Should Meath County Council control the speed cameras within 50kph zones
PAUL MURPHY
The Government should give local councils the power to hand out penalties to drivers who break the speed limit within 50kph zones, a councillor has suggested.
The proposal was made by independent Cllr Trevor Golden during a discussion on a motion put by Fine Gael Cllr Noel French that, given the continual number of road deaths both nationally and countywide, the Road Safety Authority should be asked to implement a traffic management/speed control programme in rural villages and towns using camera detection technology.
He said that fatalities in lower speed limit zones had increased during 2015 and 2016. Statistics provided by the Road Safety Authority showed that a total of 187 people had lost their lives on the roads in 2016 compared with 162 in 2015. Fatalities in the speed limit zone of 50km/h had increased by 60% between 2015 and 2016.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn had said the Garda would be concentrating on the “big four killer behaviours on the roads” – speeding, drink driving, non-seat belt wearing, and mobile phone usage while driving. “I have received complaints of speeding on approach roads to towns like Trim and through small villages like Longwood, Ballivor and Kildalkey. All councillors have received complaints of speeding through areas where people are crossing the road”.
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Independent Cllr Sharon Keogan said that e300,000 had been allocated for traffic calming in Julianstown but she wondered why there were no fixed cameras in place to detect speeding offences. “The Gardai at the moment don’t have any fixed cameras in any part of the country. This is something the local authorities could look at”. However, she advised that everything came at a price and her information was that each camera cost e10,000.
Fine Gael Cllr Alan Tobin said that 90% of car crashes were caused by driver error. He said that drivers should always educate themselves on the dangers they faced on the roads, and Cllr Enda Flynn said that education had an important role but enforcement of the law was also a major factor in road safety.
Cllr Nick Killian said that when a survey had been carried out in Ratoath village some time ago it was found that the average speed through the village was 63km/h – and most of the people doing that speed were from the area itself and Cllr David Gilroy said that education had a huge role in educating people to share responsibility for road safety.
Independent Cllr Trevor Golden said that when all reasonable attempts had been tried, and when a problem persisted, the only avenue left was enforcement. He felt the relevant Minister was going to have to give local authorities permission to hand out penalties for speeding within the 50 zones.
He said the local authorities were given responsibility for setting speed limits within their own areas yet had no role in enforcement. Cllr French’s motion was withdrawn but is to be resubmitted with new wording.