Some 68 drivers, one of whom was driving 34km/h above the speed limit in Co Roscommon, have been detected travelling at excessive speeds within the first five hours of National Slow Down day.
GoSafe vans checked the speeds of 37,777 vehicles between 7am and 12pm on Thursday morning, with higher figures expected throughout the day as gardaí begin to police roads until 7am on Friday.
One driver was detected speeding at 94km/h in a 60km/h zone in Co Roscommon, near Carrick-on-Shannon, while a driver in Cashelshanaghan in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, was detected speeding at 113km/h in a 80km/h zone.
Another was found speeding at 124km/h in a 100km/h zone in Gortatlea in Tralee, Co Kerry, while a driver in Ballytruckle, Co Waterford, was detected driving at 69km/h, 19km/h above the speed limit.
The 24-hour national speed enforcement operation aims to deter those intent on driving at excessive or inappropriate speeds, to increase the overall compliance with speed limits and to remind drivers of the dangers of speeding.
As the seasonal weather sets in, with shorter, darker evenings ahead, driving conditions will become more challenging, An Garda Síochána said.
“It is important to remember that no matter how good the road and weather conditions are, any increase in speed will significantly increase the likelihood of being involved in a serious or fatal road traffic collision.
“While the number of fatal road traffic collisions that have occurred so far this year are currently down on 2023, it is paramount that road users continue to support An Garda Síochána to maintain this trend,” it said.
As of 9am on Thursday morning, some 147 people have been killed on Irish roads so far in 2024.
The majority of deaths so far in 2024 were drivers (58), followed by passengers (31), pedestrians (27) and motorcyclists (17).
A further 10 were cyclists, three were e-scooter drivers or passengers and the remaining one was a pillion passenger or other, according to Garda statistics.
Overall, there has been a decrease of 17 road-related deaths when compared to the same period in 2023.
However, recent data from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) shows a sharp increase this year in the number of fatalities during the peak morning commuting time of 6am to 9am.
By mid-October, there had been 19 deaths in 2024 between 6am and 9am, compared with 11 in the same period in 2023 and five in 2022.
A separate RSA analysis, meanwhile, shows that one third (32%) of serious injuries sustained by pedestrians from 2019 to 2023 occurred between 4pm and 8pm, higher than any other time of the day.
In the same period, 164 pedestrians were killed while 1,426 sustained serious injuries on Irish roads.
As National Slow Down Day got under way, gardaí appealed to drivers to comply with speed limits “to reduce the number of speed related collisions, save lives and reduce injuries on our roads.”
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