More than 1,000 drivers caught speeding on National Slow Down Day

One car detecting going more than 200km/h on Dublin’s 100km/h limit M50

By the time National Slow Day came to an end early on Saturday morning more than 1,000 cars had been clocked going faster than they should have been with some travelling at over twice the speed limit.

One vehicle was detected travelling at 202km per hour on the M50 in Dublin, a road which has a speed limit of 100km per hour while another car on the Navan Rd was found to be travelling at 106km per hour in a 60km per hour zone

The most egregious speeding breach of the campaign was recorded on the R132 near Mell in Co Louth where a vehicle was clocked at 125km per hour in a 60km per hour zone.

Gardaí and GoSafe speed vans detected a total of 1,072 speeding drivers as part of the National Slow Down Day campaign held over a 24 hour period starting at 7am on Friday.

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The annual campaign sees high-visibility enforcement using marked Garda cars and marked speed detection vans in 1,322 speed enforcement zones, across the country.

Many of the vehicles breaking the limits were travelling at speeds of over 120km per hour with some heavy goods vehicles detected breaking the relevant limits while towing trailers.

"We would like to thank the 124,929 drivers who were found to be compliant and drove within the speed limits," said chief superintendent Paul Cleary, of the Roads Policing Bureau.

“While the vast majority of motorists were found to be travelling safely and well within the speed limits, there are still those who continue to drive at excessive and inappropriate speeds,” he continued.

He warned that the Garda would “continue to focus our enforcement activities on non-compliant motorists as we strive to reduce the number of fatal and serious injury collisions across our roads network”.

Conor Pope

Conor Pope

Conor Pope is Consumer Affairs Correspondent, Pricewatch Editor and cohost of the In the News podcast