Static or fixed cameras capable of filming speeding or reckless drivers, even during hours of darkness, are to be located on the main arterial roads out of Dublin as part of the effort to reduce road deaths.
Twenty cameras are being placed on the N1, N2, N3 and N4 and will be operational by the end of the year.
It is the first time that "static" cameras have been placed on main roads here and is in response to the continuing high levels of road deaths, particularly on busy rural roads, in the State. Between 400 and 500 people are killed on the roads every year.
Fixed cameras have been shown in other countries to have a significant impact in reducing dangerous driving. The installation of around 400 such cameras on the M25 orbital motorway around London caused a major reduction in pile-ups and fatal accidents.
The cameras will quickly be put into operation on the main Dublin-Dundalk road, one of the most dangerous here and the scene of last month's head-on accident in which six people were killed.
The impact of road deaths was also revealed in the week after the June bank holiday when 26 people, including seven motorcyclists, were killed in a seven-day period. Most of the deaths occurred on main rural roads.
The level of road deaths in the Republic and in Northern Ireland has always surpassed even the death tolls in the worst years of violence in the North. The current road death rate in the Republic is around 10 times the average homicide rate.
The camera project will run in tandem with Operation Lifesaver, the Garda operation in the Louth-Meath division where there has been a large increase in the number of checkpoints to catch reckless or speeding drivers. This operation, which has led to a major increase in the number of on-the-spot fines imposed in the division, is about to be extended nationally.
The fixed cameras will be equipped with infra-red lenses so that traffic offenders can be detected in darkness. Evidence from the camera film will be used to serve summonses.
It is understood there is no need for changes in current legislation to allow prosecutions with film evidence from the cameras. They are high-resolution and high-speed and can provide evidence against offending motorists every second, effectively catching a whole line of speeding vehicles.