GARDAÍ WILL today begin a major national enforcement operation to combat speed-related road traffic incidents involving trucks and buses. The focus of the Garda's attention will be on national roadways where speed-related incidents have caused death or serious injury in recent months.
Meanwhile, The Irish Timeshas learned that the Garda Traffic Corps is about to take delivery of a new fleet of vans equipped with mobile speed cameras.
The vans will replace the outdated Gatso speed camera vehicles and, unlike the old fleet, have the capability to operate after dark. Twelve new vans are due to come on stream from the end of August.
These will be followed by the acquisition of 104 in-car camera kits that will read the number plates of all vehicles passing a Garda car in either direction. The system will be linked to the Garda's Pulse computer database.
Vehicles which are not taxed or insured, or which have been reported stolen, will trigger a warning notice on an in-car computer screen. A warning will also be triggered for cars which have not passed the National Car Test or which have any other outstanding infringement.
The Go Cúramach (with care) anti-speeding operation, due to begin today, is one of five targeted two-day operations planned before the end of the year.
Members of the Garda Traffic Corps will be deployed in large numbers on national roads checking speed limit compliance by single-deck buses and goods vehicles. Normal enforcement operations for cars and other vehicles will not be affected.
Recent research carried out by the Road Safety Authority has shown widespread non-compliance with speed limits by drivers of large vehicles. Some 65 per cent of articulated vehicles, 78 per cent of rigid vehicles and 66 per cent of single-deck buses exceeded the 50km/h speed limit on national roads in urban areas.
The research also found that 58 per cent of articulated vehicles were exceeding the 80km/h vehicle-specific speed limit on national secondary roads, 87 per cent on national primary roads and 69 per cent on dual carriageways.
Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock, the head of the Garda Traffic Corps, said the Go Cúramach operation was not quota-driven or aimed at raising revenue through speeding fines.
"We're announcing it in advance because we want people to slow down," he said. "Some of the fatal crashes we've seen in recent times have involved very high speeds and we're trying to get drivers to moderate their driving habits and take more care."
Mr Rock said while fatal crashes received a lot of coverage, there were many in which people survived but were seriously injured.
The increased enforcement was made possible by additional personnel being assigned to the Garda Traffic Corps, he said. Staffing had reached 941 to date and the 1,200 full strength would be reached before the end of the year.
The Go Cúramach operation coincides with other Garda operations targeted at rogue hauliers.
Last Tuesday, gardaí began a programme of increased enforcement around illegal haulage from quarries and against hauliers entering the Republic from other jurisdictions without the proper documentation. The second stage of the operation got under way yesterday with gardaí targeting illegal transportation of waste material and other unlicensed haulage activities.
