GARDAÍ WILL TODAY implement the force’s annual ‘Slow Down day’, an intensive operation that last year detected 927 speeding offences.
The operation will see gardaí running high-visibility speed checks in a range of designated ‘speed enforcement zones’ nationwide.
There are now over 1,000 of these zones across the country and gardaí say today’s operation is intended to reduce the number of speed-related collisions.
Gardaí have listed a number of the locations where speed checks will be carried out over the 24-hour period, which begins today at 7am.
They include but are not limited to: the R683 in Waterford , the N14 in Donegal, the R700 in Kilkenny, the N18 in Galway, the R463 in Clare, the R521 in Limerick and the N72 in Cork.
Gardaí say there was a marked increase in road deaths last year with 188 people dying on Irish roads.
The force also points to RSA research which shows that excessive speed being a contributory factor in about one-third of fatal collisions.
There have been fewer road deaths this year compared to this time last year but Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn of An Garda Síochána’s Roads Policing division says that it is not time to be complacent.
“We are appealing to the public to support our initiative to create an awareness of the dangers of excessive speed on Slow Down day,” he said ahead of today’s operation.
We are appealing to motorists to adhere to the posted speed limit, but also when conditions dictate, reduce your speed even further. We have been running this initiative since 2012 and every year thousands of drivers have supported it by not speeding.
During last year’s Operation Slow Down, 927 speeding offences were detected and there were 115 road traffic collisions, one of which was fatal.
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