Driver clocked doing 196km/hr in 100km/hr zone

Gardaí caught a driver doing almost 200km/hr in a 100km/hr zone as their August Bank Holiday road safety operation got underway.

Since 7am yesterday morning, Thursday, August 1 Gardaí have been detecting poor driving behaviours such as driving above the speed limit.

As of this afternoon, almost 85,000 vehicles have been checked for speeding. The majority of motorists have been travelling within the designated speed, however, 211 drivers have been detected speeding, and some have been especially dangerous:

- 196km/h in a 100km/h zone on the N55 at Kilcogy, Co. Cavan

- 87km/h in a 50km/h zone in Murntown, Co. Wexford

- 106km/h in a 60km/h zone on the Monaghan Road, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan

- 141km/h in an 80km/h zone on the N81 at Tullow, Co. Carlow

Commenting on these detections, Chief Superintendent in the Garda National Roads Policing Bureau, Jane Humphries said, "While we are generally seeing good levels of compliance with speed limits on roads around Ireland, I am gravely concerned by the risks taken by some drivers.

"Anyone that is prepared to drive at dangerously excessive speeds like those we’ve already detected, has the potential to destroy lives – if not their own, others too.

"We are out conducting checkpoints and using our technology to detect those speeding nationwide. Speeding is one of the foremost dangerous driving behaviours, along with using your phone while driving and being distracted.

"Please slow down and drive safely today and over the rest of the long weekend ahead as so many of us take to the roads.”