‘Innovative actions’ needed to tackle speeding on Irish roads

Mairéad Forsythe said a more varied placement of speed vans and Garda patrols are required as they have become “predictable”, noting that some social media groups warn drivers of such. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Innovative methods of speed enforcement and more wide-ranging surveillance is required to address speeding on Irish roads, according to a campaign group.

Mairéad Forsythe, co-founder of the Love 30 Campaign for 30 km/h speed limits, said “innovative” actions — including an expansion of the average speed safety camera system which was launched on the M7 last year — need to be launched to reduce speeding on Irish roads.

“We need drivers to feel that if they speed, they’re likely to be caught,” she said, adding that speeding fines are not acting as a major deterrent due to the small likelihood of being caught.

She said a more varied placement of speed vans and Garda patrols are required as they have become “predictable”, noting that some social media groups warn drivers of such.

“It’s reprehensible but I don’t know whether it’s illegal or not or how you can stop it and to a certain extent it’s a game of cat and mouse.

“The gardaí need to be more innovative about where they are and how visible they are,” she said.

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Ms Forsythe said there is not enough enforcement, adding that there has been a “marked reduction” in Garda enforcement.

“We need more visible enforcement and more innovative methods of speed enforcement,” she said.

“We need the fines and the penalty points and we need the courts to ensure that the fines and penalty points are imposed,” she said.

40 lives lost on Irish roads

Some 40 people have now lost their lives on Irish roads so far this year, eight more than over the same period in 2022. There were also several incidents over the weekend in which people died or were injured. 

Ms Forsythe said the increase in deaths was “very worrying” saying there is “no explanation” for it.

“We are campaigning for 30km/h speed limits in towns, villages, and cities and in the vicinity of schools and we do think that would improve safety, not just in those areas, but it would encourage people to think about slowing down,” she said.

The Road Safety Authority's Brian Farrell said over half of all deaths on roads so far in 2023 were under 35 years of age compared to the age group accounting for a third of road deaths in 2022.

It hasn’t been a good start to the year, it comes off the back of a poor year last year where there was a 14% increase in road deaths.

Mr Farrell also noted there has been an increasing pattern in late-night/early morning and weekend collisions following the reopening of the nighttime economy.

“Unfortunately, those collisions are also associated with impaired driving whether through alcohol or drugs, driver fatigue, speeding, and non-seatbelt wearing and we do see a younger profile in those types of crashes," he said.

Mr Farrell urged drivers to be vigilant, particularly in the run-up to busy periods such as St Patrick’s weekend.

“We’ve heard this said by seriously injured survivors of collisions that it just took a split second for something to go wrong.”