Catherine Murphy
Question:
1234. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of go-safe vehicles in the fleet as of 1 September 2023; the number of hours per day each van is actively in use detecting breaches of speed limits; the location of each go-safe monitoring point; and the number of detections per location in each year to date since the service was fully rolled-out; and the revenue raised, by location over the same time period, in tabular form. [39188/23]
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I have contacted the Garda authorities for the information requested by the Deputy. Regrettably, this information was not available in time and I will write again to the Deputy once it is to hand.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51
I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 1234 of 11 September 2023 where you asked: ‘The number of go-safe vehicles in the fleet as of 1 September 2023; the number of hours per day each van is actively in use detecting breaches of speed limits; the location of each go-safe monitoring point; and the number of detections per location in each year to date since the service was fully rolled-out; and the revenue raised, by location over the same time period..’
As you will recall, I sought the information from the Garda authorities and undertook to contact you again once the information was to hand.
As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, including the enforcement of road traffic legislation. The Commissioner is also responsible for procurement and related contract management. As Minister, I have no role in such matters.
The current contract for speed camera vans operated by GoSafe commenced on 1 May 2017. The role of the Safety Camera Contract is critical in the context of road traffic enforcement, improving road safety by changing driver behaviour. This is in order to reduce road traffic fatalities and serious injuries by reducing the incidence of drivers exceeding stipulated speed limits, in circumstances where speeding is known to be a significant factor behind serious collisions. As such, the deployment of safety cameras is determined by road safety considerations as opposed to revenue maximisation. Under the current contract, GoSafe provides an annual minimum of 90,000 hours of monitoring and surveying vehicle speed across 1,363 speed camera zones nationally.
Details of the location of each of these zones is publicly available on the Garda website at the following link: www.garda.ie/en/roads-policing/safety-cameras/
As you will be aware, I recently announced an extra €1.2 million is to be allocated towards GoSafe, which will provide an extra 1,500 hours of monitoring every month until the end of the year. This brings the total number of monitoring hours to 9,000 hours per month.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that, as of 25 September, there were 54 vehicles in the GoSafe fleet. I am further advised that it would take an inordinate expenditure of time and resources to compile the number of detections and revenue raised per monitoring zone location since the commencement of GoSafe’s operations. As a result, this breakdown is regrettably unavailable.
An Garda Síochána have however informed me that there have been 83,603 Fixed Charge Notices issued to date this year for speeding where the detection arose as a result of a speed van. This has generated €9,864,240 in revenue to date. Figures are for all incidents that occurred between 1 January and 1 October 2023. These figures are operational and subject to change.
