In a most recent example, officers caught an individual travelling at 137mph in a 45mph zone.
Operation Lifesaver will take focus on tackling speeding on roadways across the country which accounted for 10% of serious and fatal collisions.
The deployment of additional officers with radar guns as well as speed cameras will be ramped up in order to reduce excess speeding.
Since the start of the year, Northern Ireland’s roads have seen 12 fatalities averaging at a death every 9 days.
Chief Superintendent Sam Donaldson said that speeding is one of “the fatal five” reasons leading to road deaths and will be punished with fixed penalties and that the force will “unapologetically present people to the courts”.
PSNI launches Operation Lifesaver (Photo by Peter Morrison)
“Operation Lifesaver is entirely focused on speeding, tackling speeding on our roads,” the Chief Superintendent explained. “Speeding is one of the fatal five, it was very clear over the last year or so that the fatal five are the main reasons why people are dying on our roads.
“We would suggest that speeding accounts for about 10 % of serious and fatal collisions and that statistic in itself should scare people into what we’re talking about today.
“We’ll continue to deploy the vans, we’ll continue to deploy your police officers and we will continue to unapologetically present people to the courts and there are a number of consequences.”
The Chief Superintendent added that hitting somebody at a pace of 20mph will give them a 90% chance of survival which dangerously decreases at higher speeds.
Chief Inspector Celeste Simpson said that the PSNI caught nearly 100,000 people speeding which accounts for at least 300 people breaking the speed limit daily.
In a most recent example, officers caught an individual travelling at 137mph while in a 45mph zone.
Inside a speed camera van
The Chief Inspector said: “This year alone we have detected close to 100,000 people speeding which means that there’s close to 300 people being detected speeding on our roads on a daily basis.
“We want you to work with us, hear our message, save a life, slow down. One of the highest speeds for an hour driver that we’ve caught it recently is 137 miles per hour which is insane considering that they are restricted to 45 miles an hour.
“The consequences of speeding have numerous aspects. There’s a speed awareness course which can be offered, however depending on the speed that you’re going you could get an universal fixed penalty but the worst thing that could happen to anybody who is speeding is to be in a fatal road traffic collision and cause somebody to lose their life.”
Radar gun in use (Photo by Peter Morrison)
Chief Superintendent Donaldson added that while younger demographics are historically looked at as the only group to drive dangerously “that’s not the case.”
He pointed to statistics demonstrating that individuals from an array of backgrounds are caught speeding, adding that men account for a large majority of those caught.
“If we look at the statistics in terms of the people that are being caught by the road safety vans it’s middle-aged people as well, it’s mostly men I have to say as well, so let’s not just say it’s boy racers it’s people of all ages, male, female,” he added.