Mobile speed cameras target roads in the city area

By Darragh McDonagh

Some 24 sites in County Galway have been included among the 750 locations nationwide which will be monitored by a network of mobile speed cameras that began to operate yesterday.

The sites are located within 19 zones throughout the county that have been deemed to be accident-prone stretches of road and will be patrolled by the privatised fleet of 45 safety camera vans.

Three of the zones are located in the vicinity of Galway city. A stretch of the Dublin Road (R338) covering from Doughiska to the Bodkin roundabout at Terryland via Renmore and Sean Mulvoy Road is the most expansive of these.

Another zone stretches from the top of Threadneedle Road to Silverstrand via Kingston Road and Barna Road, while the link between the Tuam Road and Dublin Road via Connolly Avenue and Michael Collins Road in Mervue completes the three city zones.

Around 500,000 penalties are expected to be issued to motorists by the nationwide network of mobile speed cameras, according to Department of Justice sources. This would yield at least €40m for the exchequer to offset the €65m cost of employing the private firm to provide the service.

The five-year contract was awarded to Road Safety Operations Ireland, trading as Go Safe, which will be paid a flat fee without penalty-based incentives. It is the first time in the history of the Garda that policing duties have been outsourced to a private company.

The new cameras will be housed in clearly marked vans, which will provide 6,000 hours of speed checks every month at 750 sites located within 518 zones nationwide.