Aontú Leader and Meath West TD, Peadar Tóibín, has received further information by way of Parliamentary Question which indicates that there has been a significant fall in the number of Fixed Charge Notices for speeding in Ireland.
He told Meath Live, “In a response to an Aontú Parliamentary Question, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has admitted to me that there has been a significant fall in the level of Fixed Charge Notices for speeding in the state. This comes just after another response to a Parliamentary Question where the Minister admitted that there has been a massive fall in the number of Gardaí employed to police our roads. These facts are particularly significant given the horrendous and heart-breaking rise in the number of deaths on our roads this year. This morning we awoke to the heart breaking news that another two young people had lost their lives on the roads in Donegal”.
“Fixed Traffic Notices for speeding have fallen by 27% since 2014 according to the data provided to me. The Counties with the largest fall in these fines were Sligo Leitrim. The downward trend in Fixed Traffic Notices even continues in the first 9 months of this year. This chimes with the fact that the number of Gardaí policing our roads is now lower than at any stage than the last 14 years. The number of Gardaí policing our roads has fallen a colossal 36% since 2009.
“Ireland has witnessed a significant increase in the number of road deaths. All of us have been stopped in our tracks over the last few month by the heart breaking loss of life that has visited so many families. No one likes to get a speeding fine but we know that there is a direct correlation between road policing and driver behaviour. Enforcement saves lives. Shockingly that enforcement is not happening anymore on many of our roads. Drivers know this and some drivers are not adhering to safety laws as a result. This is true for drink driving, speeding, dangerous driving etc. The government and the Minister for Justice need to get real when it comes to road safety. They need but resources where their mouth is”
