24-hour Garda speed checks start tomorrow morning

An Garda Síochána will conduct a National “Slow Down” Speed Enforcement Operation for a 24-hour period from 07.00hrs on Friday 19th to 07.00hrs on Saturday 20th October 2018. The National “Slow Down” Speed Enforcement Operations play a large part in achieving An Garda Síochána’s target of improving Road Safety and reducing the number of persons killed as a result of road traffic collisions. As of the 15th October, 117 people have been killed on Irish roads and while this is a reduction on previous years it is still 117 road deaths to many. Excessive and inappropriate speed remains a major contributory factor in road traffic collisions, and was a contributory factor in one third of all fatal collisions. In a recent Behavioural & Attitudes Survey conducted on behalf of the Road Safety Authority, 61% of motorists surveyed stated that they observed instances of driving over the speed limit, or inappropriate speed for a given situation on a weekly basis. The higher the speed, the greater the likelihood is of a collision happening and the more severe the outcome of that collision. As a general rule a 1% reduction in average speed will bring about a 4% reduction in fatal collisions, and this is why reducing motorists’ speed is essential to improving road safety.