Life In The Slow Lane

Pretty much everyone who drives – even The King himself – has gotten a speeding ticket.

And pretty much each and every time, it’s bullshit.

You only have to take a spin along the N11 to discover this, a road where, for no apparent reason and not a whole lot of warning, the speed limit will suddenly drop from 120kph to 100kph, then back up to 120kph and then, no, wait, it’s actually 100kph.

Your ticket’s in the post. Have a nice day.

Well, from Monday, February 17th, 27 new speed zones are being introduced into Wicklow. Part of a nationwide rollout of 903 new speed zones, road deaths dropped from 415 in 2000 to 148 last year.

Still, the gardaí have decided we’ve become a little too used to where they normally park their speed vans, and, hey, they’re keen to bring back that element of surprise.

In fairness, the vans are being moved to stretches of road where, they state, a significant number of traffic accidents have occurred, and the hope is that their presence will help change driver’s habits. And get them to slow down a tad, and, you know, abide by the speed limits.

Locally, the new sites are Junction 15 on the M11 (where 2 collisions have occurred), Kilmacanogue/Moorepark (5 collisions), the R772 at Newtownmountkennedy (2), the R752 at Wicklow Town (6), the R760 to Enniskerry (2), the R761 at Three Trout Bridge (2) and at Kilruddery (6), the R762 in Greystones (12), the R767 (7) and Boghall Road (6) in Bray, Monastery Road, Enniskerry (2) and Kilcrone to Enniskerry (2).

And that’s not all. There are plans to introduce double penalty points on Bank Holiday weekends, a time when traffic – and accidents – increase significantly. The system is being dubbed Double Trouble.

You can check out the full 27 new speed camera sites across Wicklow on an interactive map here.

And if you have any trouble with a speeding ticket, just remember, you now have five freshly-minted local TDs to call on.