THE TOP 20 stretches of road in Ireland where most collisions occur are all located in Dublin, according to a Garda rating system used to determine the location of speed cameras.
An analysis of a new updated list of over 1,300 safety camera zones, which will come into effect from 6am on Monday, reveals the most likely roads where motorists are involved in accidents are all in the capital.
The list, which is published by An Garda Síochána, highlights how some of the busiest routes in the city for traffic have the highest number of collisions.
The road with the most number of accidents is the R111 which runs between Islandbridge and Irishtown (and extended to Dublin Port as a safety camera zone) which follows the Grand Canal for most of its route.
A total of 118 collisions were recorded on a 9.9km stretch of the road over a three-year period including two fatal crashes and 18 serious accidents.
The list of roads where Go Safe vans operating speed cameras will be located was devised by gardaí based on all recorded road collisions between 2016 and 2018.
It includes the addition of 903 new zones which were not previously used as locations for speed cameras, while 575 zones were removed because they were no longer considered high-risk areas.
Gardaí grade the risk level of speed zones based on the number of fatal, serious and minor collisions which occurred on them over a three-year period.
While some roads might have been the location of fewer accidents, they are considered more high risk because of the comparatively higher number of fatal and serious collisions.
The second most high risk road in the country is a 5.4km stretch of the R148 between the Chapelizod By-Pass along the Liffey Quays to the Customs House, which has a 30km/h speed limit for large parts of the route.
It was the location for a total 99 of collisions between 2016 and 2018 including 17 serious crashes but no fatalities.
The third most dangerous road is a 21.4km stretch of the M50 between Junction 3 (M1 interchange) and Junction 11 (N81-Tallaght) where a total of 116 collisions were recorded over the period.
Outside Dublin
Outside Dublin the road with the most number of collisions is the N8 one-way route around Cork city centre from Horgan’s Quay to the Lower Glanmire Road.
It is ranked 21st in terms of collision-risk and is one of the new zones where motorists can expected to see speed cameras vans in operation on a regular basis for the first time.
A total of 31 traffic accidents were recorded over the 3.1km loop of the N8 in Cork city including one fatal collision and five serious crashes.
One of the most dangerous stretches of road in the country is the N4 between Longford and Roosky where four fatal collisions were recorded over three years.
Superintendent Tony Lonergan of the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau said safety cameras were proven as lifesavers.
“The location of all zones are available on the Garda website along with the collision history and we are urging road users to become familiar with the zones,” Superintendent Lonergan said.
More than half of the new zones are located on regional roads which are regarded as the most high risk road type.
Lonergan highlighted the need for the revision of the safety camera zones as 85% of all fatalities in the first three months of 2019 had occurred outside areas they monitored.
The 1,322 safety camera zones in the updated list only account for just over 4,420km – or 4.6% of the national road network – but they are the location for 76% of all fatalities, 66% of serious injuries and 44% of minor injuries.
Garda figures show that GoSafe vans last year detected an average of 0.9 vehicles per hour breaking the speed limit compared to 1.85 vehicles in 2011.
The average compliance rate with speed limit zones monitored by GoSafe vehicles in 2019 was 99.76%
Gardaí have estimated that safety cameras have prevent 71 deaths on Ireland’s roads since their introduction in November 2010.
According to gardaí, the benefits of the Go Safe cameras outweigh their cost by a factor of more than 5 to 1.
“Safety cameras are clearly and unambiguously a cost-effective road safety measure,” said Supt Lonergan.
GoSafe vans are contracted to carry out a minimum of 7,400 hours of speed enforcement per month.
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