Operation Freeflow

Doodah7

I was just wondering if the hype over substance Operation Freeflow will be in effect from December this year??

Another month of trainee Gardai getting paid huge amounts of overtime to stand looking at traffic rather than directing it...

jameshayes

hilarious... last year they we're better though, they stopped people parking in yellow boxes and ran after people for breaking yellows... I nearly hit a female guard when she was running to catch someone outside DIT kevin street

SickCert

The young female at Cabinteely/Johnstown making calls and texting her pals all day got my award for the anti jobsworth of 2006!

Ham'nd'egger

SickCert wrote: »

The young female at Cabinteely/Johnstown making calls and texting her pals all day got my award for the anti jobsworth of 2006!

You obviously didn't see the Garda on O'Connell Bridge who wrote out a ticket for the truck who stopped on the yellow box and held up traffic for 5 minutes.

paulm17781

Hamndegger wrote: »

You obviously didn't see the Garda on O'Connell Bridge who wrote out a ticket for the truck who stopped on the yellow box and held up traffic for 5 minutes.

I'd prefer that to doing nothing. It's only through punishing offenders that we may one day reach some acceptable level of driving some day.

AlekSmart

Point taken Ham,but sadly this is not the universal experience.
The Garda Authorities are loath to admit it but they have a SERIOUS Training and Motivation deficiency in their midst.

The force appears not to have any set standard of operation.
This is particularly noticable in Traffic control situations.

For some time now Official Garda policy,encouraged by an equally lazy Political system has been to front-load its resources into high-visibility Media friendly operations.

Thus,we see the full panopoly of new vehicles,technology and personnell deployed on the Stillorgan Road in increasingly silly looking numbers.
Included in this mistaken policy is the premise that Speed and Alcohol consumption are the root cause of our poor driving standards.

One only has to observe the somewhat variable standards of Garda driving on display each day in the City Centre to get a view of how bad their internal situation is.

For example,I cannot see any excuse for a Traffic Stop and subsequent conversation to be conducted through the Passenger Window of a Ford Transit as it sits skewed alongside the target vehicle which has just turned left illegally into O Connell St from Parnell St.

It is one of the most obvious differences between the operational methods of the Gardai and for comparison UK police forces.
Time and again I have watched UK Police conducting Traffic Stops and ALWAYS directing the target motorist to pull-over out of general traffic flow.

The daily situations on major City Centre junctions is similarly poorly understood by the Garda Authorities.
Part of the problem seems to be an over reliance on the electronic SCATS traffic control system.
The Garda Authorities appear to believe that the City Council is the responsible agency for ALL traffic control and appear unwilling to involve themselves as a result.

This is one MAJOR flaw in their policy as it makes a VERY (in)visible statement to ALL motorists that there is NO policing of the multitude of rules and regulations which exists.

It has to be constant and guaranteed that any motorist breaking the laws and rules of City Centre Traffic Management WILL be publicly stopped and remonstrated with.

Just as with the greater problem of organized criminal activity the Garda policy of Community Based "Niceness" has severe limitations and the force appears loath to admit it.

Fratton Fred

Two very young looking Gardai (Although they all look young to me these days) pulled a blinder last year.

At the Cookstown Road/Tallaght Bypass junction they came up with the idea of standing at the lights and when they went green, told everyone to go and when they went red they told everyone to stop.

It was brilliant:D

Victor

The best use of those gardai is enforcement, keep junctions clear, etc.

If they need to ticket, don't do it in the junction.

Them letting traffic through on red can lead to problems further down the road.