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LAST UPDATE | 15 May 2024
THERE WILL BE a “substantial increase” in the number of speed and safety cameras on Irish roads, as the Garda Commissioner pledged to crack down on the number of drivers who speed.
Drew Harris told the Joint Committee on Transport today that there are plans to bring in more than 100 static cameras and average speed traffic cameras over the next year, following a surge in road fatalities in the last year.
Fianna Fail Senator Gerry Horkan claimed that the four most common characteristics of road crashes involve young people driving at weekends night-time driving and rural roads.
“With the best will in the world, we could probably quadruple or multiply by a factor of 10 the number of people in roads policing and we’ll never cover every road road,” he added.
Harris said: “I think a lot of the improvement in our road safety is concentrated on speed.
“If there was less speed, and I know other nations in Europe have concentrated on speed in particular, but there’s particular concentrations on speed in the Scandinavian countries and less speed means that collisions are less severe and perhaps then more survivable.
“We ourselves are looking at a substantial increase in the safety camera network in terms of static road safety cameras.
“We’ve set a target of 100 additional road safety cameras.”
Harris told the committee that there are plans to increase the number of road policing gardai to 700 by the end of the year.
The committee heard there are currently 623 officers working in the unit.
Harris appeared before the Oireachtas committee to answer questions over the rising number of road deaths.
72 people have died in road incidents so far in 2024, compared to 59 at this time last year, and there has been an increase in collisions which are up 67 so far this year compared to last.
Last month, Harris rolled out a new plan that involves all frontline gardai dedicating 30 minutes of their shift to roads policing.
The Garda Commissioner told the Oireachtas Transport committee that gardaí have detected 2,148 people using phones in the first month of the new plan.
Harris said that since the operation began on 12 April, there has been a 55% increase in fixed charge notices because of mobile phone use, and a 40% increase in those detected as driving under the influence.
He said that the 30-minute shift is one measure gardaí are taking as a result of the upward trend in road deaths this year.
Harris said that the initiative has been adapted from the Swedish Road Safety Strategy, which has halved road deaths in that country.
He said that research in Sweden shows that the presence of a police officer in a visible position for a period of 30 minutes collectively alters driver behaviour and reduces speed, which he will say “plays a vital role in reducing fatal or serious injury road traffic collisions”.
Harris told the committee that gardaí have issued 45,951 fixed charge notices for speeding so far this year.
He said that 70% of these were detected by mobile speeding cameras, of which there are 55 in the country. Another three will be in operation in the coming weeks.
Three more speed safety cameras will be set up along the N3, N5 and N2 later this year.
“These nine static speed cameras will cost approximately €2.4 million over the next 18 months. Their locations have been selected based on fatal and serious injury collision data from the last seven years,” Harris said.
Includes reporting by Press Association
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Phone use is the biggest problem on our roads today , people are speeding as a result of not concentrating, rear end accidents are Regular and pedestrians hit all as a result.
Regularly you see phones stuck to the windscreen in their eyeline, how drivers can see clearly is a mystery.
Van drivers particularly bad at been open on phones.
Truck drivers swaying on motorways a tell-tale sign and car drivers constantly at it leading to sub standard driving ,i.e., no indicating or incorrect road position.
I see it everyday, we all see it every day, but 2000 detections in 5 months is a complete joke.that should be 2000 a day. Rant over.
@a million ,really ! country is gone mad .: I have a phone holder in my car to use when I want a sat nav. It blocks my view of the driver side pillar and allows me to see the map without taking my eyes off the road.
If someone calls I may hit the answer button on the Bluetooth radio, if someone texts I ignore it.
But then I grew up in the days of phones in the hall and phone boxes in the street. The first time I saw a car phone in use the user was sitting on the bonnet of his parked Rolls Royce – anyone else would have used the nearby phone box.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: Even a hands free phone is a distraction. Here’s an idea, switch it off when you are driving. It works! And no call is that urgent. And you need to use Sat Nav in Ireland? Why?
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: if you are involved in a serious accident and found to be on a phone even on a hands-free set you will be prosecuted as this will be viewed as part of the reason for the accident. Hand free kits do not protect you.
@Michael Dineen: and stop any attractive being in your eyeline, especially during the summer months when clothing is more skimpy! Eliminate every conceivable distraction!
@Michael Dineen: to get to a place they never were before, unfamiliar territory. It’s more fuel efficient no more stopping to ask for directions, going the long way when there is a local shortcut that the maps can find. That’s why.
@Michael Dineen: Although I don’t use SatNav – wouldn’t know how – I do use maps.
In find them essential for navigating Ireland, and particularly finding streets in towns and cities.
@Michael Dineen: I guess you just go back to the same familiar places time and time again, if you ever went anywhere new you’d know how invaluable Satnav or Google maps is.
One time i saw a seagull driving while on a phone eating a bag of chips! Ban seagull’s driving immediately!!… ffs. peoples ‘perception’
@Michael Dineen: I don’t often need a sat nav but when I’m in unfamiliar places with complex road junctions (Dublin for example) they are invaluable.
@Mic JHintl: Fortunately in 40 years of driving I have never been involved in an accident of any kind.
@a million ,really ! country is gone mad .: It was 2148 people detected in 1 month not 5 months.
@Michael Dineen: Here’s an idea, you do what works for you and let others legally driving with a hands free phone do what works for them.
Mobile device use behind the wheel is a menace and must be banned. It is as, if not more, dangerous as drink and/or drug driving. It is an epidemic. It should be treated in a similar fashion.
Every single one of thise drivers detected should have an automatic driving ban for 3 months.
No call or text or social media post is so urgent or important that it needs to risk peoples’ lives.
Its all speculative cat calling based on peoples understanding and perception of reality. It’s ridiculous that we know the exact reasons for the 72 deaths but we’re never told the actual causes? There is now so much contradiction in the language around this that it is impossible to see it getting better. More police sitting on flyovers keeping an eye is welcome but how does that effect the 75% of road deaths on rural roads? It simply doesn’t. But the agenda isn’t based around improving transport, yet again Irish people try and fix their problems with exactly the same ingredients as before, it wont change until we build some systems and infrastructure that reflect and plan for modern living.
If there wasn’t so much need for paperwork imagine how effective actual policing could be. That’s a massive number caught on phones based on only 30mins of their shift.
@ecrowley ecrowley: Could this all be digitised!!?!?… heavens no
Bluetooth is pretty standard on most cars post 2011. Anything newer than 2018 usually has Android auto or carplay. You can buy a Bluetooth fm transmitter for older cars for less than 20 euro. This morning, on an hour long commute, I saw at least ten drivers with phone to their ear on a call. There’s no excuse for it.
@James Groden: I regularly see members of the Garda driving with a phone held to their ears, who then presumably stop, berate and prosecute others at the road side for doing exactly the same thing…
I wonder how many of those “drug driving” are residual cannabis traces.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: There are foodstuffs that result in failing drugs tests too.
That is, people who do not use drugs fail drug tests due to the consumption of certain foods.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: like brownies?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Wonderful and there are people whose metabolism produces alcohol.
We really should replace these drug and drink tests with a test of fitness to drive which is what really matters.
Fatigue can be worse than being drunk but nobody gets prosecuted or banned for driving when tired.
@Lydia Mcloughlin: Like poppy seed buns.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: That’s the way it used to be.
The ‘walk the line’ test was one. albeit crude, way to test for drunkeness.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Quite so. The trouble is that “blow into this” followed by a blood test is so much quicker and needs no judgement to apply.
Some kind of game-like device would probably be the best approach.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: @Steve O’Hara-Smith: Well, it’s a legal matter.
Wigs like ‘scientific’ evidence.
‘Blow into this’ and alcohol per unit of blood provide numerical evidence.
Walk-the-line and other games are purely subjective.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: A game-like device could easily be made objective – either you succeed in its challenges or you don’t.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: If you have a dozen of them
@Michael Burke: Nope!
Just one will suffice.
Although it would take more than you could possibly consume to affect your ability to drive, the drugs test just shows that you have some in your system and that is sufficient to take you to court.
Now for consistency, we need this approach to be maintained and to become an intrinsic part of policing our roads. I’ll hold off with any praise until this is established. To all the morons that use phones, stop. One day it might just cost you your life or someone else’s. There is simply NO excuse to hold a phone whilst driving a car.
@No Here: When you consider the amount of road deaths as a direct result of phone use it’s staggering
@Thesaltyurchin: Does anyone know that figure? The wording on RSA is totally speculative… “According to international research distracted driving could be a factor in as many 20-30% of all collisions in this country. This means that driver distraction could be a contributory factor in over 1,400 fatal and injury collisions annually.” (we don’t have near that figure here, but there’s “the facts” for you, RSA lol what a joke).
What’s the law on pedestrians walking on roads without Hi Viz on…couple that to a lot of those same people with earphones on.. totally oblivious to the hazards that are present… It’s a no brainer really..should be law to wear high visibility clothing whilst out on the road walking/ running.. and if it’s not a law…why not?
There should be cameras on all main roads to detect uninsured cars
@Pat Hazzard: No there shouldn’t, if you want that level of surveillance you could move to China.
Lol! The sky fearing Irish aren’t ready to take the printed bits of paper from the windscreen, digital is still a fearful idea here, you can see from the above comments why we are where we are…
@Jimmy Wallace: They don’t have to input your reg number at all, the system is called ANPR….Automatic Number Plate Recognition, which you’d probably guess is automatic and pings an alert for them if you’re lacking in the legality of vehicle.
Does that 2148 figure include the Gardaí themselves? Walked slowly past a Garda driving slowly down Grafton street a good few years back. He was laughing and chatting to his colleague while staring into his smartphone and trying to keep an eye on the road. Tremendously poor example to set.
Just last Thursday my wife and her friend were crossing the Grange road in Rathfarnham to go to Marley park when a young female driver shot out of the Lidl car park, turning right and raced down Grange road while looking at her phone. My wife and friend had to run out of the way just in time. The driver never saw them and continued at speed. My opinion how to reduce this use of phones is to do away with the fine but instead introduce a ONE MONTH driving ban. That would definitely concentrate the mind.
Had a lad on motorway to Galway cross on to my side, Had to brake. Waited till he was on his own side for bit and beeped to let him know I was passing. Was coming along side him and spotted he was texting. Gave longer beep and he looked at me with confusion
@Jonathan Hanlon: The scariest example of inattention while driving I ever saw was before mobile phones were common.
A sales rep (I presume) driving down a UK motorway while using a laptop on the passenger seat.
I passed him (speeding to do so as he was) I really did not want to be behind him when the accident happened.
The 30 minute road checks are working well done
@Derek Vaughan: Lets see the deaths come down first eh
Can someone please answer me this…law is the law apparently..but are gardai allowed use a mobile phone while driving a garda vehicle..I honestly don’t know..?
@Mogwai: I do believe these laws do not apply to the upholders of the law.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Nobody is above the law. They surely have radios in the car for official communication so it seems to me that any use of a phone is unofficial and should not be happening.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: They have an exemption, I suggest you not raise this issue with them if they ever do a traffic stop on you, else you may find yourself being a little inconvenienced by the subsequent thoroughness of the vehicle checks they carry out.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: The Guards are above the law.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: The laws of physics always apply, though. Keeping the public safe should not involve endangering them with poor driving.
Has noone got hands free devices or Bluetooth… obviously not!
@Michele Milne: Nobody uses their phone for calls anymore. The problem is messaging and social media apps, not phone calls.
@Tezmond McVicar: mobiles the curse of all technology!
The phone is dead, it has become a useless money trap that works against us rather than for. Ai bots are the future
@Tezmond McVicar: I saw two twits with their phone up to theirs ears this morning..one holding up traffic behind him….
@Clare Power: That would be the exception rather than the rule in fairness.
@Clare Power: I am constantly aware of drivers needing to be honked at in order to take their attention from their phones and proceed at traffic lights and in traffic.
It goes to show what can be done by active policing
There is a roundabout/junction/pedestrian light junction in town. If a Garda were to stand there for an hour they would get a pain in their head issuing tickets for illegal driving etc.
@Padraig O’Brien: A Garda standing in any hidden dip or just below the brown of a hill or bridge would catch some really dangerous overtaking.
Excellent, it’s a travesty the amount of selfish scoundrels using their phones when driving. So dangerous.
What about the guarda who you see driving and on their phones??
@6gRrQtLn: The devices An Garda Siochana use are to access Garda systems, not Instagram ya goon!
@Tezmond McVicar: Do they need to hold the device up to their ear to access PULSE? Seems legit
Speed doesn’t kill, bad driving does. Speed is relative.
Distractions including mobile phones are more responsible than speed.
Muppets hogging the road, weaving in and out, driving too slow, undue care and attention, modern car on-board gadgets etc all main reasons.
NOT speed per say. But ‘speeding’ does generate a nice bit of revenue!
SPEED IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM ON OUR ROADS.
EVERY ONE ON OUR ROADS MUST SEE THAT.
@Phillip Smyth: And still, it’s not nearly as annoying as people typing shouting comments using all caps..
@Phillip Smyth: nope
Watch out the filth are about!
@Sean Money: yes you are filth,,,
@Sean Money: Why are you using British slang? The old bill wha
@Vincent Wallace: Because we don’t have any decent slang words ourselves for the Bizzies, filth, Old Bill, Peelers etc.
@The Firestarter:
Shades
@Ciaran: Yes, the shades, which is derived from “shay joug” in the Traveller language cant.
@Sean Money: If you stayed at home there would be less filth about! Remember, every little helps.
@Sean Money: Get your trousers on son, you’re nicked!
A UK study by the RAC has shown insurance prices are much higher is certain parts because of the demographic.
@087 bed: Here they’re just much higher all over!
Only the tip of the iceberg
The stats and figures that evolve from this “campaign of awareness” are going to be glorious!… A fine supplement for infrastructure in fairness.
fines don’t cure stupidity and the “all about me” attitude that’s pervasive in society..its a societal problem and not speed which is the easy excuse ..speed is revenue whereas tackling the real problem doesn’t increase the government coffers so zero Interest
72 deaths this year up by 11 on last year yet the causes of these accidents is vague !
where are the investigation reports to confirm the causes of these crashes ? I know of four accidents that were down to driver error, weather and road conditions not speed and yet i only ever hear the narrative that it was down to speed and mobile phones ? How many was due to drink and drugs ? How many was due to speed ? How many due to phone use ? How many dangerous driving ? How many due to vehicle maintenance failures ? How many road conditions ? How many weather conditions ? How many driver behaviour ? To understand the problem people need to understand what caused these accidents and with all due respect a speed van will not catch bad behavior or re-educate or catch a bad driver.
Every car sold should include a speed sensor that calls back to the police if vehicle exceeds the local speed limit , before someone else has to. Trucks and buses have them. Removal of said device, equates to a driving ban. Simples. But would people object, yes, they’d protest about it, in the streets in their hundreds of thousands. Blood splattered streets.
It about bloody time. There should also be a lot of cameras on traffic lights. And yes I was also got for speeding. But I payed my fine and still think is important to get everyone who speeds.
Bad road surfaces and insufficient signage are a big factor in accidents in this country, especially among young inexperienced drivers. How many times people have to veer
to avoid potholes or rough surface patches on our rural roads. County Council officials should be held to account and should liaise with Gardai on the condition of our roads.
Simple things like clear centre and road edge marking on all roads, 75% of rural roads are neglected in this way. This should be a priority of Government along with policing
for Speed, mobile phone use and overtaking on hard shoulders.
have your say