Almost 600 motorists have been detected driving above the speed limit in the first 12 hours of An Garda Síochána's 24-hour national 'Slow Down' day.
Gardaí and GoSafe checked the speed of 125,572 vehicles between 7am and 4pm, and 454 motorists were driving above the speed limit.
These include a driver travelling at 152km/h in a 120km/h zone on the M7 at Mooretown in Kildare; another at 130km/h in a 100km/h on the M50 at Tymon North in Dublin; one at 105km/h in a 80km/h zone on the R178 Redbog, Carrickmacross, Co Louth and another travelling at 94km/h in a 50km/h zone on Main Street, Oola in Limerick.
The aim of 'Slow Down' day is to remind drivers of the dangers of speeding, which is a major contributory factory in road crashes.
A report from the Road Safety Authority found that between 2008 and 2012, excessive speed was a factor in almost one third of all fatal collisions.
Chief Superintendent Michael Hennebry, of the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau said while most people travel within the speed limit, gardaí are still detecting motorists speeding.
He said this poses a "serious risk not just to the motorists themselves, but to all the road users, especially vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists".
Road Safety Authority CEO Same Waide said around 30% of fatal collisions are as the result of speeding.
He said the RSA's Free Speed observational study found that 52% all drivers were observed speeding on urban roads and over a quarter (27%) were speeding on rural roads.
The 'Slow Down' operation will run until 7am tomorrow with high visibility speed enforcement in 1,322 speed enforcement zones.
Naas Roads Policing were conducting Speed Check on M7 detect car travelling at speed of 160 kph in 120kph zone.
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) March 1, 2022
They were stopped and a Fixed Charge Penalty Notice was issued to the driver. #SaferRoads #ArriveAlive pic.twitter.com/3JfFKVxuNm
