Speed Checks how often do you see them?

The Muppet

I saw a speed check today just north of Swords on the old dual carirageway and I just though its been ages since I had seen my last. Considering the media warnings particulaly around bank holidays It got me wondering is this just hype or am I just travelling the "wrong roads and being lucky. I do about 300 miles a week mostly around the northside of Dublin but also travel out to Bray and Ballymount regularly.

ciasto

You're right but I think they had some legislation problems and maybe that why they havent been around. But there are a few places they seem to be hiding.

Ballymun road which is 30mph - they are always there in a van.
Finglas road to the m50 round about 40 mph- they hide behind a sign to the business park on the left.
In Clontarf on the coast rd, accross the road from Dollymount House there is a slip to the water, they park the car there.
I've seen them on the M1 as your approaching the turn for airport.
Oh and the Queys in town its 30mph and as you go accross the liffey from Huston Station they stand on the side of the road.

Usually in places where the speed limit could be a little more.

mike65

In my experience they seem to appear in "clusters". Its been a good while since I spotted one but I might go through two or three in a day when they suddenly appear.

Mike.

Imposter

I've seen (or rather not seen) 4 since about March. Lucky it's only 29€ and points are not in here yet! Just like the Gaurds they have a habit of hiding behind stuff too, the baxtards.

trotter_inc

I travel all the way along the M50 and M1 everyday - I've NEVER seen them on the M50 (probably coz they have mounted cameras) - I see them about once a week on the M1, around the Skerries/Donabate exits - parked up on those little ramps they have.

On Fridays when I drive on the N11 - they are always under a little bridge just before you come into kilmacanogue going South, or else in Kilmacanogue itself.

Stupid really - coz everyone knows they're going to be there and they just slow down til they pass the cop car

Ba_barbaraAnne

The Muppet wrote:

Considering the media warnings particulaly around bank holidays It got me wondering .....

Know what you mean! I travelled from Mayo to Dublin and back over the bank holiday and only saw one speed check at Palmerstown on the way home. Saw lots of terrible driving but no cops! So much for trying to make the roads safer.

The Muppet

Ba_barbaraAnne wrote:

Know what you mean! I travelled from Mayo to Dublin and back over the bank holiday and only saw one speed check at Palmerstown on the way home. Saw lots of terrible driving but no cops! So much for trying to make the roads safer.

Yep if they were serious about road safety simply enforcing existing laws would make such a difference.

trotter_inc wrote:

Stupid really - coz everyone knows they're going to be there and they just slow down til they pass the cop car

Thats so true. Over the years I have seen them in all those locations you mentioned. I have only seen them on that mound before the Donabate turn off of the M1 once and I live near there so I travel it a lot.

If you travel to Wexford via Castledermott they have a lovely little hiding place in a layby at the end of the motorway . I'd imagine they make a nice few quid there as they are well hidden behind barriers etc.

MrPudding

I see them several times a week on the N11 southboud, past Cabinteely village just before the filling station. Nice piece of dual carriageway that is 50MPH northbound but 30MPH southbound at that point. They get quite a bit of business.

MrP

Victor

trotter_inc wrote:

I travel all the way along the M50 and M1 everyday - I've NEVER seen them on the M50

TH4TS IMP055ABLE. U MUST BE BL1ND0RS. TEYH AL\/\/4YS PER53CUT3 PEEPS ON THE m-WAY.

mad m

Went up to letterkenny in Donegal on the bank holiday last weekend and didnt see one Garda or any check points.Only time i seen a copper(PSNI) was when i was in Omagh in the north.Seen a Garda check point today up on longmile road opposite Drimnagh castle school.

dublin_apache

I bought a brand new car back in 2000, still have it and the mileage turned 64,000 today and in that time I've seen about 15 speed checks...And I've never seen a garda speed check when it's raining !!!

ciasto

dublin_apache wrote:

..And I've never seen a garda speed check when it's raining !!!

True. I've only once seen a copper pulling someone over in the rain but he was on the bike.

dark_knight_ire

As i am a member of the force i can tell you that bank holiday check are no bluff we get landed with them, thing is there are so few of us and well we can't all be out doing them 3000 gardai working max at anyone time and have other things to enforce besides the Road traffic Act. Saying this alot of the time speed check are in the same places for example on the N11 watch out hittint the arklow bypass and also the rathdrum by pass thats where you most probably going to be caught

dublin_apache

I've always had the opinion that the guards just don't do their job when it comes to speed checks and the like but after reading dark_knight_ire post I sort of understand that there aren't enough guards to man/woman this issue.

What's the problem anyway in the shortage of guards, is it that ppl don't want to become a guard or does the government just not employ/train enough ppl to become guards ?

Eye

I have to say it's been a good while since i have come accross a check point myself, i know all the little spots on the road between carrick-on-suir and waterford where they usually are, but i'n not seen them in any places in the past few months, there used to be a time going into waterford you were almost certain to see at least 1 if not 2 of them nowadays...nothing.

as dark_knight_ire said there simply ain't enough of them to do all they need to do, and personally i would'nt mind joining up for the force except for irish..... never liked it, failed it first time i did my leaveing and when i repeated i did'nt do irish at all and never want to speack another word of it as long as i live only for that thought i would'nt mind being a cop, would head straight for the traffic corp and get onto the bikes

The Muppet

I suppose if the Gardai were all out enforcing speed limits we would be saying they should be out catching " real criminals. I dont envy them their job it was a career path I seriously considered myself but poor eyesight ruled me out.

I happened to be north of Swords yesterday evening again and there was another check point in the same location that sparked this thread so it looks like they have found a new haunt. It's just across from the Jet station about 2 miles north of swords nortbound just as the dual carriageway ends. Its a 60 zone but you do tend to get racers trying to get into the upcoming single line traffic first to give them all important advantage of bing a car length ahead of you.

dark_knight_ire

dublin_apache wrote:

I've always had the opinion that the guards just don't do their job when it comes to speed checks and the like but after reading dark_knight_ire post I sort of understand that there aren't enough guards to man/woman this issue.

What's the problem anyway in the shortage of guards, is it that ppl don't want to become a guard or does the government just not employ/train enough ppl to become guards ?

There are alot of people want to be gardai. But there are other reasons why we have a shortfall of us. As eye said irish is a killer, hence why you never see a black garda lol ( that might change soon irish has been dropped so has the age limit). Up till now the age limit has been 26 or 30 if you were in the FCA or Defence Forces.

The main reason is during the 80's and early 90's the government hired very few gardai and that worked then but now so many have retired in the last few years even with huge numbers been taken on they can't take on enought. On average every 3 mths about 150 new gardai are on the streets but in that time about 150 if not more retire.

Oh and my last post were i said 3000 at anyone time worked was incorrect i never thought of office bound gardai or those on leave be it holidays or sick so i guess you could say maybe 2400 work at any given time and 70% of that is in the cities.

SO there is really never enough of us and anyone wondering why it can take ages for a garda to get to you if you call well your on a list lol we would be kept going with calls. i have to say when it comes to checkpoints and that i'm not a bad garda i give 20 miles over the speed limit before id give a ticket and have never given a ticket for a seat belt just a caution, i always say next time i'll give you a ticket for that but come on what are the odds of meeting that person again lol

daymobrew

Eye wrote:

only for that thought i would'nt mind being a cop, would head straight for the traffic corp and get onto the bikes

The new(ish) Honda Pan European 1100cc bikes the national traffic division have (local traffic Gardai have old Kawasaki 550cc bikes AFAIK) are rather sweet.
You should see speeds and knee-to-ground demos the prison escorts give at the junction of South Circular Road at Conyngham Road as they escort a prison van from Kilmainham Court. Impressive stuff. I'm sure they love doing that stuff, I sure would.

I remember seeing the Army escorting the Chinese President through the Phoenix Park from Farmleigh. There must have been about 50 of these new bikes all with Army markings. Quite a site. I wonder should I have reported them for making an illegal right turn at the end of the park, onto Parkgate Street/Conyngham Road? Or speeding in the Phoenix Park - gotta watch out for the deer.

Seth Brundle

dark_knight_ire wrote:

There are alot of people want to be gardai. But there are other reasons why we have a shortfall of us. As eye said irish is a killer, hence why you never see a black garda lol ( that might change soon irish has been dropped so has the age limit). Up till now the age limit has been 26 or 30 if you were in the FCA or Defence Forces.

Correct me if Im wrong but don't I have the option of talking to a garda that stops me in Irish & they are meant to respond to me in Irish also?

dark_knight_ire wrote:

i have to say when it comes to checkpoints and that i'm not a bad garda i give 20 miles over the speed limit before id give a ticket and have never given a ticket for a seat belt just a caution, i always say next time i'll give you a ticket for that but come on what are the odds of meeting that person again lol

Which do you consider worse - doing 90mph on the M1 or not wearing a seat belt? You punish the offender for driving over the limit but not the one who (IMO) is possibly more likely to die!?!

Victor

dublin_apache wrote:

What's the problem anyway in the shortage of guards, is it that ppl don't want to become a guard or does the government just not employ/train enough ppl to become guards ?

The population has increased 35% in 35 years. The Garda hasn't kept pace.

dark_knight_ire

kbannon wrote:

Correct me if Im wrong but don't I have the option of talking to a garda that stops me in Irish & they are meant to respond to me in Irish also?


Which do you consider worse - doing 90mph on the M1 or not wearing a seat belt? You punish the offender for driving over the limit but not the one who (IMO) is possibly more likely to die!?!

lol i wont be catching him on any motorway, the camera will do that as for the belt did i say i'd let him leave the check point still not wearing it????

The Garda speaking irish thing mmmmmm well you see in that case you take out the batton and scream "as bearla".

The irish thing is an old wives tale we really dont have to most of us are not great irish speakers. Oh when you comeout of templemore you could do anything in irish but lol sadly lack of practice and thats the end of it. After all its bad enough remembering law in English. My last post i said irish was gone while that was correct i'd like to say you still have to do it when you get taken on

dublin_apache

Victor wrote:

The population has increased 35% in 35 years. The Garda hasn't kept pace.

wow that much ? That's alot ...

I would love to see more garda on the streets/roads policing Ireland... We would all be better off, including the guards as they would have , well not easier job but more control of the situation(s) I think is the best word.

trotter_inc

Victor wrote:

TH4TS IMP055ABLE. U MUST BE BL1ND0RS. TEYH AL\/\/4YS PER53CUT3 PEEPS ON THE m-WAY.

Im on the M50 at 6:30 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon - I have noticed the mounted speed cameras but never have I seen a squad car doing speed checks.

Fudger

on the N4 outside liffey valley (gatso van), most common place I have seen them, never seen a gatso van or squad car on the M50 though ????

Usually on the road myslef alot and after doing 40k in the last year i'd say i've only seen around 8 squad cars at the side of the road. Thats including pretty much me passing through every county in ireland.

Did get stopped for to show my licence though, at 2.30 in the morning at the M50 - N32 roundabout on a raining tuesday night, very weird.

Seth Brundle

dark_knight_ire wrote:

lol i wont be catching him on any motorway, the camera will do that

Of all the lengths of motorway there are only 3 fixed cameras (M50 = 2 & M1 = 1). I presume you mean mobile cameras.

dark_knight_ire wrote:

My last post i said irish was gone while that was correct i'd like to say you still have to do it when you get taken on

So am I right then? If I speak in Irish to a garda then he has to converse with me in Irish?

Turner

I presume speed checks arent carried out on motorways for safety reasons. How do you try and get a car to stop safely when traffic is moving around it at 70+mph.

Also there is no safe place to pull people into, i wouldnt like to be standing on a hard shoulder with cars speeding past at 70mph, most of them not looking where they are going distracted by blue lights etc.

As for the irish thing, as far as i know i have never heard of any legislation requiring a Garda to speak to somebody in irish. If you did start rambling off in irish and the Gard thought you were giving false or misleading info he then has a power of arrest under most of the acts out there. I wonder how funny the judge would find it ?

De Hipster

As far as I know (very open to correction) Irish is still the official first language of this country...therefore it would be expected that the law enforcers as well as most officials should at least have basic knowledge of it.

trotter_inc

kbannon wrote:

Of all the lengths of motorway there are only 3 fixed cameras (M50 = 2 & M1 = 1). I presume you mean mobile cameras.
QUOTE]

Where are these? I've seen two on the M50 alright:

1. Goin north on the M50 - just before you turn onto the M1.

2. Goin south on the M50 - just after coming onto it.

Are there anymore on it?

Where is the camera on the M1???

Seth Brundle

M50 Nthbound @ approach to M1 junction (70mph)
M50 Sthbound @ slip road for ballymun (70mph)
M1 Sthbound - on old stretch of motorway (if you are familiar with it!) around the dunleer exit (10 or so km Nth of bridge).
There are many more on the old N1 (now renamed to ?) but as it is motorway all the way to Dundalk from Santry these are not out to get me anymore.
There is also one as you approach Dundalk from Newry (just before the estuary bridge & is 60mph IIRC)

robbie1876

dublin_apache wrote:

And I've never seen a garda speed check when it's raining !!!

Someone told me once that they can't operate in the rain because of the refraction from the rain drops or some such malarky. Kind of makes sense for laser guns i guess, the rain has got to have an effect on a beam of light. Can anyone confirm of deny this?

The same person (bloke in a pub type) also said the guns have to be calibrated every 6 months, and you are entitled to ask to see the calibration certificate if you are pulled over. If they can't prove that the gun has been calibrated within the last 6 months they can't charge. This sounds iffy to me, but again, anyone got any specific knowledge on it?

narommy

Chief--- wrote:

I presume speed checks arent carried out on motorways for safety reasons. How do you try and get a car to stop safely when traffic is moving around it at 70+mph.

Also there is no safe place to pull people into, i wouldnt like to be standing on a hard shoulder with cars speeding past at 70mph, most of them not looking where they are going distracted by blue lights etc.

That is one hell of a presumption. I see them on the Portlaoise and Kildare bypasses regularily. Maybe they're only there as a deterrent.

Anyways they don't havee to stop you with gatso :eek:

Seth Brundle

@robbie1876 - I think that in the UK you can ask for the calibration cert but here AFAIK you have to accept the garda's word that it works fine!
@narommy - I think on motorways they take photos - don't think they are there as a deterrent as if they were then surely they would not be hiding! However, I think Chief was suggesting thet they don't pull you over on a motorway due to the dangers involved for them, you and other road users.

dublin_apache

Here's a mad weird idea that might deter or fright'n the bejasus out of speeding motorists !

Ok here it goes ...

How about randomly putting up those fluorescent jackets that the guards wear, on the M50/M1 etc at the side of the road (hard shoulder side), so when the speeding motorist(s) sees this thing that they think is a guard :eek: they will slow down ! And say once a week change these fluorescent jacket figures ( ) to different areas of the motorways ?

Then the speeding motorist(s) might say to them selfs the next time they feel like speeding "Jasus that thing the other day scared the s*it out of me, I better not speed incase it's a real guard this time"

Well is it a plausible idea or am I just totally nuts ?

Praetorian

They are occasionaly on the M1 between Swords and Balbriggan. They seem to let anything below 85mph by without stopping them. They let the cars with yellow registrations by at any speed. Too much hastle I presume.

I was in my girl friends dads car a few nights ago, and we got pulled over at 120 mph. He just showed his garda badge and we were waved on.

dublin_apache

Praetorian wrote:

He just showed his garda badge and we were waved on.

WOW I must get one of those ! :eek:

De Hipster

robbie1876 wrote:

Someone told me once that they can't operate in the rain because of the refraction from the rain drops or some such malarky. Kind of makes sense for laser guns i guess, the rain has got to have an effect on a beam of light. Can anyone confirm of deny this?

Have heard this theory before, there are also other factors can prevent the radar from functioning properly...causes a rebound bounce-back effect, can't remember where to find the info on this though.

robbie1876 wrote:

The same person (bloke in a pub type) also said the guns have to be calibrated every 6 months, and you are entitled to ask to see the calibration certificate if you are pulled over. If they can't prove that the gun has been calibrated within the last 6 months they can't charge. This sounds iffy to me, but again, anyone got any specific knowledge on it?

I was also told this about the calibration, it is appearantly the manufacturers recommendation & therefore could cause problems with any speeding charges sticking in court if not followed properly...same with any equipment.

What's more worrying is I've personally heard the guards (on a scanner - yes I know it's not necessarily legal) checking the setting (when they should be re-calibrating) by asking another squad car to maintain 60mph past the spot where they are setting up a check...underhand tactics.

robbie1876

dublin_apache wrote:

Well is it a plausible idea or am I just totally nuts ?

It's kind of along the same lines as what they do on the M25 in London. You know when you pass a fixed camera and there are those painted white lines on the road? Well every 1km or so on certain sections of the M25 they have those lines painted. They are so frequent you don't even have time to look for a camera box (most of which on the M25 are fake anyway), so you just don't risk it and take it easy.

The only danger with detterrants like fake cameras and garda jackets etc is that you risk people spotting them at the last minute and jamming on, which in rush hour traffic could be catastrophic if traffic behind is too close.

dublin_apache

robbie1876 wrote:

The only danger with detterrants like fake cameras and garda jackets etc is that you risk people spotting them at the last minute and jamming on, which in rush hour traffic could be catastrophic if traffic behind is too close.

True, but I was thinking that if they where visible to the driver for about a half mile or so ... I think if they where put up on the far side of a bend would be very stupid and dangerous.

I think if there was some sort of a visible thing it would make ppl think twice.

dark_knight_ire

Why you dont see the checks when its foggy or raining is as was pointed out the gardai cant be seen as good as clear conditions increased danger of us getting creamed.

It nearly happened to me and this was a clear day, out doing a check point, yellow jacet on the patrol car had the flashers going and i was out with my hand up stopping people. Saw a guy in a transit coming and damn he was moving he was getting closer and i thought "his going to have to brake hard to stop" then the realisation "oh sh**" and had to jump for cover. When we stopped him he was a drunk as could be and just never saw us

Seth Brundle

dark_knight_ire wrote:

When we stopped him he was a drunk as could be and just never saw us

and then he flashed his badge and youse let him go

parsi

dublin_apache wrote:

What's the problem anyway in the shortage of guards, is it that ppl don't want to become a guard or does the government just not employ/train enough ppl to become guards ?

It's hard to reduce taxes and increase the force at the same time I suppose..

dublin_apache

kbannon wrote:

and then he flashed his badge and youse let him go

I like that comment !

dublin_apache

:eek: I saw one !!!

Yeah I saw one today at about 4/4.30pm on my back from town (Dub), I was turning right from Cypress Grove (Kimmage) on to the N81 head'd for Tallaght, the guard was a traffic cop i'd guess as he was on a bike... he was about a 1/4 mile up the road in the hard shoulder just as you drive into the 40mph zone...

And no I wasn't speed'n :cool: .....