Kildare County Council has shot down speculation on social media that the council is planning to return the life-sized wooden Garda cars to Kildare roads ahead of next week’s bank holiday weekend.
The council has confirmed to Beat News that it has no immediate plans to re-introduce two replica Garda car cut-outs it placed on County Kildare roads some years ago.
There's been speculation on social media recently that they're making a comeback, but Kildare Road Safety Officer Declan Keogh said no discussions have been held between the county council and the Gardaí about the cut-out cars so far.
“We can’t simply just place these cars back onto the road without prior discussions and agreement with the Gardaí. There have been no discussions between Kildare County Council and the Gardaí, either locally or at the Traffic Bureau in Dublin Castle about any plans to reintroduce the garda car cut-outs”.
The cut-out cars were first introduced in 2009 on the old N78 road at Fontstown, outside Athy. The aim of the cars was to slow down drivers to reduce collisions and help save lives on the roads.
Declan Keogh said if they are to be re-invented, it will more than likely be done as part of a much wider campaign under the title #CutOutSpeeding:
“At the time it was a novel idea and one which we received great reaction from, but if they are to be re-invented, it may be part of a much wider campaign, under #CutOutSpeeding involving other Local Authorities and perhaps other Garda Divisions in the Eastern Region, but as of yet, there are no plans for that to happen. So for the moment, drivers should treat every Garda car as the real thing, but aside from all of that, drivers shouldn’t have to judge whether a Garda car is real or fake in order for them to make a decision to either speed up or slow down. All vehicles should be driven within the speed limits and to the conditions of the road”.
