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SPEED CAMERAS IN the Port Tunnel are going live from midnight.
The new speed cameras that will calculate motorists’ speed based on the time it takes them to travel through it.
The cameras record the time motorists enter the tunnel and when they leave it, calculating the average speed taken by the motorist to travel the distance.
The speed limit in the tunnel is 80km/h meaning that if motorists complete the 4.8km tunnel in faster than 3m 36s they have broken the speed limit and will receive a fixed charge fine from the gardaí.
Gardaí say the enforcement procedure will mirror the existing procedures for the processing of speeding offences that incur a fixed charge and applicable penalty points.
The fixed charge penalty for speeding currently is an €80 fine and three penalty points on your licence, increasing to five penalty points and an increased fine if convicted in court.
Traffic levels through Dublin Tunnel have increased by 40% over the last five years and as a result there is statistically an increase in the potential for collisions and incidents.
Delay
The speed cameras were initially announced by the gardaí last June and were expected to be installed at the beginning of this year.
Speaking to RTÉ in January Sean O’Neill of Transport Infrastructure Ireland said the cameras were ready but that it will be up to gardaí when they are put in use.
The cameras have now been installed at a cost of more than €550,000.
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross said; “Any initiative that has the potential to save lives and reduce serious injuries on our roads is to be welcomed.”
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It’s an average speed. Timed going in and again when you leave. Doing 80k should mean x time from entry to exit. Nothing stopping you doing 140 for 90% of the journey and 20 for the remaining 10%
@Peter Cavey: Nope. You haven’t allowed for acceleration and deceleration distance. Doing 80 kph is actually the fastest way. (Although very little in it)
@Dave Harris: I’m so glad I don’t live in Dublin and I’m a jakeen. Wouldn’t go back to Dublin for anything.
@jenni: Not even for a bleedin spicebag wha.
@Dj: ah the good oul spicebag ..
@Peter Cavey: I can see a lot of brake testing over the last 100m as drivers begin to doubt themselves, should be interesting.
@Peter Cavey:
You would still be over the average speed limit by about 3 minutes driving that way. Need to brush up on your maths before speeding in the tunnel
@Nick Allen: it was hypothetical.
@Peter Cavey: its nothing to do with speeding its all about money for our corrupted establishment government
550k.. are they gold plated?
@Tom: Great comment. This is a business now. They feel they can snatch lots of € in fines. Question is how many accidents caused by speeding occured in the tunnel?? It’s just about €€€€ making racket.
@gregory: no the question is who earned the 550k contract to install a few cameras….
Now they just need to do something about the huge trucks tail-gating and overtaking without adequate space and the tunnel will be safe!
Trucks are not allowed to over take in the tunnel,As for trucks tail-gating I found from my time using the tunnel. That car drivers would slow down in the tunnel while not turning on their lights. Causing back logs of trucks using the tunnel.
@Dave Byrne: 100% same limerick tunnel. Turn on ye’re lights ffs!!
@Dave Byrne: yes they are, its a two lane tunnel.
@Paul: They’re supposed to stay in lane. I think cars might be the same.
That’ll show the drunk drivers!!!!…..money racket!
@George McCarthy: statistically most drunk drivers drive under the speed limit to try not get noticed, it’s their erratic weaving and falling asleep behind the wheel that causes most accidents.
@George McCarthy:
A money racket……the words of a fool
About time. I did 220 km/ph in the tunnel once because I knew there was no speed trap.
To be clear: it was early on a Sunday and it was completely empty. I was on my own and I put no one’s life in danger except my own.
@bopter: wow you’re so cool …..
@bopter:
You must have a huge dick, well at least think you do
@bopter: Well, you didn’t have time to react if you went around a bend at those speeds, even if the bends are not sharp in the tunnel. So you only knew you were alone at the end of the tunnel.
@bopter: time so for a 1.6hdi slow machine to avoid all the mental penalties….cruise control amd major patience required and u can stick to 30km in Dublin…. Truly a money racket at thos stage for (1) Gardai fines and (2) insurance companies…penalty points. i got 3 points and 80 euro for 68km in a 60km zone in the middle of nowhere in waterford with no traffic and no houses or people just before a 100km sign….
@bopter: you could still do it if you enter fast enough. Timing cameras are money generating really.
@Bilbo Baggins:
How are they money generating. The speed limit is 80k, if u exceed it u should pay
@Nick Allen: No correlation, just likes fast driving. High powered cars like my bros 360 hp porsche 911 stops/slows in an instant. Giant calipers and huge ventilated brake discs. When was the last time you heard of a Porsche in an accident-never right? Generally really good and attentive drivers…
@Nick Allen: because arse holes can still enter the tunnel at over 100 and will end up breaking harder in it so they don’t get caught. Education and chevroning the tunnel plus cameras would work. Stop idiots randomly switching lanes and tailgating. Probably the biggest dangers in a tunnel
@gregory: Paul Walker’s surviving family would disagree.
@gregory:
And remind me, what sort of car was Paul Walker in when he died? Was it not a Porsche?
The speed limits and fines plus penalty points in general is gone of the walls, people doing crazy stuff fair enough,
@Mick Hannigan: Crazy stuff like speeding in a tunnel?
It takes a special kind of gobs*h*i*t*e to speed through a tunnel Wtf is there any need to speed when it takes less than five minutes to drive through the tunnel at a legal speed
@Marie Gunbay:
I completely agree with your point but it should take 6 mins to drive through the tunnel at the 80km speed limit.
@Marie Gunbay: Most accidents are caused by bad driving not speed. Plenty of people on the roads who simply cannot drive.
@gregory: and most of them drive too quickly. You’re advocating speeding in a tunnel. Remind me what happened in the Mount Blanc tunnel?
@gregory:
You are correct that most accidents are as a result of bad driving but what differentiates between fatal accidents and accidents resulting in minor or no injuries. Speed!
@Nick Allen: 80 kph fast enough but if you change lanes cameras wont work out time
@john g mcgrath:
Where did u hear that? I can’t see how lane change would stop the avg speed being calculated. When avg speed is used in the UK my understanding is that lane change doesnt matter
@john g mcgrath: That used to be the case, years ago!
@Nick Allen: Nick, if I’m doing my math right 80/60 = 1.33 x 6mins = 7.99, tunnel is only 4.5km long. I get 3.38mins, I got a D in math in my leaving so could be well wrong, I heard yesterday on the news that a sub 3.30 time will get you a speeding offence
Delighted to hear this news. I stopped using the tunnel 3 years ago because of the constant speeding of all vehicles. Now maybe it will be a safer place to drive through.
Sheila Boyd
Sounds like a handy way to calibrate my speedometer – I’m convinced it it too prudent
80k is a fair speed for the tunnel. Its 4.5k long and only takes 6 mins to travel. Speed kills and is even more dangerous in a tunnel. People suggesting profiteering or similar need to reflect on their opinions and perhaps mature a little
@Nick Allen: your maths are a bit off
@Dave O Keeffe:
Care to correct my maths?
80km/h is travelling 0.75 Km per minute (60/80)
4.5 Km (length of tunnel) divided by 0.75 (distance travelled in 1 minute) = 6 minutes
@Nick Allen: 80km / 60min = ~1.33km per minute
4.5km / 1.33 = 3.38mins travel
@Rob Nolan: and 3.38mins is 3minutes 23seconds.the new is wrong
Price of the cameras made back in a month
Pay for itself in 2 days
Total money racket
Just another gouge on the public
This is the contempt they have for us
@Thaddus T Sawballs: But nobody who obeys the speed limit will be fined. How is it gouging the public?
Just wait for it, coming to an M50 near you!! Pretty soon they will have these on most motorways. Money racket is all, pure and simple from that simpleton Ross.
Yeah any initiative that robs more money from people’s pockets is a good thing.Big brother is watching us more and more.Next if you walk too fast you will be fined.its getting worse.Im feeling very claustrophobic.
@gerry fallon: There’s no speed limit on walking, and never will be, because there’s quite a low limit to the amount of damage a pedestrian can do by bumping into someone or something.
If you feel claustrophobic, avoid confined spaces.
This is another piece of stupid Bullshit. You will find that ” a coach and four” will be driven through this piece of regulation or legislation or whatever it is in no time at all. Someone sees another way of making handy money at the expense of workers.
@Eugene Comaskey:
The poor workers won’t stick to the speed limit and it is people trying to make handy money out of them. you got to love that chip on your shoulder
@Eugene Comaskey: It’s impossible for them to make money at the expense of anyone who obeys the speed limit. Only those who are desperate to shave a few seconds off their journey are at risk.
Great to see average speed cameras finally being rolled out in Ireland, will save the sudden slow down and speed up that we had with fixed cameras.
Now there needs to be average speed cameras installed in more places, for example, the M50 in order to reduce collisions and save lives!
They have these average speed check cameras are all over Scotland. Hope this is not the start of a new trend in this country.
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