Average speed zone proposed for busy dual carriageway linking Limerick and Shannon

Calls have been made to introduce a new average speed zone on a busy road which is used by thousands of Limerick motorists every day.

Rising rates of road traffic accidents and collisions along the N18/M18, between Limerick and Shannon, have prompted calls for the introduction of an average speed zone - close to Bunratty.

The proposal has emerged following a spike in collisions along the N18/M18 with 16 incidents in September and 9 in October.

The call was made by Clare councillor Patrick O'Gorman who called on Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to explore the possibility of installing an average speed safety system on the M18 similar others around the country.

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Speaking on the average speed zones in counties Meath, Mayo and Dublin and Tipperary, Cllr O'Gorman said: "I suppose the one we're all familiar it is the one between Nenagh and and Birdhill - if you are ever going to Dublin it's a nine kilometre stretch of road. You see the big yellow speed camera's over the road."

Average speed cameras are different to traditional speed detection systems, which capture a vehicle’s speed at one point on the road, but rather this system monitors a driver’s average speed while driving between two points. 

When a vehicle encounters the first camera it will record the number plate, and then likewise when they leave past the second camera, then with these two figures, the safety system will calculate how long it took the vehicle to travel between the two points. 

He explained that: "Going by the gardai and what they have come back with is they tell [us] that there is very few people, if ever, caught on that stretch of road now that the cameras are there."

On the gardai reporting a significant reduction in speeding on this stretch, Cllr O'Gorman explained: "That tells us that once you see the camera and you know that it's there you automatically pay attention to your speed and watch what you are doing and concentrating more on the road."

Based on these reports, Cllr O'Gorman is seeking the installation of a similar system between Bunratty and Cratloe to "get nine maybe fifteen kilometres of a stretch [of road] with these average speed cameras installed. It might be one way of reducing the amount of crashes on the motorway/ dual carriageway at this moment in time."

He emphasised: "At the moment we have one [collision] a week  and it would be something to put in place, it's not going cost a fortune but it might save a life - and if it did save a life it would be a cheap way of doing it."

Clare councillor David Griffin stated that "we've seen a significant uptake in crashes along the M18 in recent days and weeks."

Cllr Michael Shannon welcomed the proposal as "an interim solution until such time as such the road is upgraded to a motorway status", stating his belief that it is "well over due to be done."

He explained that: "There's no point having 100 kph and people coming onto a semi-motorway experience directly onto the road. I do believe that the motorway network in Ireland you can't have variations in a clear motorway and the volume of traffic that is on that road and increasing all the time due to population increase and industrial activity - we do need to make that stretch of road safer and bring it up to the standard  motorway."