TWO NEW AVERAGE speed cameras have been launched in Cavan and Mayo this morning ahead of the October Bank Holiday weekend.

From noon tomorrow, the new speed cameras on the N3 between Kilduff and Billis in Co Cavan, and on the N5 between Lislackagh and Cuilmore in Swinford will be live. 

The cameras were launched by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris this morning. 

Average speed cameras monitor a driver’s speed while driving between two points, rather than those that take a snapshot at a single location.

They use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to record the time, date, and location of each vehicle that passes through an entry and exit point.

Drivers found to have travelled over the speed limit will be issued with a fixed penalty notice, which, when processed, will result in them receiving three penalty points to their licence and a fine of €160, or €240 if not paid within 28 days.

The location of the new cameras were chosen because they meet the criteria as being high-collision sites, with numerous road traffic collisions, involving injury, serious injury, and fatalities.

Gardaí said international studies have found that speed cameras can influence a reduction in collisions and the severity of collisions through the ‘halo effect’ – where drivers have been found to reduce speed due to the presence of speed or safety cameras.

It is expected that a third average speed camera will be installed on the N2 road before the end of the year. 

As part of the initiative, six static speed cameras, which measure a driver’s speed at a single point, will also become operational before the end of the year, while a further three will be rolled out in early 2025. 

Funding of €9 million which was announced in Budget 2025 will also be used for up to 100 new static safety cameras.

‘Where they know there are cameras, they slow down’

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the objective of the average speed cameras is to try and change people’s behaviour while driving.

“I think we’ve all been really shocked by the massive increase over the last year or two in the number of road deaths and serious accidents,” she said.

“We are all doing across government, with the Gardaí, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, and all of us individually, everything that we can to reduce and to change those numbers around, because these are all people who have lost their lives and families impacted.”

She said that the two existing average speed cameras on the M7 and Dublin’s Port Tunnel have been effective.

“There’s about 20,000 people who use the M7 every day. There’s about 30 fixed charge notices, so people are largely compliant. For the Port Tunnel it’s about 26,000 people, 10 notices a day,” she said.

“People, where there are average speed cameras, where they know there are speed cameras, they slow down, they stick within the speed limits, and that’s the whole objective here.” 

There have been 143 fatalities on Irish roads so far this year. McEntee said there has been a reduction in

“If you take this month, five people have lost their lives. That is five too many, and I’m really conscious we’re talking about five people have lost their lives. It was over 20 last October.

“So we’re starting to move in the direction we want to, but we can’t be complacent.”

McEntee also said that since all uniformed gardaí began doing 30 minutes of road safety policing per shift, there has been an increase in detections for people driving with their phones and people driving without seat belts.

The whole point here is not to catch people out. It’s to change the behaviors and to change people’s attitudes.

She said there has been “a shift in how people are thinking” when they get behind the wheel of a car since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“More people, it seems, are willing to get behind the wheel having taken drink or drugs, and we have to try and change that.

“When you look at other countries, how they’ve used technology, it’s been really effective in reducing people’s speeds, and when that contributes to about 30% of deaths on our roads, we really have to focus there.”

When asked about the 620 gardaí attached to the Roads Policing Unit (RPU), McEntee said that the Garda Commissioner has given a commitment to increase that number by 75 this year.