THE GARDAÍ AND the Road Safety Authority have come together to urge drivers to be careful over the Easter weekend.
New figures from An Garda Síochána show that nearly 45,000 fixed charge notices have been issued for speeding from January to March this year, an increase of 16.8 per cent compared to the first 3 months of 2013.
Of those caught speeding, 80 per cent were made between 10 and 29 km/h above the posted speed limit, while 11 per cent were over 30 km/h above the speed limit.
The most common zone for those caught speeding were 50 km/h speed limit areas.
Over the Easter period, the gardaí say that each Garda Division will carry out a series of “targeted, high visibility checkpoints focussing on speeding and roads policing enforcement”.
This enforcement activity aims to “modify driver behaviour, identify breaches of all road traffic legislation and make the roads safer for all,” say gardaí.
“Three people lost their lives over the Easter Bank Holiday in 2013,” says Assistant Garda Commissioner John Twomey.
“We can and must be safer on the roads and avoid this being replicated this Bank Holiday, a time when many people will travel to various parts of the country. Excessive or inappropriate speed is a significant factor in road traffic collisions so this week we are targeting those who fail to recognise this vital life saving fact.”
Michael Rowland of the RSA says that the speeding statistics are “worrying”.
“It’s also very worrying to see that nearly half of all speeding detections being made are in 50 km/h zones.
“[These are] roads which are associated with higher levels of pedestrian and cyclist activity. If hit by a car at 60 km/h nine out of ten pedestrians will die so what a driver thinks are small margins above the speed limit could be the difference between life and death for a vulnerable road user.”
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