Operation Freeflow (www.freeflow.ie)

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/6837531?view=Eircomnet

Garda launch Operation Freeflow 2005
From:ireland.com
Sunday, 27th November, 2005

The Minister of State at the Department of Transport Mr Ivor Callely has launched Operation Freeflow 2005, the annual Garda campaign to ease the flow of traffic through Dublin city.

The project, which is now in its tenth year, aims to alleviate traffic congestion in the Dublin area in the run-up to Christmas and includes the deferral and rescheduling of building works that may interfere with traffic.

Freeflow - which runs from 27th November to the 5th of January - is intended to cater for pre-Christmas shopping, increased traffic congestion, Christmas Festivities and the post-Christmas sales.

There will be an increased garda presence of 140 personnel around the city. Gardaí on Mountain Bikes will be used for traffic management in the City Centre.

Garda air support will also be available to monitor the situation and identify the sources of obstruction.

This year's initiative has been planned under the auspices of the Gardai and the Dublin Transportation Office in close co- operationwith local authorities and transport service providers.

Victor

http://www.thepost.ie/breakingnews/breaking_story.asp?j=3484380&p=3484395&n=3484472&x=

Scheme unveiled to tackle Dublin traffic congestion
27/11/2005 - 2:34:01 PM

An additional 140 garda officers and late night services on buses, the Luas and the DART, are being laid on in Dublin in a bid to tackle traffic congestion in the run up to Christmas.

The measures, which form part of Operation Freeflow, were unveiled today by Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Ivor Callely.

Mr Callely said he hoped all those involved in the initiative, which is planned under the auspices of the Garda and Dublin Transportation Office (DTO), would help to make the Christmas period a more pleasant and satisfying experience for those living in, working in, and visiting Dublin.

It is estimated that between 600,000 and 700,000 people will visit the city centre every day in the run up to Christmas, with 86,000 making a trip to Grafton Street.

The Minister called on commuters and shoppers to do their bit to reduce traffic congestion by taking public transport wherever possible, using park and ride schemes and by phoning the city’s traffic control centre if they spot any problems.

“Ireland’s economic success over the past decade has resulted in an expanding population, a growing workforce, increased urban spread, and sustained growth in car ownership.

“While some of these developments are positive, they do present their own challenges in terms of traffic congestion,” he said.

“I would very much like to remind everyone that the success of Operation Freeflow 2005 depends on the co-operation of all.

“Today I am asking all the bodies involved to do what they can in ensuring that Dublin’s traffic is managed in the most practical and efficient way possible during what is the busiest time of the year for businesses and shoppers alike.

“I would also like to encourage the thousands of commuters, shoppers and visitors to make their individual contribution to the success of what is very much a communal initiative,” he said.

The extra officers will complement existing personnel and will focus on 169 road black-spots which have been identified by the gardaí, including the N4/M50 roundabout, Chapelizod village and the Rock Road.

In addition, the Nitelink bus service will operate during the night from tomorrow, November 28, to January 7, with a half-hourly service on 24 routes until 4.30 at the weekends and every night in the week before Christmas. Selected routes will also run services on week nights.

The Luas will have a night service until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays from next week; the DART will have a night train leaving at 12.30am and there will be additional spaces at park and ride car parks.

There will also be traffic updates every four minutes during rush hour on Anna Livia 103.2FM live from the traffic control centre, which will be managing and monitoring all routes into the city.

mackerski

I unwisely drove onto the N3 citybound today from Snugborough Road. The overtaking lane was coned off with work going on, which is a good start to freeflow. I'd mention what the work was, but we don't really want that crash barrier argument again, do we. Oh poo...

Dermot

a_ominous

I saw an item on the news tonight with a garda suggesting that people don't use their cars.
I presume there'll the buses, darts and luases will be running monday - friday timetables at weekends then?
No, just what I thought. So it'll be the car then...
Muppets.

skywalker_208

Isnt this supposed to help relieve traffic congestion??? they have cops on every corner interfering in the traffic flow which is causing more delays!

example 1 - Glasnevin area turning left onto Whitworth Rd... traffic usually enters the bus lane just after the traffic lights to turn left as the bus lane comes to an end.. if you dont you wont get in... cop standing there this morning waving cars out of it...

Result - cars back to finglas.... how is this helping?

Trampas

Maybe you should take the bus then and you will be flying along them bus lanes :rolleyes:

markpb

skywalker_208 wrote:

example 1 - Glasnevin area turning left onto Whitworth Rd... traffic usually enters the bus lane just after the traffic lights to turn left as the bus lane comes to an end.. if you dont you wont get in... cop standing there this morning waving cars out of it...

The same is happening at the junction of Clontard Road and Alfie Byrne road - there's a bangarda standing at the start of the turning left lane and admonishing drivers who enter the bus lane before her.

A few weeks of guards reminding drivers of the rules of the road should do wonders ;-)

Archeron

skywalker_208 wrote:

Isnt this supposed to help relieve traffic congestion??? they have cops on every corner interfering in the traffic flow which is causing more delays!

example 1 - Glasnevin area turning left onto Whitworth Rd... traffic usually enters the bus lane just after the traffic lights to turn left as the bus lane comes to an end.. if you dont you wont get in... cop standing there this morning waving cars out of it...

Result - cars back to finglas.... how is this helping?

I really strongly feel that what Dublin needs is someone to actually go to all these junctions, and sit there and examine them and work out how to improve traffic flow. What we certainly dont need is a bunch of fresh faced coppers acting like jedi Knights waving their bloody light sabres and telling is to go because the traffic light is green. I know the light is green, and I would be moving quicker if you werent in the middle of the bloody road blocking everyone!!!! Every year, operation freeflow adds at least 40 minutes to my journey to and again from work.
Oh, i love Christmas.....

markpb

Archeron wrote:

I really strongly feel that what Dublin needs is someone to actually go to all these junctions, and sit there and examine them and work out how to improve traffic flow.

Totally agree with this... there are a lot of junctions that could be much better with some small tweaks!

Alun

... a bunch of fresh faced coppers acting like jedi Knights waving their bloody light sabres ...

Right on! They don't appear to have received any training on proper traffic direction, and if they have they've forgotten it the instant they left Templemore. Loads of incoherent waving of the hands accompanied by angry stares at puzzled motorists who just can't make out what the hell they're trying to tell you. I've seen traffic wardens in the UK with better skills at traffic direction than the Gardai.

skywalker_208

Archeron wrote:

What we certainly dont need is a bunch of fresh faced coppers acting like jedi Knights waving their bloody light sabres and telling is to go because the traffic light is green.

thats exactly what the copper at the end of Gardiner Street was doing this morning... i was thinking what the hell are you doing stopping traffic? i can see the light is red!

MorningStar

I think the problem seems to be that by breaking the rules of the road people get to where they want to go faster but illegally. I can see drivers point of view that the should break the lights, turn where they shouldn't, enter yellow boxes hen ever etc... Considering there are relatively few road deaths in Dublin maybe the rules don't work that well so motorists can drive like they want. It might mean we all move quicker.
Mind you it could just be the congestion that is the reason people drive safely.

tk123

The prob with O.F.F. is that there's cops on every corner therefore the trafffic crawls along - no cops=faster moving traffic!! :v: :v:

skywalker_208

its not about getting to where you want to go faster at all.. at certain junctions... if you done enter the end of the bus lane to turn left.. you will be going straight on because you will not get into this lane at the lights...... simple as that...

tk123

Does the bus lane not end there and pick up again after the lights - you've got 2 lanes before cross guns and then 3 lanes after the lights!? I took my chances and stayed in the bus lane on Drumcondra Rd because there was another bike behind me - cop didn't bat an eyelid! :P

James Hunt

Archeron wrote:

I really strongly feel that what Dublin needs is someone to actually go to all these junctions, and sit there and examine them and work out how to improve traffic flow.

Correct.

One thing they can look at, are the traffic light settings. I'm convinced that even a cursory survey of the traffic light change sequences/intervals at various junctions around the city and commuter belt, would improve traffic flow immensely. Also, signal-controlled roundabouts.....a funny concept at the best of times, although there are some necessary examples, but I bet that a critical review of some of them would lead to a bit of lateral thinking in the future.

penexpers

markpb wrote:

The same is happening at the junction of Clontard Road and Alfie Byrne road - there's a bangarda standing at the start of the turning left lane and admonishing drivers who enter the bus lane before her.

A few weeks of guards reminding drivers of the rules of the road should do wonders ;-)

I think as a cyclist this is great because it means no more guessing where exactly cars are going to turn and it leads to a much more orderly queue I find.

beller b

Operation freeflow is a joke.Got stopped in the buslane on Druncondra road, even though there is a big orange sign saying BUS LANE NOT IN USE..Thier idea of freeflow on the ballymun road was to set up a check cpoint for tak at 5 o clock in the evening..I wonder how much thier takings go up during the month of december?

Archeron

a_ominous wrote:

I saw an item on the news tonight with a garda suggesting that people don't use their cars.
I presume there'll the buses, darts and luases will be running monday - friday timetables at weekends then?
No, just what I thought. So it'll be the car then...
Muppets.

No, that copper was right. Seeing as so many of us live so far outside Dublin, we should all use the fantastic public transport we have. I mean, the Luas and Dart and nightlink all run to places such as Kilcock, Monasterevin, Portlaoise, Naas, Kildare, Trim, Navan, Kells, Delganey, etc, Dont they? Oh no, they dont. Silly people please note, we have no choice but to use our cars!!!!!! Its all well and good telling people to get into public transport but that doesnt apply to commuters. Please remember this before admonishing us for using the only means of grossly overpriced transport we have available to us.

beller b

Seen even better today. The Druncondra road back up with traffic & a Guard busy writing out parking tickets. Were these cars parked in the bus lane or obstructing traffic..?NO they were all in parking spaces outside houses...
What a joke.....

jd

penexpers wrote:

I think as a cyclist this is great because it means no more guessing where exactly cars are going to turn and it leads to a much more orderly queue I find.

Why don't you use the cycle lanes there!

penexpers

jd wrote:

Why don't you use the cycle lanes there!

I join the Clontarf Road at Hollyville Road so trying to use the cycle lane from there would be pointless.

TempestSabre

The junctions are set to allow x amount of cars, so they don't clog up the next junction. If you let too many cars through it blocks the next junction. All the junctions should be interlinked. They don't look at them in isolation. All a garda does it speeds up some junctions and cause havoc at the next one.

That said they are not trying to ease traffic. They are trying to force you off the road. If they removed half the bus lanes and empty cycle lanes the traffic would be ok.

Victor

TempestSabre wrote:

If they removed half the bus lanes and empty cycle lanes the traffic would be ok.

The traffic would be "OK", but nobody would get to work.

TempestSabre

Victor wrote:

The traffic would be "OK", but nobody would get to work.

What???

Ray777

TempestSabre wrote:

If they removed half the bus lanes and empty cycle lanes the traffic would be ok.

Ridiculous. If more people who live on bus routes decided to leave their cars at home, the traffic would be ok. Far too many people use their cars unnecessarily because they're too lazy/snobbish to use public transport.

beller b

Why should I leave my car at home to wait in the cold & rain for a crap public service?

MorningStar

beller b wrote:

Why should I leave my car at home to wait in the cold & rain for a crap public service?

WHy should you indeed. As people won't do it by choice they will be forced to do so. Make driving worse and public transport better. Make cars more expensive to run and cost more. If you ever wonder who is to blame for the expense of running a car look at the people who don't need to drive and do.

Archeron

As many people who have just spent three hours in their cars trying to get into Dublin will know, operation Freeflow is once again an unmitigated disaster. All over the main entrance points to our fine capital, we have officers of the law proving to all and sundry their complete ignorance as to how the traffic should actually flow. With their blinkers on they happily make busy dual carriageways sit through 3 sets of light changes, as every single vehicle is allowed out of every single side road. We have seen this every year, and I am convinced that this year is worse than ever with, from my own personal experience, a 30 mile journey from Meath to Dublin taking up to three hours. This is bulls*-t.
The dept of transport has failed the city of Dublin miserably. It is choking to death to the point where people dont want to be anywhere near it. Its all well and good telling us that in 20 years time, we'll have Luas' everywhere, and park and ride, and so on and so on. Aside from the fact that no-one believes this anyway, when I sit in traffic at a complete standstill, i think to myself: I DONT CARE ABOUT 20 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD!!! DO SOMETHING NOW! END THIS MADNESS!! Martin Cullen forcing the farce that is freeflow down our throats every year is a token gestrure to show that they really do "care", while continuing to do feck all except show great plans and tell us the evils of using cars. Do we really have to put up with this? Must we spend up to 6 hours a day in our cars with a smile on our face as we think how unbelievable things have become in Dublin? Must we sit there confused as traffic cops dance around junctions waving light sticks at people with an obvious complete lack of knowledge as to what they are supposed to be doing?

I do expect that as always in this country, we will just sit and smile, but if anyone has suggestions as to how we can end this madness, please email them to info@transport.ie In the meantime, I call on minister Cullen to stand up to his responsibilities and tell the people of Dublin and its commuter belt what will happen, not wihtin the next 5/10/25 years, but in the next year. Either do something positive, or admit you're useless and resign. This city needs someone who wil act immediately, not just talk the usual government ****e.

UberNewb

penexpers wrote:

I join the Clontarf Road at Hollyville Road so trying to use the cycle lane from there would be pointless.

They should give penalty points to cyclists who don't use the cycle lane and make them pay for a cycle lane tax!

ciaran76

Yesterday I was stuck in traffic in Santry and Guard was just standing there doing nothing. Its a joke. Only seen the Guard move once to write a ticket for some poor fella who joined the main road and got a ticket not sure why though.
Either cos his tail was in other lane (by the way traffic wasn't moving in any direction so wasn't blocking anyone , and i know its wrong) or cos light had just gone red when he done it. Not sure

Anyway the Gurad looked bored out of his tree standing there !

Berkel

Last night I saw 5 guards standing at junction and not one of them was directing traffic...

I think they should review the timings of traffic lights in Dublin. For example this morning, coming up Dorest St there are about 5 sets of lights and I had to stop at each one. The light goes green and just as you get to the next one it goes red - where is the logic in this - on the major routes through the city, they should drive a car at the average speed and time the lights so that some sort of flow is acheived... I read somewhere that they were thinking of changing all the lights in the city to be red and as cars approached they would go green.. apparently its been done is some other european city and was successful.

BrianD3

skywalker_208 wrote:

its not about getting to where you want to go faster at all.. at certain junctions... if you done enter the end of the bus lane to turn left.. you will be going straight on because you will not get into this lane at the lights...... simple as that...

Are you talking about a scenario where a 24/7 bus lane becomes a left turn lane close to a junction but car drivers illegally move into it before it becomes a left turn lane. Meaning that law abiding motorists who wish to turn left are blocked and have to force their way in.

If so then the cop was dead right to be waving people out of the bus lane. 100% correct, should give them a ticket while he's at it. It's good to see at least some rules being enforced.

D'Peoples Voice

All I what to say is that for me it is the best thing since sliced bread!

Take the new road from the M50 roundabout at sandyford/Ballinteer to the Beacon hotel.
There are two lanes and a hard shoulder heading towards the Beacon hotel.
The right lane has a large white arrow pointing to the right, while the middle lane has a large white straight-on arrow, yet for the past few weeks ignorant sons of bitch*s have been purposely taking a right turn from the middle lane at the traffic lights.
Not any more, the gardai are stopping these scumbags taking a right turn from the middle lane and forcing them to continue straight ahead in accordance with the big white arrow painted on their lane.
Personally while I'd never condone violence, I'd love the gardai to pull out a semi-automatic and blow these people to bits, but I guess a close second is to make them continue straight-on!

jlang

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Take the new road from the M50 roundabout at sandyford/Ballinteer to the Beacon hotel.
There are two lanes and a hard shoulder heading towards the Beacon hotel.
The right lane has a large white arrow pointing to the right, while the middle lane has a large white straight-on arrow, yet for the past few weeks ignorant sons of bitch*s have been purposely taking a right turn from the middle lane at the traffic lights.

When it first opened, that middle lane was marked as a straight and right turn lane and the road down to the right had two lanes. They've only changed it to the way it is now in the last few weeks. I tended to use the middle lane to turn right past the Beacon as I wasn't going to take the next right. Can't do that any more.

_Kaiser_

MorningStar wrote:

WHy should you indeed. As people won't do it by choice they will be forced to do so. Make driving worse and public transport better. Make cars more expensive to run and cost more. If you ever wonder who is to blame for the expense of running a car look at the people who don't need to drive and do.

Even on a Sunday, Dublin Bus can't run a service to the cutback timetables they have.. why should we believe they're capable of running a high-frequency, peak-time service??

The reason people don't use public transport is because, aside from having to wait around an indefinite amount of time for the thing to show up (quite often cause the driver doesn't show up him/herself), you'll then probably have to stand for most/all of your journey, put up with scumbags (some of them behind the wheel) and/or screaming babies/kids, and have to do this twice before you get to where you're going (if like me you are travelling from Blanch to Coolock). Then there's the ever increasing cost of a ticket, despite no parallel improvement in service... Average journey time: 90 mins to 2 hrs!!

If I take the car, I can do the same journey in 25/30 minutes (and that's without using the M50). I get a seat, no hassle from scumbags and it's warm and dry door-to-door.

Now... tell me again why I should leave my car at home???

Archeron

skywalker_208 wrote:

Isnt this supposed to help relieve traffic congestion??? they have cops on every corner interfering in the traffic flow which is causing more delays!

example 1 - Glasnevin area turning left onto Whitworth Rd... traffic usually enters the bus lane just after the traffic lights to turn left as the bus lane comes to an end.. if you dont you wont get in... cop standing there this morning waving cars out of it...

Result - cars back to finglas.... how is this helping?

Last night on the way home, at a junction with a tailback, i waited, as I should until the way was clear before moving around the corner. The road cleared, the way was clear, and i started to move. Next thing a traffic cop pulls out his little glowstick (which have a small torch at the top), points the beam of light at the bonnet of my car and makes tiny little circular motions. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Go? Stop? Dance a bit? I understand hand signals from cops, hand signals from other drivers, indicators etc, all the things i learned for the driving test. Does anyone know quite what these glowstick manouvres are supposed to mean? Please tell me, i think i'm breaking the law without even knowing it!!

Alun

Archeron wrote:

Last night on the way home, at a junction with a tailback, i waited, as I should until the way was clear before moving around the corner. The road cleared, the way was clear, and i started to move. Next thing a traffic cop pulls out his little glowstick (which have a small torch at the top), points the beam of light at the bonnet of my car and makes tiny little circular motions. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Go? Stop? Dance a bit? I understand hand signals from cops, hand signals from other drivers, indicators etc, all the things i learned for the driving test. Does anyone know quite what these glowstick manouvres are supposed to mean? Please tell me, i think i'm breaking the law without even knowing it!!

This is a pet hate of mine too. It's as if they make up these random gestures themselves and expect us to be able to somehow divine what they're trying to tell us, maybe by telepathy or something. There's a section in the ROTR giving the signals Gardai are supposed to give, and they're pretty simple and obvious. Why can't they just stick to those?

beller b

Minister cullen the genius was on the radio this morning...Guess what its not thier fault at all.. Its ours! If we didn't drive our cars there would be no traffic problem.. Thats it problem solved everyone give up work. Stop sending the kids to school..Stop buying food to feed your family because that puts trucks on the road & causes traffic jams. Everyone stay at home curl up & die & the ministers problems will be solved. How selfish of us for having a life.. For those of you who are about to say get the bus. I would if the things wer'nt all full & driving by leaving people soaked at the bus stops.

BrianD

Kaiser2000 wrote:

Even on a Sunday, Dublin Bus can't run a service to the cutback timetables they have.. why should we believe they're capable of running a high-frequency, peak-time service??

The reason people don't use public transport is because, aside from having to wait around an indefinite amount of time for the thing to show up (quite often cause the driver doesn't show up him/herself), you'll then probably have to stand for most/all of your journey, put up with scumbags (some of them behind the wheel) and/or screaming babies/kids, and have to do this twice before you get to where you're going (if like me you are travelling from Blanch to Coolock). Then there's the ever increasing cost of a ticket, despite no parallel improvement in service... Average journey time: 90 mins to 2 hrs!!

If I take the car, I can do the same journey in 25/30 minutes (and that's without using the M50). I get a seat, no hassle from scumbags and it's warm and dry door-to-door.

Now... tell me again why I should leave my car at home???

Yes, keep believing the myth!

Personally, Freeflow is doomed from the start primarily from the inate selfishness of many people. They assume that everybody else will take the bus and the Gardai will keep the junctions moving so they can zip into town because nobody else will be using the roads!

Beller b ... why don't you get your kids to walk/cycle to school? Walk to the shop? Too far you say or too lazy. If the answer is 'too far' then the real answer is that corrupt and inept planning and development have created a car dependent population that will never be served by a public transport system.

beller b

But the guards are making it worse.........They set up a checkpoint for tax at 4pm on the Ballymun road.. Yesterday there was one more interested in writing out parking tickets..Last week one tried to give me a ticket for driving in a bus lane that was marked NOT IN USE...

Bee

Hmm,

The only positive thing I have seen has been on two occasions motor cycle Gardai putting some manners on the pond life cyclists ignoring red traffic lights and another idiot cycling the wrong way in a one way street.

The rookie cops are just a waste of space.

I have nothing against the poor and socially disadvantaged and even the scumbags that normally frequent buses using them but they should open the bus lanes to all road users during freeflow to increase traffic flow as the majority either need or desire to use their cars/bikes/motorbikes/skateboards etc

Its a myth that "if only everyone used public transport there would be no congestion"

Bee

beller b

Is it true that taxi's are only supposed to use the bus lanes if they have a fair. This was stated on Newstalk the other day. If its true I have never seen an empty taxi been stopped in a bus lane.

Bee

Archeron,

Your righteous anger is a little mis-placed when you reach Dublin.

Remember the majority of Dublins traffic problems has been created by the so called "Traffic engineers" in dublin City council.

Their ability to $crew up is amply demonstrated by the total cock-up they have made of traffic planning.

At least the head bottle washer who never took responsibility for any of the failures created on his watch, is attempting to join another council Dun Laoire/Rathdown, though according to newspaper reports least alone the Phoinix mag he is certainly not wanted out there either.

Bee

_Kaiser_

BrianD wrote:

Yes, keep believing the myth!

Personally, Freeflow is doomed from the start primarily from the inate selfishness of many people. They assume that everybody else will take the bus and the Gardai will keep the junctions moving so they can zip into town because nobody else will be using the roads!

Beller b ... why don't you get your kids to walk/cycle to school? Walk to the shop? Too far you say or too lazy. If the answer is 'too far' then the real answer is that corrupt and inept planning and development have created a car dependent population that will never be served by a public transport system.

I'm assuming the first bit is directed at me, though I must admit I'm at a loss as to what "myth" you're referring to, as what I posted earlier is based on my own personal (and all too frequent) experiences with Dublin Bus.

The only "myth" I can think of is the one that says public transport actually works in this city or is a viable option for people like myself who want to get from A to B WITHOUT going through point C (ie: the City Centre). :rolleyes:

Fire some of those incompetent, ignorant idiots currently employed by Dublin Bus, show me that they CAN stick to a timetable (the excuse of "traffic" doesn't apply at 10pm on a Sunday night, yet they STILL can't run buses on time), and prove to me that it actually is a safer, cleaner and - most importantly - REALISTIC alternative to taking my car, and I might consider it again.

tinkerbell

Hey folks,

I recently bought a car and since I'm not a drinker, I'll be able to drive us out on nights out now. Where abouts could ya park in the city, would it be Pay and Display or car parks .... is it hard to get parking, etc.?

Thanks

Vorsprung

There's usually a lot of space around Merrion Sq if you don't mind the walk. Also just round the back of City Hall, off Dame St., if you get there early enough, my friend parked there last Friday night at about 10pm without too much difficulty

Victor

http://garda.ie/angarda/dublin5.html

Operation Freeflow 2005

Operation Freeflow will commence on 28th November 2005. This is the tenth year of Operation Freeflow which is an operation aimed at keeping traffic flowing smoothly in the greater Dublin area during the busy Christmas season.

An Garda Síochána will be providing significant dedicated resources to this operation. A total of 255 Garda personnel will be deployed every day between 7am and 7pm. These resources comprise approximately 170 Gardaí on beat duty, 48 motorcyclist, two dedicated mobile patrols and support from the Garda Mounted Unit, Air Support Unit and members on mountain bikes patrols.

Ten Inspectors and forty Sergeants will involved in supervising the operation which will be coordinated by the Regional Traffic Corps at Dublin Castle.

For the 2005 operation, 140 Probationer Gardaн from the Garda College will be used to support existing resources.

All Gardaн deployed on the operation will be assigned to specific areas throughout Dublin concentrating efforts on major junctions and well known traffic blackspots. Their role is to ensure the free movement of traffic in their areas through proactive intervention and enforcement of the Road Traffic Act.

Assistant Commissioner Al Mc Hugh, who is in charge of the Dublin Metropolitan Region, has stated "During this year's Operation Freeflow we will ensure that traffic moves freely, that Public Transport operates unimpeded and that we maintain a safe and secure atmosphere for the general public while they go about their business".

Assistant Commissioner Mc Hugh also reminds people that An Garda Síochána will be running a Road Safety Campaign over Christmas and the New Year period. This will operate simultaneously to Freeflow and will target drink driving and speeding. Motorists are reminded never ever to drink and drive and to use public transport or arrange a designated (non-drinking) driver when going out socialising.


Command and Control Centre

During Operation Freeflow one Sergeant and two Gardaí will be deployed full time in the [url=
http://garda.ie/angarda/control.html]Command and Control Centre[/url] at Harcourt Square dealing with traffic management. The staff at this Center literally have a 'birds eye' view of the city. They monitor cameras linked in from the Garda CCTV system, Dublin City Council traffic camera network, LUAS CCTV and downlinks from the Garda Air Support Unit.

Apart from those Gardaн dedicated to Freeflow, other units and personnel on routine duties can be directed to assist with the operation and any location shoud the need arise.


Garda Advice - how to make your Christmas journey smoother this year

Use Public transport - Use Park and Ride on the LUAS or DART lines; park in the suburbs and catch a Dublin Bus. All public transport will have enhanced schedules in the run up to Christmas.

Show consideration - let that bus/car pull out; DON'T BLOCK THE YELLOW BOX; red lights mean stop, amber lights are for stopping too!

Do not park illegally - Watch the signs displayed along the street regarding parking restrictions. Watch out for parking areas that revert to clearways or bus lanes at a certain hour.

Plan your journey - Make sure you plan your journey and give yourself plenty of time. Look at a map if you need to in advance of setting out. Plan an alternative journey in case there is a diversion and an alternative car park if the first one is full.


Crime Prevention Advice to motorists visiting Dublin City

When parking use a supervised car park if possible

If a supervised car park is not available park in a well lit area

When parking during daylight consider how safe the area will be when darkness falls

Ensure all windows and sunroof are fully closed and that your car is locked with alarm/immobiliser set

Never leave any property on view in the car. All property should be locked in the boot.

Never leave your vehicle with engine running or keys in the ignition even for a brief moment

Don't hide spare keys in the vehicle, they will be found

Lower retractable aerials - this will prevent a causal vandal breaking it when passing your car

Lockable wheel nuts are available and are a sensible protection for expensive alloy wheels.

If motorists wish to report any obstruction or other traffic related incident during Operation Freeflow they should ring 999 or 112 in an emergency situation, otherwise they can contact the Traffic Corps at Dublin Castle telephone 01-666 9800 or their local Garda Station.

Victor

UberNewb wrote:

They should give penalty points to cyclists who don't use the cycle lane and make them pay for a cycle lane tax!

I will gladly pay cycle lane tax, when you pay lane tax (on top of your motor tax).

beller b wrote:

But the guards are making it worse.........They set up a checkpoint for tax

How do you **know** it was for tax, not for checking for scumbags?

beller b

Eh!!!! They get you to stop ...Look at the tax disc & then wave you on..Hardly rocket science..

Victor

beller b wrote:

Eh!!!! They get you to stop ...Look at the tax disc & then wave you on..Hardly rocket science..

And they look at your face and see "no thats not the guy wanted for the armed robbery yesterday"