N8 in Cork

matt cork

after the opening of the Fermoy bypass we lucky drivers have a choice, pay €1.60 and see no garda - they wouldn't go on the new motorway for fear of sending all the drivers on the old N8 road

and in there lies my problem, after 2 trips to dublin last week and 2 so far this week i have noticed

i) speed checks everywhere
ii) reduction in the speed limit from 100kph to 80kph

why?? its same f**king road:mad:

who makes these decisions??

Enygma

Unbeleivable isn't it? It's clearly a money-making operation, they couldn't give a flying feck about traffic or safety.

maidhc

matt cork wrote:

who makes these decisions??

Idiots.

I have seen a few speed checks on the Watergrasshill bypass too so as to catch those who fail to drop back to 100km, despite the road being just as good.

Sickening.

cudman

you should just bye a helicopter and fly stright over them without worrying about speed traps or tolls

Enygma

Now why hadn't I thought of that? :rolleyes:

It BeeMee

matt cork wrote:

after the opening of the Fermoy bypass we lucky drivers have a choice, pay €1.60 and see no garda - they wouldn't go on the new motorway for fear of sending all the drivers on the old N8 road

and in there lies my problem, after 2 trips to dublin last week and 2 so far this week i have noticed

i) speed checks everywhere
ii) reduction in the speed limit from 100kph to 80kph

why?? its same f**king road:mad:

who makes these decisions??

Has the road been relegated from a "N"ational to a "R"egional road?
If so, then all R roads are 80kph.

Stark

It's been relegated.

But an R road doesn't have to be 80kph. They're 80kph by default but the council can overrule the speed limit.

matt cork

how's it been relegated, all the new signs show it as the N8??

back to the 'via' waterford route for me then

maidhc

Stark wrote:

It's been relegated.

But an R road doesn't have to be 80kph. They're 80kph by default but the council can overrule the speed limit.

yeah, but then we would have moaners on the Joe Duffy show going on about speeding and how the council are promoting it.

Wishbone Ash

Stark wrote:

It's been relegated.

But an R road doesn't have to be 80kph. They're 80kph by default but the council can overrule the speed limit.

The N1 was re designated the R132 and it's speed limit reduced to 80kph and 60kph in places.

It BeeMee

Stark wrote:

But an R road doesn't have to be 80kph. They're 80kph by default but the council can overrule the speed limit.

I know they have the power, but is there anywhere the council have actually done this?

prospect

€1.60, you lucky lucky bugger.
Wouldn't it be great if the tolls around dublin were that cheap


Could someone tell me what exactly my road tax, vat on all motoring purchases and VRT pay for? I mean, the un tolled roads are crap, and the nice main roads have extortionate tools on them!

Wishbone Ash

prospect wrote:

Could someone tell me what exactly my road tax, vat on all motoring purchases and VRT pay for? I mean, the un tolled roads are crap, and the nice main roads have extortionate tools on them!

Is that what they call a "Freudian slip"? LOL

junkyard

prospect wrote:

€1.60, you lucky lucky bugger.
Wouldn't it be great if the tolls around dublin were that cheap


Could someone tell me what exactly my road tax, vat on all motoring purchases and VRT pay for? I mean, the un tolled roads are crap, and the nice main roads have extortionate tools on them!

Government salaries of course and to pay for their extra holidays.... they seem to be fooling the majority of people in this country so far so we're sure to see plenty more of this kind of robbery in the future.:mad:

Rovi

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Is that what they call a "Freudian slip"? LOL

Nah, that's when you say one thing but mean your mother.

Seth Brundle

prospect wrote:

Could someone tell me what exactly my road tax, vat on all motoring purchases and VRT pay for? I mean, the un tolled roads are crap, and the nice main roads have extortionate tools on them!

It doesn't exactly answer your question but worth a read...
Irish motorists paid over €5 billion in motor tax last year
Daniel Attwood
from http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/motoring/2006/1011/1160340203505.html

Irish motorists paid over €5 billion in motoring related taxes last year - breaking all previous records. And, with the extra Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) and VAT payments as a result of the increase in new car sales so far in 2006, plus the additional excise duty paid as a result of higher fuel costs, the Government is set to take in substantially more this year from Ireland's motorists, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).

A total of €5,086 million was paid on fuel excise, road fund licences, VRT and motoring-related VAT by the Republic's 2.1 million motorists during 2005, which means every vehicle owner paid an average of more than €2,500 each in motoring taxes.
Vehicle Registration Tax, VAT and excise duty on fuel made up the bulk of the record tax take. For the first time ever, VRT payments on new cars alone exceeded €1.1 billion - or almost €100 million every month in 2005. However, it was fuel excise duty that topped the motorists' tax bill with the Government taking in over €1.9 billion last year from motorists filling up their vehicles with increasingly costly fuel.
This means more than €5.2 million was taken every day by the Government in fuel excise duty, which makes up 44c in every €1 spent on fuel.
In light of the amount now being paid by motorists in tax for the dubious privilege of driving in Ireland, the motor industry has called on the Department of Finance to take optional life-saving safety equipment, such as vehicle stability programmes, additional airbags and lane departure warning systems, out of the VRT net and thus make them more affordable to new car buyers. Currently, all equipment fitted to a new car, regardless of whether it is a safety feature or not, has VRT and VAT added, which means its cost can increase by over 30 per cent.
This, says the industry, pushes optional life-saving features out of the reach of many car buyers.
The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, has already gone on record as saying that he would favour a move that would make any life-saving equipment affordable to more car buyers.
Adding its voice to the call for the registration tax to be removed from life-saving features, the Road Safety Authority has said anything that helps cut deaths and injuries on Irish roads should be considered.
"Any mechanism which could make safety equipment more accessible to the public, especially child car seats, should be considered," said an RSA spokesman.
However, the Department of Finance has so far failed to introduce such a scheme, although in a statement it has, for the first time, indicated that such a move is being considered: "[In relation to] excluding safety elements from the VRT net, there could be difficulties with the definition of the term 'safety equipment'. The scope of safety equipment could include a wide range of equipment from airbags, to traction control, to tyre technology, to hands-free mobile phone kits, to air conditioning," said a Department of Finance spokesman.
"However, issues like the above are considered in the context of the upcoming Budget."
Understanding the difficulty that the Department foresees in defining safety equipment, Cyril McHugh, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) chief executive said: "Car purchasers will choose extra safety elements provided they aren't too expensive. Adding up to 30 per cent in VRT pushes these items outside the range of most. We could discuss what constitutes a safety item endlessly.
A much simpler approach is to deduct €1,500 for any new car purchased with more than two airbags. With the possibility of 200,000 new cars having a minimum of three airbags, the lives saved will more than justify the cost. In any event, the government will still take over €1 billion in VRT in 2007."
In its pre-budget submission, which will be presented to the Minister for Finance and his advisers tomorrow, SIMI says Ireland would not be alone in introducing a tax break for additional safety equipment. The society points to Denmark where the registration tax on safety items fitted to new cars was significantly reduced. It suggests that Ireland needs to follow suit if the Government is to "take seriously its commitment to reduce the number of fatalities on Irish roads".
SIMI points out that Ireland's current high taxation regime is negatively affecting the uptake of non-standard safety equipment in new cars.
It says that the removal of the VRT burden on such life-saving equipment is a simple and cost effective way of saving lives.
© The Irish Times