Traffic Call – Safety Cameras ‘Go Safe’

On November 16th a new network of safety cameras went live. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister for Transport officially launched this speed reduction campaign on Monday, the 15th November 2010.

The cameras operate from vans and can be moved around the country as needed. Five hundred sites around Ireland, the scenes of speed related collisions will be targeted as ‘speed enforcement zones’. These zones will be listed on www.garda.ie . The focus of ‘go safe’ is to prevent collisions, to act as a deterrent and ultimately to save lives.

Six thousand hours a month will be spent monitoring these zones. Mostly at dangerous times – at nights and weekends. Collision data determines how and when the cameras will be used.

The sites are selected on the analysis of crash data when speed has been a major factor in collisions.

A one percent drop in mean speed leads to 2% reduction in injury accidents, 3% reduction in serious injury accidents and 4% reduction in fatalities.

Full information on zones is available on www.garda.ie

Sergeant Jim McAllister discussed how it works and the strategy behind it.