Dublin City Council to activate second camera at Luas lights

System to go live at junction of South Circular Road and Con Colbert Road

Software changes are required to bring the system on the South Circular Road up to the same standard as the one in operation at Benburb Street. Photograph: Frank Miller
Software changes are required to bring the system on the South Circular Road up to the same standard as the one in operation at Benburb Street. Photograph: Frank Miller

Dublin City Council is preparing to activate a second camera to detect motorists breaking red lights.

The council recently installed a red-light detection camera at a busy junction on the Luas red line, which has been the scene of several collisions between cars and trams.

The council is now taking steps to connect a camera at the junction of Con Colbert Road and the South Circular Road.

It is also considering using cameras to capture images of motorists using bus lanes, according to council documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

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The first automated traffic light camera was installed at Benburb Street earlier this month. Gardaí said the camera had reduced the number of daily incidents of red light running from “high single figures to low single figures”.

Images of the cars breaking the lights are captured by a sophisticated system of sensors and cameras. Software changes are required to bring the system on the South Circular Road up to the same standard as the one already in operation and the council is reviewing the site.

Dublin City Council also has a different type of system, known as an automated number plate recognition system, installed on the Malahide Road to Amiens Street section, but the documents state it is not switched on and has not been for “many years”.

Staff at the traffic council’s traffic control room indicated there were regular inquiries from gardaí seeking information from this system, according to the documents.

The Railway Procurement Agency has listed four junctions in the north inner city that it believes are particularly vulnerable to red light running and, as a result, crashes with Luas trams.