Drivers do not believe speed camera plan a safety measure

MORE than half of motorists do not believe the privatised speed camera system, which is to be introduced later this year, will be used exclusively for road safety purposes.

The survey, which found 53% of drivers remain sceptical about the system, was carried out by AA Ireland and polled about 5,300 motorists in the republic.

AA spokesman Conor Faughnan said the findings demonstrated the motoring public’s concern that the system could still be used as a revenue-generating measure despite reassurances by the Government and gardaí that it was solely designed to improve road safety.

Mr Faughnan said many errors had been made by the British government in introducing a similar system of speed cameras, which had alienated the vast majority of car drivers in Britain.

“British motorists were never convinced that the cameras were being used for road safety purposes as it was immediately obvious they were being used to raise money,” said Mr Faughnan.

“The onus is on the Government to prove this is not a money-making exercise.”

Mr Faughnan said there was a clear confidence gap among motorists because of the past experience of gardaí targeting locations for speeding where there was no justification for road safety concerns. He claimed many motorists had bitter memories of what he described as the “Belfield-flyover syndrome” — a reference to a notorious Garda speed-check location on the N11 Dublin-Bray road near Donnybrook.

Mr Faughnan blamed local authorities for the setting of inappropriate speed limits at many locations around the country.

“We still have dual carriageways with 60km/h limits and boreens with 80km/h limits,” he said.

The AA survey showed male drivers are far more sceptical about the benefits of speed cameras than their female counterparts.

Almost 62% of men said they disagreed that the system would be used fairly for road safety purposes compared with 38% of women.

Mr Faughnan also expressed some doubt that speed cameras would be introduced later this year as there had already been several missed deadlines in relation to the project.

It is understood that the €100 million contract with the preferred bidder, the Go Safe consortium, to provide 6,000 hours of camera monitoring per month has still not been signed.

Government officials have estimated that the network of fixed and mobile speed cameras may detect about 500,000 speeding offences per annum.