Garda Traffic Corps Sign - N78

brettmirl

Did anyone else see the "cardboard cutout" of a speed trap on the Kilkenny Dublin side of Athy?

It's basically a wooden Garda Traffic Corps car with a pic of a Garda with a speed gun on it.

From the distance, it looked like the real deal and made everyone in the line of traffic i was in slow down.

Will try get a pic of it if it is there today when I am driving back.

rameire

saw it yesterday, tis pretty good,
the missus was what the hell is the garda doing up there,

pvt.joker

presumably some local put it up to try and make people slow down?

rameire

pvt.joker wrote: »

presumably some local put it up to try and make people slow down?

its the Gardai, that put it up.

pvt.joker

rameire wrote: »

its the Gardai, that put it up.

I doubt that

Chris_533976

They did that in the states. Wait till people get used to the cardboard cutout and dont slow down anymore, and you'll see a read guard there catching everyone.

murphaph

Chris_533976 wrote: »

They did that in the states. Wait till people get used to the cardboard cutout and dont slow down anymore, and you'll see a read guard there catching everyone.

Aye, Canada too. They put the fake ones up frequently and then the odd time a real cop is stood behind the mock up!

brettmirl

Stopped on the way back up today and got some pics of it.

As you can see the Garda in question is actually speed trapping the trees.

Having said that, I got flashed twice as I was approaching it by drivers coming in the opposite direction!

rameire

pvt.joker wrote: »

presumably some local put it up to try and make people slow down?

well i doubt its some local who just happened to have a life size cardboard cutout of a garda car in their back garden.

if its not the gardai its then the rsa or the local government

vektarman

mick_irl wrote: »

Having said that, I got flashed twice as I was approaching it by drivers coming in the opposite direction!

Are drivers coming from the opposite direction still warning of speed traps ahead, isn't that illegal??

HonalD

What if someone crashes into it? Should there be a protective barrier for signs? Who would you take to court? Especially if you don't know who put it up there in the first place!!!! Could make a name for yourself........maybe not!:D

HungryJoey

This was in the paper today! I thought it was quite funny..

brettmirl

vektarman wrote: »

Are drivers coming from the opposite direction still warning of speed traps ahead, isn't that illegal??

So it would seem - two cars flashed me when approaching it.

If they'd looked in their rear view mirrors after they passed, they would have seen it was only a sign.

Alun

mick_irl wrote: »

From the distance, it looked like the real deal and made everyone in the line of traffic i was in slow down.

This being Ireland, of course, everyone will brake and slow down, even if they didn't need to :rolleyes:

Bards

Easy know there's a recession on. Gardai now resorting to driving around in carboard cars after having their budget slashed:D:D

Dexterm99

Doesn't look like it's a high vis sign which is disappointing. Still, good idea and it would be interesting to see if the RSA releases figures on it's effectiveness.

encryptix

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0630/roads.html

afatbollix

i want it.... anyone have a van that can take a item the size of a vectra???


just asking like :P

wayne2107

I was thinking about that myself anto, think of the craic you'de have with this. Ps i drive a merc sprinter...

Run_to_da_hills

I can see this thing being robbed and ending up in someones bed room.

lord lucan

murphaph wrote: »

Aye, Canada too. They put the fake ones up frequently and then the odd time a real cop is stood behind the mock up!

i was going to say "only in ireland" but obviously not:p

Buffman

Kildare Co.Co, what will they get up to next. I doubt the local super would like his traffic lads parking like that though, looks like he lost it on the bend and ended up in the ditch!!!:D I see in that news article that it will randomly move around the county, which will prob involve a jcb and a truck load of council workers for 2 days to relocate it!!! Might have been able to buy a real one for that sort of money over time. In they U.S. some forces use real cars as decoys, mostly older or fake patrol cars with dummies inside dressed as cops. Though they have had problems with them being stolen too!

rameire

sure isnt it gone now, probably getting too much attention from the press

dan719

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I can see this thing being robbed and ending up in someones bed room.

If it isn't, the youth of Kildare should be ashamed of themselves.

heatpony

It was on the Clane ,Barberstown road at 6:30am on a Sunday morning.Scary..:eek:

Buffman

Ye, its still on the clane road, but suprise surprise, its been vandalised.

MOH

Well it's working anyway, as long as people keep slowing down to take pics of it!

Pgibson

There was a big discussion about it on RTE Radio 1 on Mon(I think).

btw...it is illegal now to flash a warning to someone about a garda checkpoint.

You are "Attempting to pervert the course of justice" or something like that.

Pgibson

mick_irl wrote: »

As you can see the Garda in question is actually speed trapping the trees.

Only in Ireland!

Hotblack Desiato

Pgibson wrote: »

You are "Attempting to pervert the course of justice" or something like that.

If the gardai were more enlightened, they would support citizens who encourage others to obey the law!

In many countries, the locations of both fixed and mobile speed checks are made available on official websites. If the goal is to slow people down at dangerous locations (not just catch people out in non-dangerous locations) then this actually helps achieve the goal.

HonalD

ninja900 wrote: »

If the gardai were more enlightened, they would support citizens who encourage others to obey the law!

In many countries, the locations of both fixed and mobile speed checks are made available on official websites. If the goal is to slow people down at dangerous locations (not just catch people out in non-dangerous locations) then this actually helps achieve the goal.

Wow - By how much can one miss the point - Perhaps if we were more enlightened, we would slow down for our own selfish sakes...oh yeah and jsut in case we kill someone else..............Speed kills, it has nothing, NOTHING to do with if you know where speed checks are......now I'm mad :mad:

Hotblack Desiato

HonalD wrote: »

Wow - By how much can one miss the point - Perhaps if we were more enlightened, we would slow down for our own selfish sakes...oh yeah and jsut in case we kill someone else..............Speed kills, it has nothing, NOTHING to do with if you know where speed checks are......now I'm mad :mad:

Methinks it was you who missed the point. The Gardai are (by and large) NOT attempting to slow people down at dangerous locations, they are trying to bump up their figures by catching people out at safe locations where the speed limit is too low. There are any number of examples of this, including ones where once the limit was raised to a sane level the Gardai suddenly lost interest in having speed traps there. Spare me the speed kills guff. Bad drivers kill and maim and many of them never exceed a speed limit.

HonalD

ninja900 wrote: »

Methinks it was you who missed the point. The Gardai are (by and large) NOT attempting to slow people down at dangerous locations, they are trying to bump up their figures by catching people out at safe locations where the speed limit is too low. There are any number of examples of this, including ones where once the limit was raised to a sane level the Gardai suddenly lost interest in having speed traps there. Spare me the speed kills guff. Bad drivers kill and maim and many of them never exceed a speed limit.

No, still a mile off the target - "Spare me the speed kills guff" - Statistics damn statistics, give them a look up my dear - I am not denying that bad drivers kill but please, check the facts - Speed traps (or the lack of) are not proportionally assocaited with road deaths......speed is

Pgibson

ninja900 wrote: »

If the gardai were more enlightened, they would support citizens who encourage others to obey the law.

They wouldn't flash if the patrol car was not there though!!

Encouraging others not to get caught is the real reason they flash.

Ever seen a 100MPH car getting flashed when the cops were NOT around?


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Hotblack Desiato

Pgibson wrote: »

They wouldn't flash if the patrol car was not there though!!

Well it was somewhat tongue in cheek!

But isn't the point supposed to be to get people to slow down?

Hotblack Desiato

HonalD wrote: »

No, still a mile off the target - "Spare me the speed kills guff" - Statistics damn statistics, give them a look up my dear - I am not denying that bad drivers kill but please, check the facts - Speed traps (or the lack of) are not proportionally assocaited with road deaths......speed is

You have been sold a pup I'm afraid.

The NRA road accident statistics do NOT list excessive speed as the most common cause of accidents, not even close. (And even if the 'excessive speed' box is ticked on an accident report, usually that's just a subjective judgement by a Garda, rather than measuring skid marks etc. to accurately estimate speed.)

Crossing to the wrong side of the road is the leading cause of fatalities here. Mainly because we have a lot of crap drivers (cannot corner safely, cannot overtake safely, because they've never been trained properly) on single-carriageway roads which are unsuitable for the volume of traffic they carry.

But yeah easier to just say "Speed kills" rather than admit the State is at fault in the provision of proper driver testing and training and suitable roads.

lostexpectation

mick_irl wrote: »

Stopped on the way back up today and got some pics of it.

As you can see the Garda in question is actually speed trapping the trees.

Having said that, I got flashed twice as I was approaching it by drivers coming in the opposite direction!

is that really pointing in the right direction?

Pgibson

I always say that it would be a good idea to dress up some civilians in Garda uniforms and have them wander about the place.

They could be paid the minimum wage.

They would give the impression that the police are everywhere.

One such person could stand at every "Black Spot" to frighten the drivers into being law abiding.


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Hotblack Desiato

OR we could just have proper policing, like other countries do... ffs