Campaigners slam speeding rule

A new zero tolerance approach to speeding motorists will alienate drivers, road campaigners warned today.

The employment of a “jobsworth ethos” by gardai fining drivers for being as little as 1mph over the limit will do more harm than good, they claimed.

Their warnings came after it emerged that all motorists caught driving faster than 30mph in built-up areas will be fined, regardless of their speed.

Previously gardai were allowed to exercise discretion when enforcing limits.

Conor Faughnan, of the AA, said he did not want to see gardai catching motorists opportunistically “like fish in a barrel“.

“If gardai adopt this approach, they risk alienating a motoring public which has by and large embraced the law very fulsomely since it was brought in,” Mr Faughnan said.

He said he was full of support for the work the gardai had done in implementing the new penalty points system for speeding offences, but that this could be undermined by the tough new approach.

“I think that forcing the gardai on the side of the road to adopt this zero tolerance attitude could count against that,” he said.

“I think in the long run it will do us no favours”

He added: “If we get this sort of jobsworth ethos, which sees individual gardai jumping on motorists for micro-violations of speeding limits which have been set inaccurately anyway, then I think we will lose public support and it will do more harm than good.”

Eddie Shaw, chairman of the National Safety Council, said he was “absolutely certain” discretion would be maintained by officers.

He described the zero tolerance rule as a “nonsensical statement“.

“All the evidence that we have from viewing the gardai in operation on the roads and enforcing road safety shows that they exercise great discretion,” he said.

Mr Shaw said he was sure they would continue to maintain this.

A spokeswoman for the Gardai said nothing had changed in the law surrounding speed limits, but that from now on the rules would be enforced more strictly.