Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

199. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport which body will be responsible for evaluating the success of the average speed cameras as more are rolled out; if baseline data will be collected in order to monitor and evaluate progress; whether the data collected will include instances of speeding, collisions, injuries and fatalities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44448/24]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government has a dedicated Road Safety Strategy, which is aligned with the EU Vision Zero aspiration for 2050. It is being delivered in partnership by key road safety agencies, including my Department, the Department of Justice, the Road Safety Authority, the Medical Bureau of Road Safety and An Garda Síochána.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland is leading the development of a comprehensive national strategy for the future rollout and expanded use of safety cameras, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The Strategy will cover the use of safety cameras across national, regional and local roads, with the objective of saving lives by reducing unsafe driver behaviours that can be detected using existing and proven camera-based technologies. The Strategy will focus on speed, red light and bus lane cameras in the initial phase. It is being designed to allow for the enforcement of other violations in the future, such as mobile phone use and not wearing seat belts.

An Garda Síochána has approved funding for the introduction of three additional average speed camera zones on single carriageway national roads and nine static cameras on national and regional roads this year. Building on this rollout, An Garda Síochána intend to deliver a further 100 static cameras in 2025.

In this regard, the processing and evaluation of data supplied by cameras is an operational matter for An Garda Síochána. However, the sharing of this data amongst road safety partners will assist in informing effective road safety interventions in the future.