MORE THAN 1,000 drivers were caught speeding on Irish roads over the past couple of days and will now be issued with fines by the gardaí. 

Speeds of up to 170 km/h were detected over the weekend but most vehicles monitored were driving within the speed limit.

Gardaí said on Twitter that a total of 467 drivers were detected as speeding on Saturday and 544 on Sunday. 

This was out of 116,000 vehicles monitored on Irish roads on Saturday and 96,000 on Sunday. 

On Saturday the highest speeds detected ranged from 108 km/h in a 60 km/h zone in Co Cavan to 154 km/h in a 120 km/h limit zone in Co Kildare. 

Yesterday, speeds ranged from 90 km/h in a 50 km/h zone in Co Offaly and 131 km/h in a 80 km/h area in Co Meath. 

Speeds on this day reached as high as 170 km/h in a 100 km/h area in Co Cork. 

A driver was also arrested in Co Kildare after being caught driving at 164 km/h in a 120 km/hr zone. The driver was found to be driving without insurance and the vehicle was seized. 

Gardaí had cautioned drivers to take care on the road over the Bank Holiday weekend. 

Clare Roads Policing Unit conducting a high visibility speed checkpoint yesterday on the N18 in a location that has seen two fatal road traffic collisions in the last year.

Please drive carefully and #SlowDown this Bank Holiday weekend. pic.twitter.com/3WyjSQlaUq

— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) July 30, 2022

It was recently announced that the cost of fines for speeding and driving while using a phone/not wearing a seatbelt would double. 

Minister for State Hildegarde Naughton said the fine for speeding will rise from €80 to €160 and the fine for using a phone while driving or not wearing a seatbelt will also double from €60 to €120. 

Road Safety Authority Chairperson Liz O’Donnell said the current fines were not acting as a “sufficient deterrent”.

“What we were finding was that they weren’t sufficiently a deterrent and that at the 80 and 60 euro level, they weren’t acting sufficiently as a deterrent,” said O’Donnell

“They have to have to hurt people in the pocket to be meaningful.”

August 2021 was the worst month for road deaths in a decade with 22 deaths, the RSA said.

There has been a 42% increase in deaths so far this year – with 94 fatalities and 673 serious injuries so far in 2022.