More speed cameras could mean there is no need to increase the number of Gardaí on road policing duties, a Lunchtime Live listener has argued. 

So far, 52 people have died on Irish roads this year - the same number that were killed during the same period last year. 

One potential solution would see a number of new fixed speed cameras erected across the country. 

On Lunchtime Live, listener Ciarán said he cannot understand why people oppose them. 

“Why not have speed cameras?” he argued. 

“I mean, it just doesn't make sense why we wouldn't have them. 

“What are people's objections to them? Surely, we want people to comply with the speed limits.”

Ciarán added that it “baffles” him that there is not a “national outcry” about the number of road deaths. 

“It’s a public health issue and we should be treating it like that - but we're not,” he said. 

“I mean, like speed cameras are not a blunt instrument. 

“They're a fairly standard way of enforcement, which doesn't require huge resources from the Gardaí. 

“We're talking about more Gardaí on the street, we don't need the Gardaí on the street if we have cameras there.” 

Ciarán continued that he noticed that people do not break red lights on the school run when there is a Garda nearby. 

“They don't need to be educated to tell them not to do that,” he said. 

“They need the threat of enforcement, that's what's needed.”

Main image: Garda Derek Cloughley using a speed camera at the launch of Garda-National Slow Down Day. Picture by: Mark Stedman.