Three new speed camera locations in Offaly

Three new speed camera zones have been introduced in Offaly, bringing the total number to 27.

The three new areas in Offaly are among 61 extra nationally which willbecome operational from 6am on Tuesday, bringing the total number of safety camera zones nationwide to 1,373.

The new zones are a section of the N62 from Ballinahown to between Doon and Ferbane; part of R420 between the Cloneygowan side of Gracefield into Portarlington and part of the R402 from Mount Lucas crossroads to Killeenmore.

Gardai say the primary purpose of safety cameras is to reduce speed-related collisions, lessen injuries and save lives.

To date in 2022, there have been 89 road deaths an increase in 28 over 2021 and 13 to date in 2019.

Safety cameras operate in areas where there is a history of speed related collisions known as speed enforcement zones.

All zones are available on the Garda website. Gardai say the new locations were selected following an analysis of collated Garda data acquired from fatal, serious and minor road traffic collisions and from further consideration given to locations of concern highlighted by local communities through local Garda Community engagement.

The new zones are spread across 23 counties, 49% on Regional Routes, 31% National Routes and 20% on other routes (Motorway, Local Roads etc.).

Superintendent Thomas Murphy, Garda National Roads Policing Bureau said: "When someone decides to speed they put themselves and members of their community at risk, particularly children, older people, cyclists and other motorists. Our priority is to ensure that the vast majority of people who use the roads responsibly are not put in danger by a minority of reckless drivers who continue to drive at excessive speed."

Superintendent Murphy continued: "The deployment of safety cameras has been proven to save lives. I call on every road user to play their part to make the roads safer for all. You can do this by being a Lifesaver #Slowdown”

GoSafe has completed over 1 million hours of enforcement and checked over 307m vehicles up to end 2021. The number of vehicles detected by GoSafe in excess of the speed limit is on average less than 1.5 vehicles per hour of monitoring

More than 2.2m fixed charge notices for speeding offences both Intercept (Garda) and Non-intercept (GoSafe) have been issued in the same time