Gardai Begin Using "Cut-out garda car"

Sierra Oscar

I heard that the Gardai were planning to use mock Garda Car's in order to attempt to slow cars down on the roads, well they have just started doing so.

Opinions?

Cut-out garda car to combat speeding

Monday, 30 June 2008 15:46 Kildare County Council is putting a life size cut-out of a garda car on roadsides throughout the county to stop motorists speeding.
The first cut-out was put in place on Saturday morning on the N78 at Fontstown, between Athy and Kilcullen.
Kildare's Road Safety Officer Declan Keogh says 'the car is a heavy robust wood cut-out and is not cardboard by any means'. He said that the location of the mock garda car was considered with effectiveness in mind, but safety was of utmost importance.
From a distance motorists see what they believe to be a garda vehicle and hopefully react by slowing down.
Responding to queries as to why the garda car was facing inwards, rather than outwards, Mr Keogh says regardless of which way the vehicle is facing, or the direction the garda is pointing the speed detector in, its main objective to deter drivers from speeding is in fact working.
The car will be placed at various locations throughout Co
Kildare at varied times and no notice will be given to the public on the placements.

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

metman

Nothing new really, its been done here, the US and (below) New Zealand.



Another lame idea not actually tackling the real issue; the decline in investment in roads policing units.

bryanmurr

metman wrote: »

Nothing new really, its been done here, the US and (below) New Zealand.



Another lame idea not actually tackling the real issue; the decline in investment in roads policing units.

if they are goin to do it they shouldn't broadcast it cos people will know its only a cardboard/wooden cut out they wont take any notice, losing the element of surprise i think!

TheNog

First the Garda Reserved and now this :D:D

ojewriej

They did this in Poland few years ago. It was a complete disaster as far as I remember.

The ones that weren't destroyed by the weather, were either vandalised or stolen.

metman

TheNog wrote: »

First the Garda Reserved and now this :D:D

And you thought the term plastic police was a joke!

seamus

I think this is a fantastic idea, so long as they're sensible about it.

I.e., don't leave it in one place for more than 12 hours.

If you think about it, it's perfect - it's cheap, saves having a Garda doing the same job (freeing them up for more serious duty), and has the intended deterrent effect instead of being a cash cow.

But of course, if it's there for more than a day or two, vandalism and/or weather will destroy it.

Random

I guess if it makes the roads safer then go for it. It's no real substitute for actual police though which I'm sure we all agree with. Might also be money better spent on equipment etc.

Sierra Oscar

Pic -

Eru

Its a complete waste of time and proves once and for all that the government is not in the slighest bit interested in actually policing this country effectively.

This is the ultimate 'high visibility'

FGR

Karlitosway1978 wrote: »

Its a complete waste of time and proves once and for all that the government is not in the slighest bit interested in actually policing this country effectively.

This is the ultimate 'high visibility'

At least they chose a Traffic Vectra that has Alloys on it. More pimped than usual patrol cars .

keen

Better then the alternative which is to do nothing, can see it making people slow down if it isn't left in the same spot for days on end.

Can do no harm.

seamus

Karlitosway1978 wrote: »

Its a complete waste of time and proves once and for all that the government is not in the slighest bit interested in actually policing this country effectively.

Whatever about effectively, it does show that someone is interested in prioritising where we spend our limited policing resources.
Of all traffic offences, speeding is one of the most common, but one of the least serious. If we can reduce the incidence of speeding without wasting Garda resources by having to actually catch people, then that's all well and good.

Eru

seamus wrote: »

Whatever about effectively, it does show that someone is interested in prioritising where we spend our limited policing resources.
Of all traffic offences, speeding is one of the most common, but one of the least serious. If we can reduce the incidence of speeding without wasting Garda resources by having to actually catch people, then that's all well and good.

I see your point but I think on this occasion its sure to fail. For starters it will only reduce speed for a very limited stretch of road (IE near it) without actually changing the speeders attitude. Catching him or her for real would have a more long term effect.

Anyway, by the time you paid for the cut out and paid people to move it around all the time couldnt we just as easily pay a Garda to actually sit there for real?

TheNog

Its not a bad idea but certainly not a be all and all solution to our traffic problems. THis should only be used in conjunctioned with INCREASED traffic resources, equipment and training.

Fyr.Fytr

Just thought last night, whats going to happen itll be left in the same spot for ages and everyone will ignore it then bam one day a real vectra will park up there and everyones stung lol

Preset No.3

As i pointed out on a thread elsewhere, the idea may have come from the stretch of road on the m4 that has the traffic corp jeep sitting on the mound off the motorway. I have passed it several times and within a good mile or so, i will slow down. Not taking the chance that the one day i pass, it will have someone in it.

Typical irish thing, bash it, but at least someone is giving something a try with the limited amount of money that the gov will give the garda. Yes, I know its Kildare CC as well.

Buffman

This mock car was moved to the Celbridge-Clane road at Barberstown Castle a few days ago, and as many people predicted, yes it has been vandalised. As someone said above, it should not be left in the same spot for more than a day, 2 days at most.

Also, I don't think it's very economical to have a truck load of council workers moving this from one end of Kildare to the other every few days. At some point it will be become cheaper to have a real guard in a real car, who can really catch speeders.

The cheapest option may be to use an old patrol car thats being retired anyway, just park it up for a few hours at a time. Same deterrent?