Surrounded by flashing lights, state of the art cameras, fast cars and plenty of action including the odd high-speed chase, I spent yesterday in an unmarked Garda car equipped with a camera, pursuing speeding motorists. "There's a fella at a nice speed," says the sharp-eyed Garda driver. "Right, we'll take him," says his boss in the passenger seat and the camera starts rolling.
Garda John Gillard and Insp Gerry O'Brien take off in pursuit of a Monaghan-registered car which clocked more than 80 miles an hour as it approached the Dunleer motorway. We have to do 120 m.p.h. to catch up with it.
On the motorway the driver is doing 104105 m.p.h., is in the right-hand lane and overtaking. He passes out a lorry, a Bus Eireann coach and a car at 78 m.p.h. and keeps going.
In the back of the unmarked Garda car I am pushed back slightly as Garda Gillard accelerates. We are in a new 2.5-litre Opel Vectra which can do 160 m.p.h. The Monaghan motorist is in a turbo diesel Peugeot 605. As we come off the bypass and head downhill towards Drogheda, the car in front keeps overtaking and in the process crosses into a ghost island and the meridian strip. On the outskirts of the town the blue lights and siren are activated and he is pulled over.
He takes up the inspector's offer to show him his driving on video. The Vascar system includes a colour monitor about four inches wide and three inches long which shows the date, time and speed of the vehicle caught on camera.
"I did 105 in that thing?" says the middle-aged man. He watches his driving and then asks if was he not entitled to overtake when there was a broken white line. "Not when there is traffic coming towards you," answers the Inspector. He is a contractor on the way to a meeting. He was fined on the spot. "He's not the worst," the gardai say.
Garda Gillard has more than 20 years' experience in the traffic corps. "They all plead innocence and they are all sorry," he says. He drives one of three unmarked cars with the Vascar recording system which are being used as part of Operation Lifesaver.
A tenth of all fatal road traffic accidents are in the Garda division of Louth/Meath. For the next six months the Traffic Corps - and errant motorists - will feel the effects of Operation Lifesaver.
Garda Traffic Corps numbers have been doubled. In addition to the unmarked cars, there are two marked patrol cars and the Gatso van. Its name comes from the name of the technology it carries.
If you speed past the unassuming van, your face, car registration, the time, date, speed and location are captured on a still picture. If you don't find yourself being stopped by an unmarked patrol car a couple of miles down the road, you could instead find a summons winging its way to you.
On the afternoon of the launch of the operation last Monday, 24 vehicles were found to be speeding in a 45-minute period. Eighteen of them were given on-the-spot £50 fines. So far this year, 26 of the 215 fatal road traffic accidents occurred in the Louth/Meath division and "we want to start turning that tide and reduce the number of deaths on our roads," said Insp O'Brien.
The division borders both Dublin and Northern Ireland and has the main Belfast and Derry roads going through it.
The clamp down is also targeting drink driving, dangerous driving and non-use of seat belts. "At the end of the six months we will evaluate our findings. If there is still the same amount of accidents we will ask then if it is the enforcement, the legislation or driving habits," says Insp O'Brien.
The maximum fine for speeding or not wearing a seat belt is £150.