to save up to 50 lives per year. He said each road death cost the exchequer €3 million.

Motorists caught speeding by the new cameras will be liable to penalty points and fines which will be administered by the Garda. The consortium is being paid a flat fee for the service. There is no provision for commissions or bonuses related to how many motorists are caught speeding.

The consortium, led by the Spectra company, will be directed by the Garda and overseen by gardaí at the Garda Office for Safety Camera Management.

An Garda Síochána uses eight mobile cameras in vans, 400 hand-held speeding devices and more than 100 automatic number plate recognition cameras which are installed in Garda cars.

The Garda website crashed again yesterday as a result of the interest in the information about the cameras. A map of locations where the speed cameras will be in operation can be viewed at: garda.ie/gosafe.htm