Driver detected speeding at 139km per hour on Slow Down Day

Anton McNulty

THE Mayo Road Safety Officer has called on motorists to take personal responsibility for their driving after two motorists were detected driving close to 140km per hour in Mayo on National Slow Down Day.
Gardaí and GoSafe checked 135,010 vehicles throughout the country between 7am on Friday and 7am on Saturday as part of Nation al Slow Down Day. While the vast majority of drivers were compliant with the rules of the road and stayed under the speed limit in Mayo, there were some notable exceptions.
The fastest speed detected in Mayo during Slow Down Day was along the N5 in Drummindoo, Westport where a motorist was detected speeding at 139km per hour in a 100km zone. This motorist was closely followed by another vehicle which was detected travelling at 137 km per hour in a 100km zone along the N17 at Castlemagarret, North Claremorris.
The other major incident of excessive speeding occurred on the R314 at Rathroeen, Ballina when a motorist was detected driving at 121km per hour in a 80km zone. There were no speed detections in any of the 50km zones in the county.
Noel Gibbons, the Road Safety Officer in Mayo said the detections showed that there were a select few motorists who continue not to get the message that speed kills. He told The Mayo News there needs to be more education on the dangers associated with speed.

Responsibility
“You can’t have Gardaí or Go Safe vans on every road, so motorists need to be educated on the dangers of speeding. People need to realise that if they crash at these speeds, they are not going to walk away and they may take someone else’s life. Speed continues to be a huge contributing factor in roads deaths in this country. Drivers need to realise they are endangering lives and have to take responsibility for their actions,” he said.
The aim of Slow Down Day was to remind drivers of the dangers of speeding, increase compliance with speed limits and act as a deterrent to driving at excessive or inappropriate speed.
The fastest detected speed in Ireland on Slow Down Day was recorded along the N15 near Castlefinn in Co Donegal and the N52 near Mullingar in Co Westmeath when two motorist were both recorded driving at 190km per hour in 100km zones.
So far this year, four people have died in road traffic accidents in Mayo which is a big decrease on this time last year when the figure stood at eleven - with 13 fatalities in total in 2015.
Mr Gibbons welcomed the news and confirmed that the county is bucking the national trend with the number of fatalities currently at 152 - an increase of 26 on last year. As the clocks go back this weekend, Mr Gibbons urged pedestrians and cyclists to ensure they are seen on the roads and to wear hi-vis clothing and carry a light when on the road.