National Slow Down Day sees 71 speeding tickets issued to Kilkenny and Carlow drivers

71 speeding tickets were handed out across Carlow and Kilkenny on National Slow Down Day.

The 24-hour campaign saw gardaí out in force from 7 o’clock yesterday morning with an aim of highlighting the dangers of speeding and reducing the risk of road fatalities.

A number of local drivers were caught travelling at concerning speeds, as reported here.

Carlow Kilkenny Roads Policing Inspector Paul Donohoe says the number of similar offences they clocked is very troubling

“We issued 71 tickets yesterday to motorists who exceeded the speed limits in the counties of Kilkenny and Carlow. For us, that’s a very high number in one day” he shared with KCLR News. “It just shows there are motorists within the two counties that are putting other road users in danger, which is a concern for An Garda Síochána”

“Nationally there were 681 detections for speeding around the country, so with Kilkenny and Carlow having 71, that’s a high contribution. I would have hoped it would have been lower, with all the social media and advertisements on our roads asking people to slow down for our national campaign. I actually am surprised that the number is so high for detection of offenders.”

There had been some local backlash to the nature of the offences that were prosecuted, such as this driver in Castlecomer who was fined for doing 71km/h in a 50km zone.

However, Paul says even these speeds could cause serious harm to vulnerable road users.

“Everyone that got tickets yesterday would have been definitely more than 25% or 30 % over the speed limits. Most guards wouldn’t be giving out tickets unless it was [over that limit]” he explained. “But if you’re driving in a 50km zone at 70km/h you’re increasing the risk of serious injury to a pedestrian or cyclist if a collision occurs. The 50km/h limit is there for a reason, and it’s to protect the safety of people.”