Nine speed offences detected in just 25 minutes by Cork's Mount Oval on bank holiday Monday

In the space of 25 minutes on bank holiday Monday lunchtime, members of the Garda Roads Policing Unit detected nine instances of speeding on the N28 by Mount Oval at the Bloomfield Interchange.

As part of An Garda Síochána’s bank holiday weekend road safety operation, Garda Terence McSweeney and Garda Michael Bohane, who work in the Roads Policing Unit in Ballincollig Garda Station, set up a checkpoint on the Bloomfield Interchange.

Over 25 minutes, from 12.49pm to 13.14pm, the two gardaí used speed cameras to detect nine motorists coming from the direction of Carrigaline or the Rochestown Road travelling at speeds in excess of the 60km/h speed limit.

The gardaí are allowed a small amount of discretion, and every motorist they stopped on Monday lunchtime was doing at least 20km/h over the 60km/h speed limit.

“You’ll get a lot more of a break from us than you would from a speed van,” Gda McSweeney told The Echo.

“But having said that, the truth is there’s been two really bad accidents in this area in recent weeks, and speeding is one of what we call the life-saver offences — speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, using your phone, and driving while intoxicated.

“And while most of the people we stopped today were doing around the 80 [km/h] mark, we often stop people doing 118, 120, in the 60 zone too,” he added.

The speed camera is not easy to operate, and it requires a steady hand, as the operator focuses upon the registration plate of the oncoming car to determine its speed.

Gda Bohane offered the pro tip, saying that most gardaí brace themselves against the garda car to keep the camera steady.

There was a moment of humour when a motorcyclist, clocked doing 97km/h in the 60km/h zone while undertaking a car, decided attack might be his best defence, telling Gda McSweeney: “You’re standing in a very dangerous place”.

His answer was: “And you were doing a very dangerous speed, and you were undertaking a car”.

Gda Bohane said that such a response is unusual: “Most people don’t argue with you once you explain that they were so far over the speed limit.”

Between 7am on Thursday and 7am on Monday, provisional garda figures show that more than 1,200 drivers were detected speeding.

So far this year, 147 lives have been lost on Irish roads.