New cameras in Port Tunnel to catch speeding motorists

Speed cameras installed at Dublin Port Tunnel installed at a cost of more then €550,000 are to go live on Thursday, a year after they were promised.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland paid for the new cameras, which were initially announced by the Garda last June, and said to be imminent last January.

The cameras have lain idle since being tested. Dublin Bay North TD Tommy Broughan and road safety group Parc have separately asked for an explanation for the delay in utilising the eight high-tech cameras, which measure speed over distance and each cost more than €50,000.

Both Mr Broughan and Parc (Promoting Awareness, Responsibility and Care) said they were disappointed the switch-on of the cameras had not been announced as part of the annual road safety day Slow Down, which took place earlier this month.

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Requests to the Garda for an explanation elicited only that the cameras would be switched on by the second half of this year. But Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald told Dublin Bay North TD Tommy Broughan the cameras would go live on June 1st.

Jeff Burt of Transport Infrastructure Ireland said it paid for the cameras as it is responsible for tunnel and motorway safety. The authority said the overall cost of more than €550,000 included sophisticated stand-alone software to connect with Garda computers, installation and fibre cabling.

Mr Burt said traffic using the tunnel had risen to record levels, higher than during the economic boom; some 16,000 cars and 10,000 heavy goods vehicles use the tunnel per day.

He said the authority was keen to see the cameras in place as part of a wide suite of enhanced safety measures.

Speeding problem

The Dublin Tunnel has more than 100 safety cameras covering traffic moving in both directions between Whitehall and Dublin Port, but these are for safety monitoring and are not used to prosecute speeding motorists.

Speeding in the tunnel has been a problem since it opened in December 2006. Some lorry drivers have even posted videos of themselves online speeding while using hand-held cameras.

Plans for the cameras to be used by An Garda to prosecute motorists were announced in June 2016. In January the Garda said the cameras, which at that point had already been installed, would be in use “within weeks”.

In reply to a parliamentary question this week, Ms Fitzgerald told Mr Broughan the cameras were to be introduced “on a pilot basis”.

The cameras photograph the vehicle entering the tunnel and they time its travel to a camera at the other end of the tunnel. The average speed of the vehicle between the two cameras is then calculated. If it is more than the 80km per hour limit, the registered owner of the vehicle will receive a fixed-notice fine and penalty points.

Susan Gray of Parc said the delay was regrettable and made the whole effort “seem like a waste of money”.