Cork to see three new safety camera zones put in place next week

An Garda Síochána is to introduce three new safety camera zones in Cork City and county from next week as part of a nationwide expansion of its mobile safety camera zones.

The expansion of the scheme will see the introduction of 61 new safety camera zones across the country.

The new zones will become operational from 6am on Tuesday, July 26, bringing the total number of such zones nationwide to 1,373.

The new zones are spread across 23 counties, with 49% on regional routes, 31% on national routes, and 20% on other routes (motorway, local roads, and others).

In Cork, three new safety camera zones will be introduced, with one new zone in the city, and two in the county.

In the city, a new safety camera zone will be introduced along the R610 on the Rochestown Rd, between the Fingerpost and the turn-off for Hop Island.

In Cork county, one safety camera zone will be introduced at Lurrig, Whitewell Cross on the R630 between Saleen and Rostellan, and the other zone will be introduced between Knocknacully, Kennelworth on the N25, just outside Youghal, and Gortaroo, Burgess, on the Killeagh Rd.

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said 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 on roads in the Republic, marking an increase to date of 28 more deaths than in 2021, and 13 more than in 2019.

Safety cameras operate in areas where there is a history of speed-related collisions, and these are known as speed enforcement zones, with all zones available on the Garda website.

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.

Superintendent Thomas Murphy of the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau said that those who decide to speed put themselves and members of their community at risk, particularly children, older people, cyclists, and other motorists.

“GoSafe vans operate in areas that have a speed-related collision history where fatal, serious-injury, and minor-injury collisions occur,” said Supt Murphy.

“The deployment of safety cameras has been proven to save lives.”