Motorist detected at 167 kph on regional Laois road with 80kph limit

A speeding motorist in Laois was among the top five worst offenders detected by Gardaí in the past week. 

The driver was clocked at a whopping 167kph in an 80kph zone on the R430 at Drumagh, Crettyard. The motorist was the second highest speeder out of the five cases highlighted by Gardaí as their Christmas Road Safety Campaign continues. 

During the fourth week of the operation, between Monday, December 22 and Sunday, December 28 inclusive, there were three fatalities on the roads and eight serious collisions that resulted in a number of people receiving serious and life-threatening injuries.

Over the past week, Gardaí carried out nearly 2,100 checkpoints, both statutory Mandatory Intoxicant Testing (MIT) and regular, high-visibility policing checkpoints. In total, 149 people were arrested during the week for driving under the influence of an intoxicant (alcohol and drugs).

Over 4,600 drivers were detected for speeding offences by An Garda Síochána, along with Static Safety Cameras, and Mobile Safety Camera Vans, by our Road Safety Partners, GoSafe.

Notable top speeds detected include: 118km/hr in a 50km/hr zone on the North Circular Road, Dublin 7,  140km/hr in a 60km/hr zone on the N15 in Mullandrait, Stranorlar, Co. Donegal and 167km/hr in an 80km/hr zone on the R430 road in Drumagh, Crettyard, Co. Laois. 

A motorist in Limerick was detected driving at  207km/hr in a 100km/hr zone on the N18 in Ballinacurra (Weston) and in Kildare a driver was caught doing 164km/hr in a 120km/hr zone on the M9 in Yellowbogcommon, Kilcullen. 

 Over 435 vehicles were seized by Gardaí for a range of offences under the Road Traffic Act, 1961.

In addition, approximately 150 fines were issued for the offence of using a mobile phone while driving and approximately 45 fines were issued for seat belt offences.

The Christmas period is one of the busiest on Irish roads. It is also one of the periods during which road users are at the highest risk of being involved in a fatal or serious road traffic collision.

To date, 189 people have lost their lives in road traffic collisions on Irish roads.

This year’s Christmas and New Year road safety appeal focuses on the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol and the devastating loss of life and serious injuries it can cause.

Gardaí are appealing to all those who will be taking to the roads over the Christmas period to slow down, take extra care and to give your driving your full attention.

The dedicated Christmas Road Safety Campaign began on Monday, December 1 and will continue until Monday, January 5, 2026.

Meanwhile, Gardaí have reminded motorists that additional speed camera locations will be rolled out in Laois in the new year. 

Nationally, Gardaí said 390 new safety camera zones will become operational from January 1, 2026, bringing the total number of safety camera zones nationwide to 1,901.

In Laois there will be an additional nine safety camera zones and gardaí said two of these locations were community safety requested zones which were agreed following talks between Gardaí and communities. 

Community requests are locations, which have been highlighted by Garda Divisions arising from concerns held by the community or observations of local Gardaí in relation to speeding activity on certain roads.

The primary purpose of safety cameras is to reduce speed-related collisions, lessen injuries and save lives. A map of the speed zone locations is can been viewed here. 

Safety cameras operate in areas where there is a history of speed-related collisions known as speed enforcement zones.

Safety camera zones are identified high-risk locations and can include school safety zones, community engagement request zones and road works safety zones.

Locations are selected following an analysis of collated Garda data acquired from fatal, serious and minor road traffic collisions and from further consideration given to locations of concern highlighted by local communities through local Garda community engagement.

The data analysis included type of collision (fatal, serious and minor) and the coordinates of where each of these took place.  Each type of collision is assigned a weighted value (fatal, serious and minor).

The objective is to take a proactive approach in the prevention of fatalities and life-changing injuries by identifying new speed enforcement zones not currently monitored as part of the current project.

Since 2010, Gardaí contributed to making our roads safer through the use of mobile safety cameras, using a service provider GoSafe to operate them on its behalf. The enforcement cameras are operated using a fleet of marked vehicles.

GoSafe monitoring commenced operation on a phased basis in November 2010 and reached full operational capacity in March 2011.  GoSafe remains contracted to provide speed enforcement activity as directed by An Garda Síochána.