Gardai and GoSafe vans are out in force across the country this leap day as part of a 24-hour clampdown on speeding offences.
The speeds of thousands of vehicles will be measured during the operation which began at 7am this Thursday and which will continue until 7am on Friday.
As of midday, gardai say 106 vehicles were detected travelling in excess of the applicable speed limit.
A number of examples of motorists detected speeding have been released by gardai
Speaking at a media event in Kilkenny, Inspector Inspector Paul Donohoe of the local Roads Policing Unit appealed to all motorists to slow down and to take care when driving.
"We have increased the number of checkpoints across the country to spread the message and to urge people to slow down - with the number of fatalities we have had this year, we are not going great and we really want to try and curb that," he said.
"We are asking everyone to heed our message, reduce their speed and slow down on all our roads - motorways, national roads and urban roads - especially in towns," he added, noting that six pedestrians have died on Irish roads so far in 2024.
In the first 5 hours of National Slow Down Day, GoSafe detected 106 vehicles speeding.
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) February 29, 2024
Some speeds detected include:
146kph in a 120kph zone in Co. Meath
118kph in a 100kph zone in Co. Tipperary
115kph in a 80kph zone Co. Dublin#SaferRoads #ArriveAlive pic.twitter.com/PFwg7OF2ts
Insp Donohoe told reporters that speeding is a major issue and is something that gardai and the Road Safety Authority are concerned about.
"We all know speed is a major contributing factor in a lot of fatalities so we are always asking people to slow down and to drive within the speed limit," he said, adding that factors such as traffic levels, road conditions and the local weather should also be considered by drivers.
VIDEO: Mary Cody
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