THERE has been a 46 per cent fall in the number of Fixed Charge Notices for speeding in Limerick in the last decade.
That’s according to Limerick Aontú campaigner and the party national secretary, Sarah Beasley.
In a response to an Aontú Parliamentary Question, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that there has been a significant fall in the level of Fixed Charge Notices for speeding in the State.
“This comes not long after a response to a Parliamentary Question where the Minister admitted that there has been a massive fall in the number of Gardaí employed to police our roads. These facts are particularly significant given the horrendous and heartbreaking rise in the number of deaths on our roads this year,” Ms Beasley said.
Nationally Fixed Traffic Notices for speeding have fallen by 27 per cent since 2014, with Limerick seeing a massive drop of 46 per cent.
Over 17,000 fines were issued in 2014 but only 9130 in 2022.
The downward trend in Fixed Charge Notices continued in the first nine months of this year, the Aontú campaigner said, with a total of 5,700 fines issued up to September 2023 nationwide.
“This chimes with the fact that the number of Gardaí policing our roads is now lower than at any stage than the last 14 years. The number of Gardaí policing our roads has fallen a colossal 36 per cent since 2009,” she pointed out.
“Ireland has witnessed a significant increase in the number of road deaths. All of us have been stopped in our tracks over the last few months by the heartbreaking loss of life that has visited so many families. No one likes to get a speeding fine, but we know that there is a direct correlation between visible road policing and driver behaviour.
“Enforcement saves lives. Shockingly, that enforcement is not happening anymore on many of our roads. Drivers know this and some drivers are not adhering to safety laws as a result.
“The Government and the Minister for Justice need to get real when it comes to road safety. They talk the talk about speeding, reducing limits, but that is not what’s needed. If the Government really wants to make the roads safer, we need a visible Garda presence, they need to put the resources where their mouth is.”
