Brash motorists driving above speed limit trapped by gardai on National Slow Down Day

DUBLIN, Ireland - In a bid to create awareness about over speeding and to get motorists to comply with speed limits, the An Garda Síochána along with the Road Safety Authority held a National Slow Down Day over a 24 hour period.

Gardai said that throughout the 24 hour period, they caught 341 speeding motorists and pointed out that one of them was even found travelling at 138km/h in an 80km/h zone.

According to reports, the gardai also caught two vehicles travelling 50 percent above the speed limit. One of the drivers from Limerick was caught travelling at 91km/h in a 60km/h zone and the other from Kildare, travelling at 75km/h in a 50km/h zone.

A total of 135,010 vehicles were checked during the 24-hour initiative. 

The initiative, gardai believed would help in bringing out the increasing number of deaths that have occurred on Irish roads due to excessive speed. In 2015, 162 people were killed on the roads, where speed was seen to be a major contributing factor.  

Reports quoted Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid from the Roads Policing Bureau as saying, “On behalf of An Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority I wish to thank all the organisations who were involved in and supported this campaign. Drivers, please, think about the consequences of speeding the next time you get behind the wheel and reduce your speed accordingly. A special thank you to the schools and students across the country who provided poster images, poems and songs, available to view and hear on the Garda Facebook page, in support of this campaign.”