Speed cameras rack up the fines in Galway during Covid-19

There were more speeding fines issued across Galway city and county last year than there were in the two previous years combined – despite the absence of traffic on the roads on foot of Covid.

Figures released to Aontú by the Department of Justice show that 10,047 fines were issued in Galway last year on foot of evidence obtained by speed camera vans.

This compares with 4,255 in 2019 and 3,856 in 2018.

And the upsurge has led a local representative of the small party to question why the speed cameras were so busy in the middle of a pandemic.

“All of us are familiar with the purpose that speed camera vans serve, but nonetheless there are significant questions to be answered on why the number of fines issued in County Galway last year is so high and disproportionate with previous years,” said Aontú’s Luke Silke.

He claimed that speed camera vans were ‘intentionally located in areas where they are likely to catch people’.

“We’re all familiar with locations where speed camera vans are to be seen couched between bushes in the ditches of roads which have unusually low speed limits,” he said.

“I think a discussion needs to take place on the merits and success rates of these vans – while the number of speeding fines doubled in 2020, there has not been a dramatic reduction in the number of fatalities on Galway roads.

“In my opinion, if we are serious about saving lives, we need to focus our attention particularly on seatbelt-wearing and indeed on farm safety campaigns,” he added.

“Road safety is very important – but there needs to be logic to these vans,” said Mr Silke.