This crash on Benburb Street in 2012 was one reason why the pilot was conducted.

This crash on Benburb Street in 2012 was one reason why the pilot was conducted.

OVER THE COURSE of an 18-month pilot monitoring the red light system on a section of the Luas red line in Dublin, there were 1,300 road users detected breaking the lights.

Of these, prosecutions were brought against 737 of these road users, resulting in 624 fixed charge notices being issued.

Despite the number of motorists detected, An Garda Síochána is not aware of any plans to introduce such a system at any other locations.

The junction of Benburb Street and Blackhall Place was considered a blackspot for collisions between cars and trams so, in June 2015, the country’s first automated red light camera was launched – aimed at detecting incidences of dangerous behaviour on the road.

Some of the footage released by the Railway Procurement Agency at the time showed some near misses as drivers went through red lights.

Although the pilot ended in December 2016, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan was asked last week how many successful prosecutions had resulted from the scheme.

Responding to the parliamentary question from Green Party TD Catherine Martin, he said: “I am informed by An Garda Síochána that during the period the pilot was in operation, there were 1,300 detections. 737 of these detections were accepted and processed for prosecution, while 563 were rejected.”

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Flanagan said cyclists accounted for 73% of these rejections, while a number could also not be pursued due to obscured or obstructed camera images, or when the vehicle’s registration wasn’t visible.

“624 Fixed Charge Notices (FCNs) were issued, of which 440 FCN amounts were paid (71%),” he added.