Drivers cut off limiters
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• Just two weeks after the Garda (police) in Ireland launched a crack-down on speeding, and six people died in an accident involving a rigid truck. CM has been told that "vast numbers" of drivers in the Republic are disconnecting their speed limiters.
The claim, made by a leading figure in the Irish road haulage industry, follows the accident in Drogheda in which the driver of the lorry was killed in a head-on collision with a car carrying five locals, none of whom survived.
A week earlier a police initiative, "Operation Lifesaver", was launched in the counties of
Louth and Meath in a bid to cut the road death toll. Among other moves, Operation Lifesaver will use a speed camera mounted in an unmarked van.
"Keeping a Garda presence on the roads would do more to cut speeding than hiding behind ditches," says the industry expert. Despite the risks, he says, many drivers are disconnecting their speed limiters just to keep up with their peers.
In 1995 there were 33 fatal accidents involving trucks in Ireland. In a speed survey carried out before the launch of Operation Lifesaver, a third of all vehicles were over the limit.