Garda on mobile phone.

holly1

Im not sure if I am posting this in the right place or not?
Would somebody please tell me if its ok for the garda to speak on a mobile phone while driving.Saw one today on a phone,he was slowing down coming to lights and I was coming towards him .Traffic was slow and everyone had windows open so I could nearly hear what he was saying,and it had nothing to do with his job.
Are they allowed use mobile phones??????

They should practice what they preach, should take a photo if you get a chance and send it to http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/

sdanseo

Gardaí are exempt from that particular ban (I believe, under the condition that they are not unduly endangering other road users).

They also rely on phones a lot of the time,especially in rural areas, because of the unmitigated disaster that is their radio system - dolanbaker I wouldn't go wasting the ombudsman's time.

Ross_Mahon

holly1 wrote: »

Im not sure if I am posting this in the right place or not?
Would somebody please tell me if its ok for the garda to speak on a mobile phone while driving.Saw one today on a phone,he was slowing down coming to lights and I was coming towards him .Traffic was slow and everyone had windows open so I could nearly hear what he was saying,and it had nothing to do with his job.
Are they allowed use mobile phones??????

Drive with your feet and see what he says to you, then slap his wrist about using his mobile phone. I think they have to follow the same rules as us? Cause imagine a garda car speeding and the garda whips out his phone while on the wheel, then looses control of the car.

sdonn_1

sdonn_1 wrote: »

Gardaí are exempt from that particular ban.

They also rely on phones a lot of the time,especially in rural areas, because of the unmitigated disaster that is their radio system - dolanbaker you should really check your facts before you go wasting the ombudsman's time.

Hands free!!!!

I think that they are allowed..

I've asked this question myself, after moving down to Tipp here and spotted this myself on 3 occasions..

Wouldn't you love if you could dish out an on the spot fine yourself.. And have the proceeds go to your own little social club..

Sparky

Its often more secure than the radios.

Sherifu

sdonn_1 wrote: »

Gardaí are exempt from that particular ban (I believe, under the condition that they are not unduly endangering other road users).

They also rely on phones a lot of the time,especially in rural areas, because of the unmitigated disaster that is their radio system - dolanbaker I wouldn't go wasting the ombudsman's time.

I remember hearing something like that...

sdanseo

Scary, I edited my post but the new replies didn't show up. Both are in the quotes so the change is obvious to all at least, apols.

delly

Yes they are exempt from the phone ban, so nothing illegal here folks. Seriously though, is it really that big a deal?

Dave!

Cos they have sh*t radios

Also, they're police..... they often have to do things that others aren't allowed to do Should they not be allowed to drive fast? Or use their batons?

If it wasn't work related then fair enough you have a legitimate point, but in general, Gardaí have to do dangerous things all the time, get over it.

monkeyfudge

I'm sure it's allowed. Taxi drivers don't have to wear seat belts either.

holly1

Thats ok then,just wondering and thanks folks.

AlmightyCushion

Deleted User wrote: »

They should practice what they preach, should take a photo if you get a chance and send it to http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/

JUst don't use your camera phone to take the picture.

stepbar

Aparently they don't get paid for the calls they make on their "personal" phones. If it was any other organisation they'd have business phones. Tight cnuts....

JUst don't use your camera phone to take the picture.

lol

Font22

saw this once on the swords roundabout, possibly the most dangerous roundabout in dublin. asked my cousin about it a few months later, he's a guard in limerick and said they are allowed to use phones. i can understand why but it still pisses me off!

kowloon

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Taxi drivers don't have to wear seat belts either.

?

monkeyfudge

kowloon wrote: »

?

They're not required to I believe.

source

monkeyfudge wrote: »

They're not required to I believe.

Yes they are required to wear seat belts, all road users are required to. unless there is a serious medical condition and a doctor has signed off on it, or if a woman is heavily pregnant and has received medical advice that she shouldn't wear a seat belt across her stomach.

Jigsaw

foinse wrote: »

Yes they are required to wear seat belts, all road users are required to. unless there is a serious medical condition and a doctor has signed off on it, or if a woman is heavily pregnant and has received medical advice that she shouldn't wear a seat belt across her stomach.

I'm with Monkeyfudge on this one. As far as I know taxi are indeed exempt from wearing seat belts. I have heard it said many times anyway.

sdanseo

Jigsaw wrote: »

I'm with Monkeyfudge on this one. As far as I know taxi are indeed exempt from wearing seat belts. I have heard it said many times anyway.

+1 the father of a mate of mine years back was a taxi driver, apparently someone tried to rob him or so the story goes, but he'd no seatbelt on so tackled yer man quickly. Was told at the time they weren't obliged to wear seatbelt, although that could have changed since. Doubt it though.

TheNog

Font22 wrote: »

he's a guard in limerick and said they are allowed to use phones. i can understand why but it still pisses me off!

don't be p*ssed off at the guards, we don't create the laws only enforce them

sdanseo

TheNog wrote: »

don't be p*ssed off at the guards, we don't create the laws only enforce them

+1 - if people have a problem with this, your run-of-the-mill guard is not the one to take it out on. Ye're only making the best of what seems a b*lloxed situation. Too right if the radios don't work you should be refunded for calls, too - any truth to that rumour that you aren't?

Agent Smith

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I'm sure it's allowed. Taxi drivers don't have to wear seat belts either.

All taximen Must wear seatbelts.


they are allowed have belt ones however. (like in the middle of the back seat)

this question comes up on the new test.

javaboy

Yeah the taxi seatbelt exemption was removed a while back afaik. The funny thing is that driving instructors giving a lesson and driving testers do not need seatbelts. I can understand maybe driving testers but instructors? Sure any passenger can claim they are giving a lesson if they have their full licence even if the driver isn't a learner. I wonder has anyone tried that defence.

I think in the UK you can remove your seatbelt while reversing.


What was this thread about again?

leninbenjamin

meh... it's not like this ban is enforced anyway. seen plenty, guards and civilian alike on 'em.

sdanseo

javaboy wrote: »

What was this thread about again?

Yore ma I think it was...

Sorry, too easy.

javaboy

sdonn_1 wrote: »

Yore ma I think it was...

Sorry, too easy.

My mam isn't a Garda and she has satnav with built in bluetooth handsfree and nobody ever calls her for her to be on the phone plus the OP said that the offending Garda was a he not a she. All in all, it's very unlikely that this thread was about my mammy.

I do agree with you on one thing though. Yore ma is too easy. :pac::pac:

sdanseo

javaboy wrote: »

My mam isn't a Garda and she has satnav with built in bluetooth handsfree and nobody ever calls her for her to be on the phone plus the OP said that the offending Garda was a he not a she. All in all, it's very unlikely that this thread was about my mammy.

I do agree with you on one thing though. Yore ma is too easy. :pac::pac:

I have a good comeback for that somewhere....

...f*ck it, I'll be back in the morning with one. Or a baseball bat may substitute. :pac:

BJC

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I'm sure it's allowed. Taxi drivers don't have to wear seat belts either.

Taxi drivers do have to wear seatbelts and it's a massive bone of contention for them. The reason being someone sitting behind you can easily strangle you with it as frequently occured in the 80's and 90's when taxi drivers were minted, but the exemption was lifted a good few years back.

Deleted User wrote: »

They should practice what they preach, should take a photo if you get a chance and send it to http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/

I heard somewhere that the ombudsman has been turned over to the Gardai for help to process the complaints because the sheer number of complaints exceeded all expectations. So now the guards are effectivley managing complaints about themselves, themselves. Like governing themselves... and hence rendering the ombudsman more useless than ever.

Anyone know if this is true??:p

TheNog

BJC wrote: »

I heard somewhere that the ombudsman has been turned over to the Gardai for help to process the complaints because the sheer number of complaints exceeded all expectations. So now the guards are effectivley managing complaints about themselves, themselves. Like governing themselves... and hence rendering the ombudsman more useless than ever.

Anyone know if this is true??:p

That is true. The Ombudsman is turning over minor infractions such as discourtesy complaints to the Commissioner for investigation. If a member is found to be guilty of this, then an internal discipline procedure is applied. The GSOC has received 3,000 complaints from the general public and cannot investigate all within the 6 months timeframe. The GSOC is of course investigating the more serious cases.

Overheal

Watch a couple episodes of 24 lady.

Holsten

Interesting they are allowed to do it.

The boyos in Maynooth are never off their phones! Every time I see a squad car in Maynooth the Garda driving has his ear glued to the thing.

faceman

Garda drivers do advanced driving courses too. Id imagine they are better prepared for "out of the blue" situations than most regular drivers

Steve

Yes Guards are exempt *as long as it's a company phone and the call is in the course of duty*.
Main reason is the guards have shite radios and any crim worth his salt can listen in.

This is also one of the reasons the introduction of the mobile phone / driving laws were delayed. The first draft didn't exempt them properly.

Overheal

And they still dont need to be tested before getting a squad car?

This stinks of silly.

I do understand the benefit though.

In the states Nextel has done something wonderful with the Phone. Nextel phones come installed with Networked radio. Meaning you can radio anyone in your user network like a call: so you can have 2 way chat or broadcast APBs to anyone in your department. The range is only limited by Cell Towers, and using mobile encryption, it would be exceptionally difficult for anyone to listen in unauthorized. Kinda cool watching someone have a radio chat with someone 8 states away.

TheNog

Overheal wrote: »

In the states Nextel has done something wonderful with the Phone. Nextel phones come installed with Networked radio. Meaning you can radio anyone in your user network like a call: so you can have 2 way chat or broadcast APBs to anyone in your department. The range is only limited by Cell Towers, and using mobile encryption, it would be exceptionally difficult for anyone to listen in unauthorized. Kinda cool watching someone have a radio chat with someone 8 states away.

The Tetra radios we are getting are supposed to have this feature too as well as talking to or conference in other services such as Ambulance, Fire and PSNI.

TheNog

stevec wrote: »

Yes Guards are exempt *as long as it's a company phone and the call is in the course of duty*.
Main reason is the guards have shite radios and any crim worth his salt can listen in.

This is also one of the reasons the introduction of the mobile phone / driving laws were delayed. The first draft didn't exempt them properly.

The general public are also exempt from this law only if they are phoning an emergency service and can prove so at the roadside.

DublinWriter

faceman wrote: »

Garda drivers do advanced driving courses too. Id imagine they are better prepared for "out of the blue" situations than most regular drivers

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

Typically, most guards you see driving about haven't completed any particular in-service vehicle course, but are doing so on the permission of their Chief Superintendent on the back of having a full and clean driving license.

When you become a fully-attested member you automatically receive super-hero powers, such as the ability to talk on a mobile phone and concentrate on driving as well.

delta_bravo

DublinWriter wrote: »

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

Typically, most guards you see driving about haven't completed any particular in-service vehicle course, but are doing so on the permission of their Chief Superintendent on the back of having a full and clean driving license.

Got a source for this?

Alun

DublinWriter wrote: »

When you become a fully-attested member you automatically receive super-hero powers, such as the ability to talk on a mobile phone and concentrate on driving as well.

A very valid point.

Using a mobile phone while driving is illegal precisely because it's been proven in scientific studies to be dangerous, not as some random "oppression of the masses" or something. There's no way you can be trained to make it suddenly safe, whether you're a highly trained (LOL) Garda driver or not, so the fact that they're immune from this particular law does not suddenly make it OK to do so, it's still dangerous.

Notorious

Deleted User wrote: »

They should practice what they preach, should take a photo if you get a chance and send it to http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/

Give the man a break, jeez... No need to turn everyone into a snitch. I'd say some people get off over that site. Imagine having to work and anything you do wrong gets reported by every Tom, Dick and Harry who think its their Godly right to inform 'the man', that someone isn't doing their job properly. Thats ridiculous, the amount of people who would be out of their jobs would seriously put a dent in the economy.

DublinWriter wrote:

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

Typically, most guards you see driving about haven't completed any particular in-service vehicle course, but are doing so on the permission of their Chief Superintendent on the back of having a full and clean driving license.

As an aside, don't all gardai get a course in defensive driving before leaving the recruitment yard? I'm pretty sure they used to.

sdanseo

delta_bravo wrote: »

Got a source for this?

I can't for the life of me remember the source, but I also heard that and it was reliable. Possibly a Garda here on boards.

ScumLord

Saw a guard on the phone while driving the other day. It was on a small country road and he was fairly motoring, not speeding but he had the phone up to his ear coming around a corner. Bit o bluetooth wouldn't go astray.

DublinWriter

Notorious wrote: »

As an aside, don't all gardai get a course in defensive driving before leaving the recruitment yard? I'm pretty sure they used to.

Nope. Having a driving licence is not a pre-requisite for acceptance into Phase I training or to becoming a fully attested member.

I'm pretty sure that the skill of chatting away with a mobile stuck between cheek and shoulder isn't one taught on the advanced driving course.

arybvtcw0eolkf

foinse wrote: »

all road users are required to. unless there is a serious medical condition and a doctor has signed off on it, or if a woman is heavily pregnant and has received medical advice that she shouldn't wear a seat belt across her stomach.

Soldiers on duty are exempt from wearing seatbelts.

daveharnett

ScumLord wrote: »

Bit o bluetooth wouldn't go astray.

Well said. You can get a reasonable bluetooth earpiece for 25-30 notes now. That really leaves no excuse for anyone, guard or civvie.