Busy Donegal road among 9 locations in Ireland with new static speed cameras

The static speed safety cameras are expected to be operational by the end of 2024.Gardai said such safety cameras have been proven internationally to reduce speeding, and that speeding is one of the main contributors to road deaths.The cameras will be located on the N14 (Donegal) between Manorcunningham and Lifford east of Letterkenny, N59 (Galway), N25 (Waterford), R772 (Wicklow), N80 (Carlow), Dublin (Dolphin’s Barn), N17 (Mayo), N22 (Cork), and N69 (Limerick).The locations were selected based on fatal and serious injury collision data from the last seven years and speed data, as well as feedback from stakeholders.The nine static speed cameras are being funded from the Garda budget at a cost of approximately €2.4 million over the next 18 months.

Site visits and partnership engagement are ongoing to progress the engineering for the installation.

These cameras will join the average speed cameras for the N3 (Butler’s Bridge), N5 (Swinford), and N2 (Slane), which are expected to be operational in early Q4 2024.

There are also 55 safety cameras currently operated via GoSafe vans; this will increase to 58 in the coming weeks.

In addition, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has requested that Assistant Commissioner Roads Policing develop a business case for the introduction of a further 100 static speed cameras.

This business case will then form part of An Garda Síochána’s application for its overall funding in 2025 as part of the Estimates Process.

Speaking today, Assistant Commissioner Roads Policing and Community Engagement, Paula Hilman, said, "Static speed safety cameras have been proven in other countries to be highly effective in changing driver behaviour and reducing speed, which is a key contributor to road deaths. Speed cameras slow drivers down. The lower speeds people drive at, the lower the number of road deaths.”

According to the Institute of Transport Economics, Norway, there were statistically significant reductions in collisions within 1 km downstream and 100 metres upstream of a static speed camera location.

As with GoSafe vans, drivers detected by static speed cameras breaking the speed limit on that road will be automatically issued a fixed charge penalty notice.

In addition, there has been investment in new hand-held speed detection devices, drug detection devices, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology, and roads policing vehicles.

Following additional Government funding for Go Safe hours in 2023, An Garda Síochána has committed €5.1 million to increase the hours of operation of GoSafe detection vans, with a focus on locations with high levels of collisions for the next 18 months from May 2024 to October 2025.

Commissioner Harris has also recently introduced an initiative where every front-line Garda carries out 30 minutes of roads policing activity per shift.

This initiative is based on international research and successful implementation in Sweden, which is a world leader in road safety.