Toll tail gating on the M50

bacon&cabbage

Piece from Matt cooper Today
Apparently there is evidence that there are people tailgating Trucks to hide their reg numbers from the toll camera's on the M50 :eek:

Link:http://audioserver.todayfm.com/audio/LW180810part2.mp3
(Fast Forward to 17:00)

Chris_5339762

No matter how illegal and stupid this is, you gotta admire people for their creativity at saving money!

Victor

But aren't there cameras looking a the back of the car also?

foggy_lad

Victor wrote: »

But aren't there cameras looking a the back of the car also?

apparently not but maybe they have changed that as this issue has recieved some publicity lately including a few mentions on liveline.

Cookie_Monster

does it actually work? and there's me overtaking them because I'm impatient

foggy_lad

apparently some people are close enough to read the serial numbers off the trucks axles while driving through at 30-40mph! what if the truck driver just lifts off the pedal for a moment and the exhaust brake kicks in?

Absurdum

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

does it actually work? and there's me overtaking them because I'm impatient

the Garda didn't deny that it worked iirc

Webmonkey

This crossed my mind too the last day on it. Interesting...

Run_to_da_hills

All it takes is a truck to brake suddenly and then you have a pile up.

If people that were caught doing this were charged with dangerous driving it would soon stop. Im surprised they don't have more Gardai in the area.

Downtime

I saw this one day and was shocked. A courier company truck was tail gating another truck. There must have been about a foot between them. Once he was through the toll he backed off. All it needed was for the truck in front to brake and there would have been carnage.

inforfun

Victor wrote: »

But aren't there cameras looking a the back of the car also?

As far as i know this is the exact reason why motorbikes can not be tolled, the camera only registers the front of a vehicle. Motorbikes, of course, dont have a licenseplate at the front.

Cookie_Monster

Absurdum wrote: »

the Garda didn't deny that it worked iirc

hmmm....

I suppose you'd need the height and angle of camera and height of truck to work it out.

westtip

Have not heard of "rolling toll dodge plates", they are dead easy to put inplace, pull a small pull lever on dashboard connected to a wire running under the bonnet about a mile before the tolls and a false number plate drops down over the existing number plate, a hook and pull of the wire when past the cameras and you are back legal again. It saves a fortune - I thought all regular users had copped onto this ingenious scam.

The other simpler alternative is the brush with mud technique - makes the front number plate unable to be read - stay legal at the back cos thats the plate a squad car will see.

seamus

It does work because the cameras scan the front of the vehicle. This is why motorbikes go free.

For the sake of saving €3 I can't see myself driving two feet from the bumper of an artic. I value my life at more than €3.

The cameras are quite high, so you need to be spitting distance from the back of the truck to get away with it.

Webmonkey

westtip wrote: »

Have not heard of "rolling toll dodge plates", they are dead easy to put inplace, pull a small pull lever on dashboard connected to a wire running under the bonnet about a mile before the tolls and a false number plate drops down over the existing number plate, a hook and pull of the wire when past the cameras and you are back legal again. It saves a fortune - I thought all regular users had copped onto this ingenious scam.

The other simpler alternative is the brush with mud technique - makes the front number plate unable to be read - stay legal at the back cos thats the plate a squad car will see.

tbh I would rather just pay the toll

Podgoricka

I donno thought i seen something about this on mythbusters or topgear... some of those anyway and that the cameras can always see the plate as of the way its positioned. would you not have to be tailgating the shizzal outta the truck for it to work??

KevR

The hypocrisy!

They are putting in speed cameras on the M50 because, god forbid, someone might travel at 105kmh or 110kmh and yet they can't be bothered to install additional rear-facing cameras at the toll to prevent people from driving within a few inches of HGVs. I find it very frustrating that certain people can only look at road safety from a speeding angle and nothing else.

There is a bigger risk of a serious pile up occuring as a result of someone tail gating a HGV than there is someone creeping over the limit a bit.


By the way, I think there should be Variable Speed Limits on the M50 - 100kmh is too high for when there is very heavy traffic and there is nothing wrong with doing 120kmh at 2am for example when there is only a tiny amount of traffic.

NedNew2

I was with a friend on the M50 this time last year when he tried that very thing. In front of us was a big high artic (one of the An Post supercube lorries), he drove so close to the back of it that I thought we were going to hit it.

He had a video account and sure enough a couple of hours later when he checked hi account online he was charged.

He really couldn't have got any closer to this lorry than he did.

So as far as I am concerned, it does not work...

joegriffinjnr

was with a friend on the M50 this time last year when he tried that very thing. In front of us was a big high artic (one of the An Post supercube lorries), he drove so close to the back of it that I thought we were going to hit it.

Your friend is a moron, he should not be driving tbh. Its people like him that kill innocent people on our roads.

triple-M

I do deliveries on the north and southside with a van driver and he constantly tailgates lorries as he crosses the toll upto 6 times daily he reckons he'll save a few grand by the end of the year!he said 90% of the time he doesnt get charged

Absurdum

triple-M wrote: »

I do deliveries on the north and southside with a van driver and he constantly tailgates lorries as he crosses the toll upto 6 times daily he reckons he'll save a few grand by the end of the year!he said 90% of the time he doesnt get charged

maybe he was the van I reported to Traffic Watch yesterday morning!

Carawaystick

joegriffinjnr wrote: »

Your friend is a moron, he should not be driving tbh. Its people like him that kill innocent people on our roads.

Evidence please?
How many fatal collisions have occurred in Ireland, where a car tailgates a lorry, not including the tailgating driver, say over the last 15 years?

number10a

AFAIK, they do have cameras that take your reg from the back too. I was late paying the toll once and got a letter with a pic of the front and back of the car showing that I had used the M50. Unless it's changed. That was last year.

duckysauce

Absurdum wrote: »

maybe he was the van I reported to Traffic Watch yesterday morning!

for what ?

foggy_lad

duckysauce wrote: »

for what ?

tailgating and attempting to evade a toll?

Absurdum

duckysauce wrote: »

for what ?

I posted about it on the motors forum

Absurdum wrote: »

I saw a van doing this this morning on the M50 NB, reported it to Traffic Watch as it was happening (on handsfree of course). Wonder if the accident on the opposite carriageway this morning was a result of similar stupidity?

The Swordsman

Carawaystick wrote: »

Evidence please?
How many fatal collisions have occurred in Ireland, where a car tailgates a lorry, not including the tailgating driver, say over the last 15 years?

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Del2005

seamus wrote: »

It does work because the cameras scan the front of the vehicle. This is why motorbikes go free.

For the sake of saving €3 I can't see myself driving two feet from the bumper of an artic. I value my life at more than €3.

The cameras are quite high, so you need to be spitting distance from the back of the truck to get away with it.

You don't have to get right behind to avoid the toll. If you look at the cameras you can see the angle they are at. If the truck is big you can be 10m behind and not get caught.

Davy

number10a wrote: »

AFAIK, they do have cameras that take your reg from the back too. I was late paying the toll once and got a letter with a pic of the front and back of the car showing that I had used the M50. Unless it's changed. That was last year.

Had a look today, and cant see any. Their is a few pointing sidewards, i think more for if some climbing up onto it kinda thing, you the ones facing to the road are all pointing towards you

Just after the new freeflow tolls were introduced, I was caught up in the usual (at the time) northbound crawl so went through at walking pace while following a lorry.

Looked at the transaction log and saw that that day the numberplate was not read but the tag had beeped, had I known I'd have bagged the tag!