Mobile speed camera operation starts on Monday

THE roll-out of an extensive network of mobile speed cameras will begin nationwide on Monday.

A five-year €65 million contract with the private GoSafe consortium to provide the speed camera service was agreed last November following a protracted tendering process.

Under the deal, 45 mobile cameras with provide more than 6,000 hours of speed checks per month across the State.

The rolling-out of the project comes over a decade after the Government committed itself to introducing such a network. It is the first time in the State’s history that a key element of day-to -day policing has been out- sourced to a private agency.

Motorists caught speeding by the GoSafe cameras will be liable to incur penalty points and fines administered by the gardaí.

Susan Gray, founder of national road safety advocacy group PARC, is pleased to see the system begin.

“We welcome these cameras; they’re well overdue.

“We do have some concerns over the penalty points that will be issued when they are caught speeding because many of them are not being applied to licences because they are not being handed over in court.”

The new GoSafe cameras will be positioned in marked vans that will travel around 600 accident black-spots across the country.

The list of the areas that will be monitored is available for public viewing on the traffic section of the Garda website at www.garda.ie. The level of interest yesterday resulted in the website crashing for a time.

Speeding enforcement currently carried out by gardaí will continue as normal.

Gardaí use eight mobile cameras, 400 hand-held speeding devices and more than 100 automatic number plate recognition cameras installed in garda cars.

The GoSafe consortium is being paid a flat fee to provide the new service and there is no commission based on the number of motorists caught speeding.