"Boy Racer" Crackdown

Sizzler

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/boy-racers-face-threat-of-jail-in-garda-crackdown-1826481.html

wrote:

GARDAI are to launch a major crackdown on boy racers and will prosecute owners of cars fitted with loud engines and excessively tinted windows.

Yesterday, senior officers warned owners of modified cars they have until the end of the year to comply with regulations or face fines of up to €2,500 and/or three months in prison.

Gardai will use a special machine -- a Glass Tint Meter -- to measure the amount of natural light coming into cars which must be at least 75pc for windscreens and 70pc for the rest of the car windows. They will also use a machine to measure the level of engine noise.

The warning came on the same day that the Road Safety Authority (RSA) launched its 'He Drives, She Dies' campaign, which calls on women not to get into a car with males who drive dangerously.

Road casualty statistics from the RSA show that over two-thirds (67pc) of female passengers killed in the 10-year period 1998 to 2007 were being driven by a male driver.

Boy racers are notorious for driving souped-up cars with loud exhausts and blacked-out windows and are a source of intimidation for other road users.

Owners are generally young men, who comprise most victims in fatal road collisions.

By law, the maximum engine noise allowed is 80 decibels -- which equates to the noise in a busy street -- with sounds louder than this level considered dangerous to hearing. Windscreen and passenger and driver doors cannot be blackened.

The Sound Level Meters and Glass Tint Meters will measure the amount of noise generated by engines and check if windows are excessively tinted. The crackdown is expected to begin by the end of the year.

"There's the issue of complaints and their own safety," Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock said. "They'll (boy racers) have the opportunity to rectify their cars. It's not in our interest to take people to court, but we will if necessary."

Gardai have also sought machines for reading digital tachograph machines installed on trucks which measure the number of hours driven. This will allow them to prosecute drivers found to be breaking the law by driving excessive number of hours. Fines of up to €2,500 and/or three months' imprisonment can be imposed.


Dangerously

Yesterday, Rose of Tralee Aoife Kelly launched the RSA's 'He Drives, She Dies' campaign, which calls on women not to get into a car with males who drive dangerously.

An occupational therapist at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, Ms Kelly helps people overcome serious spinal and brain injuries sustained in car crashes.

"Ladies, you need to take a stand and not get into a car with a guy with a need for speed and a blatant disregard for his own and other people's right to life. It's a simple choice -- live or die," she said.

"Reckless driving is not impressive and people do not realise the consequences of such crazy behaviour until they attend a funeral of a family member, best friend, or a lost loved one. It's time we woke up to the reality of the situation. People die, not to mention the many people who are admitted to hospital daily with serious injury, some with little or no memory, who are unable to live a normal life."

RSA chief executive Noel Brett added that males were "massively over-represented" as the drivers involved in crashes, accounting for 80pc of all motorists in fatal collisions.

A glass tint meter WTF ! Hardly paramount to road safety !

Cmar-Ireland

There are a lot of car fitted with factory privacy tint on the windows from behind the drivers door back. Wonder if these allow 70% light transmission?

Zonda999

Stupid indeed. Driving dangerously is also possible in a car without a loud exhaust and without tints!

mike65

Exellent!

evogirl

was thinking the same thing myself
seems like they're just trying to get the "boyracers" any way they can.

Saruman

Well since a boy racer is probably the one most likely to cause an accident then it is paramount to road safety.

As someone else said, there are cars you can buy with dark windows and most of them are mommy wagons

Vegeta

Sigh

How many of the fatalities they list were caused by an exhaust or a window tint. Hell how many of the cars involved even had after market exhausts or window tints?

This country is gone to ****

Zonda999

Well obviously theyre trying to kill the whole boy racer culture that exists all over the country, of which they have no chance. This really is a waste of time and resources.

stealthyspeeder

I wonder how our Ferrarri owning friends will cope with the 80 decibel noise limit!!?:eek:

Vegeta

Saruman wrote: »

Well since a boy racer is probably the one most likely to cause an accident then it is paramount to road safety.

I would love to know the make, model and modifications to cars involved in fatalities. Anyone know if they ever publish this data.

That article strongly suggests that exhausts and window tints cause accidents without them actually giving any figures. I am not a fan of either but its just the principle of the thing, the governing bodies don't like something so they ban it or fine the crap out of people without showing any proof.

I don't like that sort of practice.

OldmanMondeo

Good, Quite a few accidents may have been caused from Excessive tints on windows. Driving cars with these would find driving at night / fog / any poor light condition hampered from have poor visability.

As for the exhausts, we all know that some of these are just to loud and offer no preformance to the car....just for Idiots to look cool to the bouys...

Alun

Sizzler wrote: »

A glass tint meter WTF ! Hardly paramount to road safety !

So you wouldn't consider windows so dark you can hardly see out of them to be a road safety issue then? Especially at night or in otherwise poor visibility.

Vegeta

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

I wonder how our Ferrarri owning friends will cope with the 80 decibel noise limit!!?:eek:

Never mind your Ferrari, how many tractors would pass an 80dB limit?

Cmar-Ireland

One thing with the loud exhaust is that you do hear them before you see them. Therefore increasing your awareness of them. Thats an increase in road safety IMO.

RealJohn

In fairness, even if tinted windows and loud engines have nothing directly to do with accidents, they are a large part of the boy-racer "culture" and if this measure reduces that, it is worth it. It's not the noise from the engines (though that's annoying) and the tinted windows (which make it harder for the Gardai to identify those who actually are guilty of a crime), it's what they represent.

Biro

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

Good, Quite a few accidents may have been caused from Excessive tints on windows. Driving cars with these would find driving at night / fog / any poor light condition hampered from have poor visability.

As for the exhausts, we all know that some of these are just to loud and offer no preformance to the car....just for Idiots to look cool to the bouys...

Yep, I was driving in fog one day and this tinted window came flying out of no-where at me... almost killed me! A few miles later I had to swerve to avoid a low flying "loud exhaust"...
These dark windows and loud exhausts are the cause of 350-odd deaths on our roads each year... and that's before they're fitted to cars!

jeckel

no more buses, trucks or tractors then?
na, doubt it. it's a handy way to bust any boy racer randomly because the guards are too lazy to actually go to the hastle of gathering evidence against the sacks that are driving dangerously, aka; doing their jobs.

and is this 80db at idle? 2000 revs? 5000? at the exhaust, at the rocker cover, bonet? are vans breaking the law? what if the window is tinted and wound down, that means it's letting in 100% of the light.

stupid law, do something useful like stopping for drink driving or motorbikers that speed and overtake in the face of oncoming traffic.

Farls

Their cracking down on modified cars more than anything it seems and the guys with highly modified cars drive a lot better than the 17 years olds out in the non modified micra's, clio's, punto's etc.

I'll admit though these loud exhausts and completely blacked out cars are a bit annoying so I'll be happy to see them go. That is if this is even enforced.

Atomic Pineapple

People seem to be missing the point that it always was illegal to drive a car with an excessively loud exhaust and in fact right now a garda doesn't even need to measure the DB level of the exhaust, if in the garda's opinion the noise is excessive then they can prosecute.

So legislation that means the garda has to actually test the noise level of an exhaust can only be a good thing.

The test takes place at 3.5k revs at a distance of 1 meter from the exhaust so 80 DB is a fairly good limit at that in my opinion.

My Integra Type R will pass it no problem, whereas the idiots driving there corollas up and down my local town with there dust bins on the back wont so that can only be a good thing.

As has been said they are targeting the boy racer element on our streets, the only problem with that is that the general public or the garda are too thick to be able to distinguish between actual boy racers and proper modders.

For example in my local town theres about 15 idiots that continually drive up and down the town in Focus's, Corollas, Civics, Micras with noisy exhausts and they rev the tits out of them, I also know about 5 or 6 proper car enthusiasts that drive Integra Type R's, Lancer Evolutions, 200sx's, Rx7's that drive through the town at under 3k revs. If the Garda do it properly then the 15 idiots will get hit with fines while the proper car enthusiasts can get on with there hobby without hassle.

Henry Ford III

draffodx wrote: »

...As has been said they are targeting the boy racer element on our streets, the only problem with that is that the general public or the garda are too thick to be able to distinguish between actual boy racers and proper modders....

Nail on the head. The problem though is trying to tell the difference.

spank_inferno

Anything to make things harder for these loud annoying and yes dangerous little sh*ts gets my approval.

Wont make no difference though. The gardai down my way seem alergic to enforcing any laws

congo_90

Grrr just typical of this nanney state. They want us all driving toyota prius at no more than 80km/h

Some exhausts are loud but last I checked a loud exhaust wasn't the cause of death. Same for car windows but having said that there is a red bmw parked round here with what may as well be painted black windows with a tiny slit for the wing mirrors

Typcial rsa talking through their arse's.
My car does not have any modifications bar a nice stereo and a set of alloy wheels but I do feel sorry for those who modify their cars as a hobby for shows etc.
I pity those who modded their cars and are considerate too as the gards will stop those who aren't halfords heads and 17 years old imagining they're in need for speed

Bad enough they're sexist pigs.

If you see me and gay byrne in the street try stop me kickin him out in front of some "safe" vehicle

Saab Ed

Well I for one am delighted at this. There are a bunch of toolboxes that race around our area every night and the bloody noise is insuferable. I have no problems with modified cars its just that I dont want to be listening to them racing at 11 at night. And further to a comment made by someone earlier about " what will Ferrari drivers do " or mething to that nature, Ferraris sound fantastic as does many other exoctics. Honda Civics , Fiat Puntos and Golfs ( even the fast ones ) sound like sh1te. So your loud exhaust is not showing off anything more than the fact that the owner is a pratt with a complex and some serious short comings. As regards very dark tinted windows, when you are passing a junction with a car stopped at it ready to pull out its very important to observe the the body language of said driver along with trying to establish that said driver has infact seen you. If you cant see said driver it makes for an unpredictable and dangerous situation. Oh an on a 12 year old Starlet they also happen to look sh1te too.

My comments are not intended to offend or directed towards the genuine modified car owners.

Run_to_da_hills

I don't see any mention of loud motorcycles

"Loud pipes saves lives"

re tinted windows, Gardai should concentrate on idiots that use sub standard tinted helmet visors.

What a load of b***ocks.

70% light transmission on rear windows, id like to see a van pass that!

Some cars are loud for a reason i.e power.

To add to the stupidity of basically saying loud exhausts and tints cause fatal accidents, when you see a crash on the news or come on a crash its never a modified car its normally average cars, vans, busses or trucks. Maybe the powers that be should actually look at road safety measures rather than picking an easy target and licking the arses of the moaners who blame every problem on the road on modified cars.

Saab Ed

Noemi Repulsive Roadkill wrote: »

What a load of b***ocks.


Some cars are loud for a reason i.e power.

.

and some are loud for another reason i.e Plonkers

I have yet to hear a loud S class merc , Audi S8 or even a 3.2 vito van all of which have loads of power . Its just that their drivers are happy within themselves not usually lacking in a quality that makes them seek out attenetion.

Run_to_da_hills

Noemi Repulsive Roadkill wrote: »

What a load of b***ocks.

70% light transmission on rear windows, id like to see a van pass that!

Some cars are loud for a reason i.e power.

To add to the stupidity of basically saying loud exhausts and tints cause fatal accidents, when you see a crash on the news or come on a crash its never a modified car its normally average cars, vans, busses or trucks. Maybe the powers that be should actually look at road safety measures rather than picking an easy target and licking the arses of the moaners who blame every problem on the road on modified cars.

I sprayed the rear window of my van matt black to stop scumbags looking in. You can be fu*ked that im going to remove it and risk loosing tools etc.

stealthyspeeder

Saab Ed wrote: »

and some are loud for another reason i.e Plonkers

I have yet to hear a loud S class merc , Audi S8 or even a 3.2 vito van all of which have loads of power . Its just that their drivers are happy within themselves not usually lacking in a quality that makes them seek out attenetion.

Have you heard a Ferarri that would pass this new legislation?

Saab Ed

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

Have you heard a Ferarri that would pass this new legislation?

They all do. Its called EU type approval. They have systems built into the exhaust that only comes on song when they are at full tilt unlike this rubbish...



which neither looks or sounds good. Ps as I said a Ferrari sounds good. :D

super106

decibel level on hyundai 120 on a drive by was 70. and thats at 3 thousand revvs!!!



they say there level is 80, is that idel or drive by....

Saab Ed

Saab Ed wrote: »

and some are loud for another reason i.e Plonkers

I have yet to hear a loud S class merc , Audi S8 or even a 3.2 vito van all of which have loads of power . Its just that their drivers are happy within themselves not usually lacking in a quality that makes them seek out attenetion.

Because they are luxo barges built for comfort, not highly tuned turbo cars with straight through exhaust systems to aid engine performance.

I doubt very much a ferrari is below 80dB at 3.5k revs, never mind lambos, TVR's and remember the Ascari on top gear clarkson couldnt hear himself think. Then you have harleys which are louder than 99% of modified cars.

On a side note I'm not talking about 1.0L starlets with a hole in the exhaust but about actual car enthusiasts.

Funny how most of the actual plonkers on the road drive normal cars.

Gumbo

i think its a good rule. but guys you are forgetting the paper this was printed in, the Independent, they use figures to sell papers, so i wouldnt go on the those figures as the gospel! here, the RSA say they want tint levels at 65%, so which figure is it?

tints on all windows being banned is hard to diggest, we would more than likely follow the UK and even they are allowed tint their rear windows. How will they force all the limo owners, exec car hire companies etc to go back to Mercedes and ask them to remove the illegal windows off their 100k cars?

guess we just have to wait and see what the official figures are.

Noemi Repulsive Roadkill wrote: »

Funny how most of the actual plonkers on the road drive normal cars.

exactly, while the garda are pulling in the guy in the evo and checking his cra they have just missed the sales rep in his A4 cut me right up while trying to get out of a bus lane......like what happened to me in Phibsbourgh today

Saab Ed

Anyway shouldnt the genuine car nuts out there (no matter what you drive) be delighted with this. Real car fans who dont speed , drive dangerously , encourage yob culture and who act responsibly with tastefull , safe and entusiast driven ideals should be over the moon about the fact that the sub culture with which so often real enthusiasts get twined with will be chased and harried by the guards leaving only true car fans.......unless ofcourse you know which side of the fence you're sitting on

Gumbo

Saab Ed wrote: »

Anyway shouldnt the genuine car nuts out there (no matter what you drive) be delighted with this. Real car fans who dont speed , drive dangerously , encourage yob culture and who act responsibly with tastefull , safe and entusiast driven ideals should be over the moon about the fact that the sub culture with which so often real enthusiasts get twined with will be chased and harried by the guards leaving only true car fans.......unless ofcourse you know which side of the fence you're sitting on

hopefully this is what does happen

Saab Ed

Noemi Repulsive Roadkill wrote: »

Because they are luxo barges built for comfort, not highly tuned turbo cars with straight through exhaust systems to aid engine performance.

Iquote]

yeah but the argument was POWER all of which they have plenty off. So whats your point. The original quote said big loud exhausts were about power so theres that argument out the window.

Good, I can't stand boy racers

Gumbo

rarnes1 wrote: »

Good, I can't stand boy racers

good, i cant stand people that drive dangerously (sp).

Saab Ed

Noemi Repulsive Roadkill wrote: »

Funny how most of the actual plonkers on the road drive normal cars.

You see you're missing the point. Plonkers drive anything. Its not me versus you, its us versus the plonkers. Let me put it this way. If you have a fantastic 60 inch flatscreen telly that you got all the extras for and it cost you a gazillion euro then Im delighted for you. What I have a problem with is if you turn it up full tilt at 3 in the morning. The telly is not the issue its the owner.

8ofSpades

I'm not a huge fan of the ad but can understand where they are coming from

I can never understand how anyone in a starlet, glanza, fiesta, ka, punto, 205,civic or similar can think they look cool no matter how many glad rags, tint, exhausts, alloys or anything else they want to throw at it is on the car.

In my town they drive up and down the town half the night beeping at each other.
The most ridiculous thing I see on a regular basis - I laugh every time

Saab Ed

Saab Ed wrote: »

[
yeah but the argument was POWER all of which they have plenty off. So whats your point. The original quote said big loud exhausts were about power so theres that argument out the window.

There is a big difference in getting 200+bhp out of a big lump of a 3L+ 6 cylinder merc and scraping every last bit when pushing 400bhp in a 2L 4 cylinder turbo engine.

Gumbo

8ofSpades wrote: »

I'm not a huge fan of the ad but can understand where they are coming from

I can never understand how anyone in a starlet, glanza, fiesta, ka, punto, 205,civic or similar can think they look cool no matter how many glad rags, tint, exhausts, alloys or anything else they want to throw at it is on the car.

In my town they drive up and down the town half the night beeping at each other.
The most ridiculous thing I see on a regular basis - I laugh every time

each to their own, as long as there not driving at 70 in 30 zones, or acting the muppet and driving like raging lunatics then i dont mind. there probably off laughing at you for driving a punto or passat or boring 3 series.

if the cars are road legal, taxed and insured, there who are we to say it looks crap, so what, its none of our business.

Saab Ed

Noemi Repulsive Roadkill wrote: »

There is a big difference in getting 200+bhp out of a big lump of a 3L+ 6 cylinder merc and scraping every last bit when pushing 400bhp in a 2L 4 cylinder turbo engine.

So maybe thats telling you something. The rest of us dont care. Good for you if thats your thing but the rest of us dont want to listening to it. Simple. And anyway whats the point when the limit is 120kmh anywhere in the country. you never get to use it ....unless of course you advocate breaking the law!!!

Saab Ed

Saab Ed wrote: »

So maybe thats telling you something. The rest of us dont care. Good for you if thats your thing but the rest of us dont want to listening to it. Simple. And anyway whats the point when the limit is 120kmh anywhere in the country. you never get to use it ....unless of course you advocate breaking the law!!!

Track days of course and getting up to 120km/h very fast .

For the record I dont drive a modified car at the moment.

Gumbo

Saab Ed wrote: »

So maybe thats telling you something. The rest of us dont care. Good for you if thats your thing but the rest of us dont want to listening to it. Simple. And anyway whats the point when the limit is 120kmh anywhere in the country. you never get to use it ....unless of course you advocate breaking the law!!!

thats why mondello was built.


anyway, in other breaking news : GARDA pull over first round of boy racers in their clampdown on noisey exhausts ;

Hermy wrote: »

Stephens Green today - Cannonball Run anyone.

karlog

Justice:)

In fairness their cars are way too ****ing loud.

8ofSpades

usually its a case of falling back a bit from the car in front
flooring it so you can hear it purr
then jamming on before they rearend the guy in front

totally pointless

eddiehead

A lot of people in this thread seem to be missing the point, while it would be great to rid the country of blacked out starlets with 4in exhausts, that isn't the problem, its the idiot behind the wheel. The same idiot who could just as easily hop into an old tdi caddy and in terms of road safety do the same damage to himself, his passenger(s) and other road users.
Its laughable that a government run organisation could think this would make one iota of difference to our country's roads. They are obviously a shower of clowns up there and the guards aren't much better, god forbid they would actually have to do a bit of work.

karlog

Better that they drive normal car's then the suped up pieces of **** they normally use.

Yakult

meh not too bothered that they enforcing it. But sure we all know those two factors are what cause crashes and deaths on the road so good riddance. Good work gardai on cracking down. It will be a huge success.

karlog wrote: »

Better that they drive normal car's then the suped up pieces of **** they normally use.

post of the year. :rolleyes:

eddiehead

eddiehead wrote: »

A lot of people in this thread seem to be missing the point, while it would be great to rid the country of blacked out starlets with 4in exhausts, that isn't the problem, its the idiot behind the wheel. The same idiot who could just as easily hop into an old tdi caddy and in terms of road safety do the same damage to himself, his passenger(s) and other road users.
Its laughable that a government run organisation could think this would make one iota of difference to our country's roads. They are obviously a shower of clowns up there and the guards aren't much better, god forbid they would actually have to do a bit of work.

Yeah, but a lot of these idiot drivers seem to be attracted to these boyracer cars.

Atomic Pineapple

karlog wrote: »

Better that they drive normal car's then the suped up pieces of **** they normally use.

define suped up?