Garda "Targetting" Boy Racers

PCPhoto

When will they realise that its a combination different factors which cause a crash.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/gardai-target-carcrazy-boy-racers-in-attempt-to-save-young-motorists-lives-2343677.html

Gardai target car-crazy boy racers in attempt to save young motorists' lives


By MAEVE SHEEHAN
Sunday September 19 2010
So-called 'Boy Racers' are to be targeted by gardai as the latest statistics on deaths on Irish roads show that young men remain more likely to die in traffic accidents than any other group.

More than half of 150 people who died on the roads so far this year were aged between 16 and 30, and three in four of those are males.

While road deaths are falling overall, the alarming statistics have led to a new intelligence-gathering initiative targeting boy racers.

John Twomey, who became assistant commissioner in charge of the Garda National Traffic Bureau last month, said the aim is to deter young men from speeding.

The initiative is already under way in counties Donegal and Tipperary, which have seen high levels of accidents from reckless driving.

"More than 50 per cent of our road deaths are between the ages of 16 and 30," he said. "If you look at the statistics, they are frightening and they should be of concern to everyone in the wider community.

"This isn't just about the gardai, it's about family, community, friends. We need to get to the stage where any kind of inappropriate road use, inappropriate speed, is socially unacceptable."

Statistics can tell a lot about road traffic accidents, according to Mr Twomey, including the fact that so far this year, 54 per cent of accidents happen between 6pm and midnight and mostly on roads with 50 to 80 km-an-hour speed limits, where 88 per cent of garda traffic enforcement is concentrated.

Overall the number of road deaths fell to its lowest level on record last year at 239 and the trend continues.

The figure of 150 people who died on Irish roads so far this year is down 20 from the same period last year.

Despite this, eight men -- including seven young male friends -- died on the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal in one of the worst road accidents in the country's history in July. The driver of one of the cars, a young man in his 20s, was the only survivor.

In another horrific multiple accident last month, four teenagers died when their car crashed after 7am as they returned from a party. In both cases speed is believed to have played a significant role.

The latest initiative is modelled on an operation Mr Twomey was previously involved in while a chief superintendent in west Dublin. Groups of young men used to congregate around a particular car park a couple of nights a week, trying out various manouvres in their cars. In response, gardai surrounded the drivers one night, backed up by a garda helicopter and patrol cars, checking the insurance, tax and potential breaches of the road traffic regulations.

"The first couple of nights we surrounded the group, went in and examined the cars. A lot of the cars were fine. We ran that over a period of three to four months and eventually we got to know them quite well. We got to develop a relationship with them. Eventually they just stopped coming out there," he said.

The model has been expanded to Donegal, which has among the highest road deaths records in Ireland, and in Tipperary, where gangs of boy racers have recently been posting video clips of their reckless motoring antics on YouTube.

- MAEVE SHEEHAN

Sunday Independent

why do the government/gardai/insurance companies "twist" statistics to suit themselves ... more than 50% of drivers involved in fatal accidents were between 16-30 and 75% of them were male .... why not break it into a more realistic statistic ?
How many were aged between 16-18 (when you mainly need a drivers licence as an ID or to work on a farm) ....
How many aged 18-22 when most people use a car to goto college/work and will be actual "learners"
how many aged between 22-30 when people are mainly using the car for everyday usage, going to work, college, bringing kids to creche etc

I'm not in any way interested in cars (I drive a Ford Fiesta Van....with wind up windows, the only modification from original condition is I changed from tape deck to CD player)
but my point is they "create" or "twist" statistics to clamp down on specific drivers so they can claim they are doing something about the deaths on our roads.

In my opinion we need to look at how we teach driving, we need to change how people get their qualification and limit their access to vehicles, the whole process should be a 2-3year gradual process (anyone breaking the law during this period and caught is instantly banned for 5yrs - and if caught again - jailed for 6months, 12months...2yrs) .... drivers need to learn all about cars and learn how to drive safely - we also need to provide a proper public transport system for those in training to be a driver.

aarrgghh I could go on and on ... my point is they throw statistics out in order to target "boy-racers" which isn't fair - if they want to stop road deaths in this country they need to look at the overall picture instead of one piece of the jigsaw.

bbability

Yeah it seems alot of the stats collected can be a bit on the cloudy side.

They've made changes to the driving test and its long overdue. That change may take a while to reflect on statistics.

I wonder how many people over 60 caused serious accidents this year? If it was one or on hundred they should collect stats for that also.

How many people over 60 sat a driving test?

gerrycollins

i think they are targetting the issue piece by piece. firstly random breath testing very good idea and its working.

the driving test changes and testers are now been tested along with minimum pre test lessons

various road information ads just saw one the other night about how to use a roundabout and driving on motorways.

the boy racer issue is another, now define boy racer?

the lad with the Type-R's (or any car) kitted to the hilt professionally and legally, these types are the ones who wont risk their cars with stupid driving attitudes because of the money spent.

the lad with the 1.6 golf with holes in the air intake and lexus lights and under car lights,blacked out windows etc will more than likely be at risk because of the show off atitude they have. I think the guards will use their common sense here and know who to target.

PCPhoto

bbability wrote: »

Yeah it seems alot of the stats collected can be a bit on the cloudy side.

They've made changes to the driving test and its long overdue. That change may take a while to reflect on statistics.

I wonder how many people over 60 caused serious accidents this year? If it was one or on hundred they should collect stats for that also.

How many people over 60 sat a driving test?

the thing is that they are driving so slow they cause someone to overtake and an accident happens - they just potter away in their own little world - completely oblivious to the other drivers !!!

I do agree that some "elderly" people on the roads are a danger - it seems like everyone else on the roads is a danger - EVERYONE should be made do advanced driving tests - learn about road awareness .... learn how to spot/deal with motorists/cyclists/pedestrians etc on the roads.

Wibbs

I agree. Too often its a case of Seen to be doing the right thing tm with effective stuff down the list. The boy racer meme is running strong at the moment and as narrow thinking and scaremongering is applied the obvious will be targeted. The current hoopla over Jap imports a good example.

This stat;

John Twomey wrote:

54 per cent of accidents happen between 6pm and midnight and mostly on roads with 50 to 80 km-an-hour speed limits, where 88 per cent of garda traffic enforcement is concentrated.

I'm gonna personally call shenanigans on that. I've been driving over 25 years(so I'm hardly defending "boy racers") and I could count on the fingers of one hand, after an accident with a threshing machine, the amount of times I've seen speed checks on 80Km known dodgy back roads. So pardon me, someone, I know not who, is talking out the side of their mouths. Oh sure if you take into account the speed checks where roads for no apparent reason drop from 100 to 80,(N11 being a good example) but on roads where these accidents tend to occur? Nope. The current Garda road policy has more of an element of shooting fish in a barrel. Watch when the private cameras come online where big money can be made.

Now I do see the other side. Particularly on the Garda front. I've mates in the force(not traffic though) and when I've asked them why these roads aren't targeted one good reason they give is their personal safety. The dodgy roads rarely have places where they can park and set up their gear safely. Plus as a large amount of these fatal crashes happen around midnight or after the safety thing is even more in play. Then there's the matter of their funding and staffing, which in so many areas is seriously lacking. They really don't want to go to the scene of a crash and have to inform relatives of deaths, but until they get more funding and manpower, especially in rural areas they're gonna continue to have to.

Then we need to increase education among the general population and start early. Of course that takes more money. Money we really don't have. So given a choice between that and speed cameras that generate income and you can see why some choices are made.

Wibbs

gerrycollins wrote: »

the lad with the Type-R's (or any car) kitted to the hilt professionally and legally, these types are the ones who wont risk their cars with stupid driving attitudes because of the money spent.

the lad with the 1.6 golf with holes in the air intake and lexus lights and under car lights,blacked out windows etc will more than likely be at risk because of the show off atitude they have.

Well funny you mention that as mates of mine in the force have pretty much said the same thing. The guy in the tricked out expensively modded car is far less likely to be drunk or stoned at the wheel and while will give the car the odd blat down a road, tend to be more careful. Like you say because they love their cars and have spent a fortune on them. The guy or gal in the shítbox shopping trolley with Type R 4X4 halfords badge is the main offender. Apparently the late 50's woman or man driving the Audi on finance at 10pm after a "glass of wine" with friends is much more likely to be pissed at the wheel too.

MidlandsM

Wibbs wrote: »

the late 50's woman or man driving the Audi on finance at 10pm after a "glass of wine" with friends is much more likely to be pissed at the wheel too.

+1

Yakult

Welcome to 2005 RSA... How many times have we heard this kinda scaremongering(Sp?) and I love the way they imply that any male between 16-30 years old is a "boyracer".

No matter what, you're gonna always have idiots behind the wheel, all ages including men and women.

corktina

R_H_C_P wrote: »

Welcome to 2005 RSA... How many times have we heard this kinda scaremongering(Sp?) and I love the way they imply that any male between 16-30 years old is a "boyracer".

No matter what, you're gonna always have idiots behind the wheel, all ages including men and women.

but statistcally most likely to be young inexperianced males out to impress their mates (I know, becasue amazing as it may seem, I used to be a young male once (time team are investigating that)

Mister men

Excellent news. Get these lunatics off the road.

Tefral

Some shíte different toilet, they trott this stuff out bi annually to look like they are doing something...

More often that not they end up hastling the wrong type and end up leaving the real boyracers off out on the road with mammys fiesta..

I wouldn't mind if they got those creeps off the road that speed up and down late and night
vrrOOOOOOOM VROOOOOM
:mad:

opinion guy

Lol. I'm forced to wonder what the average age of poster is on here (apart from old man Wibbs of course :P)

PCPhoto wrote: »

why do the government/gardai/insurance companies "twist" statistics to suit themselves ... more than 50% of drivers involved in fatal accidents were between 16-30 and 75% of them were male .... why not break it into a more realistic statistic ?

Why ?
Money!

On the government side focussing on one issues lets them be seen to be doing something. On the insurance industry side it allows them extort money from specific groups. I've long believed the way the insurance companies do their stats is fraudulent.

I believe that using age and sex as the primary factors when calculating risk is wrong. Generally speaking men start to drive a couple of years younger than ladies. Therefore of those learner drivers who are bad drivers and likely to have a crash early in their driving career the male ones will become apparent at a younger age than the female ones. Therefore, if one wants to calculate the risk for any given demographic one must take as a primary variable the number of years driving the insured person has and also the number of years safe driving the person has. The current system of accounting for this simply with a no claims bonus built up over five years is, fundamentally, a fudge factor that allows them to target who they want for excessive rates.

Drake66

Seemed a daft policy to me. They surrounded a group of these guys who are in a car park off the public road, and then kept approaching them even though their documents were all in order. Surely it would of made more sense to go looking for people breaking actual traffic laws on the public road.

jaffa20

I don't like how the age gap has increased to 30. I'm turning 25 soon and was hoping insurance would drop but if they are saying that a lot of 25-30year olds are buy racers(i highly doubt it), insurance companies are just going to put up premiums instead.

Nodferatu

its because of boy racers my f**king insurance is so high, stupid c**ts

opinion guy

Nodferatu wrote: »

its because of boy racers my f**king insurance is so high, stupid c**ts

Right.....so then have you noticed the flashy expensive buildings allt he insurance companies have ? You think that maybe, just maybe, after they've done paying out all their claims they have just a wee smidgen of profit left over ? You don't think thats why your insurance is so high perhaps ?

SV

Nodferatu wrote: »

its because of boy racers my f**king insurance is so high, stupid c**ts

No, I'm pretty sure it's because of people similar to you in age and location that have claimed that has your insurance so high.

let's not be silly about it now.

Atomic Pineapple

jaffa20 wrote: »

I don't like how the age gap has increased to 30. I'm turning 25 soon and was hoping insurance would drop but if they are saying that a lot of 25-30year olds are buy racers(i highly doubt it), insurance companies are just going to put up premiums instead.

Its always been 30, when I turned 25 it went own a little but not significantly more than when I turned 24.

Nodferatu wrote: »

its because of boy racers my f**king insurance is so high, stupid c**ts

I'm pretty sure its more likely to be because of your age, lack of driving experience, lack of no claims bonus etc...

Besides insurance for young males is cheaper these days than it ever has been.


If the garda went to my local town last night at 6pm and stayed there until 1/2 am they would have seen the same idiots drive up and down the town, creating noise, being a nuisance, speeding in the town, driving dangerously and being retards about 300 times.

So why didn't they and target proper boy racers at the source of the problem where they cause a real annoyance to the general public?

opinion guy

draffodx wrote: »

If the garda went to my local town last night at 6pm and stayed there until 1/2 am they would have seen the same idiots drive up and down the town, creating noise, being a nuisance, speeding in the town, driving dangerously and being retards about 300 times.

So why didn't they and target proper boy races at the source of the problem where they cause a real annoyance to the general public?

Right. Were these 'idiots' actually breaking any laws ?
Its a free country. If someone wants to spend their time driving up and down they are free to as long as they aren't breaking any laws

Atomic Pineapple

opinion guy wrote: »

Right. Were these 'idiots' actually breaking any laws ?

Yes

draffodx wrote: »

speeding in the town

draffodx wrote: »

driving dangerously

projectgtr

opinion guy wrote: »

Right. Were these 'idiots' actually breaking any laws ?
Its a free country. If someone wants to spend their time driving up and down they are free to as long as they aren't breaking any laws

Are you serious did you not read what he even said :rolleyes:

If the garda went to my local town last night at 6pm and stayed there until 1/2 am they would have seen the same idiots drive up and down the town, creating noise, being a nuisance, speeding in the town, driving dangerously and being retards about 300 times.

And coming from someone who is the mod of the modified section you can guarantee he not biased, going by whats said id be considered a "boy racer " i drive a modifed imported Civic and im in that age bracket, i would love the guards to be dealing with lads like the ones Draffodx mentioned

furtzy

I am fully behind this but the Gardai drastically need to change their approach to road safety. Recently seen them on the Carrickmacross bypass, one of the widest single carraigeway roads in the country, hiding behind a fence doing speed checks. They need to be on their own designated high accident roads. They also need to apply the letter of the law when dealing with traffic offences. The Traffic Blues programme on Rte highlighted their complete unprofessional attitude by letting unlicenced drivers continue in unroadworthy cars. It was shocking to see.

With regard to boy racers they need to adopt a zero tolerance approach. They need to do them for every infraction when they are stopped something along the lines of the New Zealand Boy Racer Act where cars are put off the road when found with non approved modifications.

The Unaccompanied L plate laws need to be enforced. Confiscation of cars, points and heavy fines imposed. Only in the last few days I have seen totally incompatence with L plate drivers unaccompanied. One simply had no idea how to drive. She went up on the footpath and repeatedly tried to drive up a one way street against the flow of oncoming traffic.....never seen anything as bad

The insurance companies also need to get onboard and start to only pay out third party claims for unaccompanied L plate drivers

The laws that currently exist need to strictly enforced as a start

And as for these clowns who drive around and around my town night after night with ridiculously loud exhausts purely to get noticed they need to be taken off the road. They do this past the county headquarters of the traffic corp without fear of being stopped.....its a joke

Rant over

-Corkie-

I dont think its boy racers are the problem with the souped up cars but the younger male driver driving normal looking cars.

RandomAccess

Drake66 wrote: »

Seemed a daft policy to me. They surrounded a group of these guys who are in a car park off the public road, and then kept approaching them even though their documents were all in order. Surely it would of made more sense to go looking for people breaking actual traffic laws on the public road.

Thats the piece of the article that stood out most for me.

"eventually we got to know them quite well. We got to develop a relationship with them. Eventually they just stopped coming out there," he said.

They probably just went somewhere else you tit!
The British police have been doing a light touch model of this for years, the aim I believe is to ensure the cars are legal and the drivers understand they could lose their license for dodgy driving.


http://www.psni.police.uk/150310_modifying_cars_modifying_behaviour

also worth looking at the interesting findings here,
http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2009/04/aa-nitrous-bogus-stats.html

projectgtr

furtzy wrote: »

I am fully behind this but the Gardai drastically need to change their approach to road safety. Recently seen them on the Carrickmacross bypass, one of the widest single carraigeway roads in the country, hiding behind a fence doing speed checks. They need to be on their own designated high accident roads. They also need to apply the letter of the law when dealing with traffic offences. The Traffic Blues programme on Rte highlighted their complete unprofessional attitude by letting unlicenced drivers continue in unroadworthy cars. It was shocking to see.

With regard to boy racers they need to adopt the same zero tolerance approach. They need to do them for every infraction when they are stopped something along the lines of the New Zealand Boy Racer Act where cars are put off the road when found with non approved modifications.

The Unaccompanied L plate laws need to be enforced. Confiscation of cars, points and heavy fines imposed. Only in the last few days I have seen totally incompatence with L plate drivers unaccompanied. One simply had no idea how to drive. She went up on the footpath and repeatedly tried to drive up a one way street against the flow of oncoming traffic.....never seen anything as bad

The insurance companies also need to get onboard and start to only pay out third party claims for unaccompanied L plate drivers

The laws that currently exist need to strictly enforced as a start

Zero tolerance will not work, they need to work with local lads, as was done in Canada, they drastically reduced there deaths and accidents in this age bracket by organising monthly meets where legal drag racing took place under the watchfull eye of the local law enforcment, those who didnt take part and continued on the streets were looked down at from their peers and treated very harshly by the law.

The difference a car makes when you come to a gaurd, yesterday my girlfriend was doing 80kmh in a 60 zone seen a guard up head with a speed gun in clear view, i was expecting to be pulled in but nope, the guard just signaled to her to slow down and keep going :eek: if that was me in my car i would have been pulled right in, in on sence it actually worked on my girlfriend when i explained what usually happens, she totally slowed down.

You are saying the road laws need to be strictly enforced, i dont think there is enough man power or resources to do this, To me a harsh word from a guard will do more than a few points for most, it mostly what happens in the uk going by the traffic shows

Reg'stoy

There will always be easy targets when they make themselves easy targets, and it's currently 'boy racers' I'd perfer to label them young/old male drivers myself, as we do undoubtly; account for the highest percentage of bad drivers.

In saying that, a lot of speeders I see on the M50 everyday are male 'white van drivers'. But I'm sure some white van driver will say b*****, I drive for a living and so consider himself a professional driver.

Complacency (driving for years) as much as niavety (haven't had their first squeeky bum moment yet!) are big factors in peoples bad driving. All too often I look in my rear view mirror and see a 'local' (of all ages) raise their eyes because I'm not willing to do 80kph on a back road that I don't know as well as them. I f**king hate :mad: with a passion drivers who sit on my rear bumper on back roads.

Personally I couldn't care less if they target 'boy racers', 'white van driver' or 'older drivers' as long as it generates debate and therefore bring road safety to everyones mind.

On a side note the cause of boy racers was not helped this morning on the M50, by the two flutes in an 8YO BMW that flew by me in p*** poor road conditions. Every other road user this morning including no doubt old and young drivers bore in mind the weather, God only knows what the driver of that car was thinking; but when I saw the article in the indo I thought of him.

As for those who feel they fall into the boy racer tag (rightly or wrongly) get over the persecution complex, all of us who fall into certain categories get blamed for something or other; thats just life.

corktina

opinion guy wrote: »

Right. Were these 'idiots' actually breaking any laws ?
Its a free country. If someone wants to spend their time driving up and down they are free to as long as they aren't breaking any laws

They are a damn nuisance, I live on the end of the town just past the last point a Gard is likely to be lurking and you hear them at all times of the night roaring past with their tiddly engines and huge exhausts. Its a free country but that doesnt give them any right to wake me up, I have my rights too

conneem-TT

RandomAccess wrote: »

also worth looking at the interesting findings here,
http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/blog/2009/04/aa-nitrous-bogus-stats.html

This is very intersting and you can even see from the news features over here that all of the recent accidents involving young men over here had normal everyday cars involved.

I don't see how they can use the recent accidents we have had here as evidence of "boy racer" behaviour when the cars involved were as ordinary as you could find and where if you look at the incidents logically, late night driving i.e. tiredness on poorly marked rural roads in cars full of people i.e. distractions you do not need reckless driving manouvers to see an accident occuring.

Despite this, eight men -- including seven young male friends -- died on the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal in one of the worst road accidents in the country's history in July. The driver of one of the cars, a young man in his 20s, was the only survivor.

In another horrific multiple accident last month, four teenagers died when their car crashed after 7am as they returned from a party. In both cases speed is believed to have played a significant role.

Reg'stoy wrote: »

T
On a side note the cause of boy racers was not helped this morning on the M50, by the two flutes in an 8YO BMW that flew by me in p*** poor road conditions. Every other road user this morning including no doubt old and young drivers bore in mind the weather, God only knows what the driver of that car was thinking; but when I saw the article in the indo I thought of him.

How do you know the driver was <30 if he flew past you?

opinion guy

draffodx wrote: »

Yes

projectgtr wrote: »

Are you serious did you not read what he even said :rolleyes:

If the garda went to my local town last night at 6pm and stayed there until 1/2 am they would have seen the same idiots drive up and down the town, creating noise, being a nuisance, speeding in the town, driving dangerously and being retards about 300 times.

And coming from someone who is the mod of the modified section you can guarantee he not biased, going by whats said id be considered a "boy racer " i drive a modifed imported Civic and im in that age bracket, i would love the guards to be dealing with lads like the ones Draffodx mentioned

Fair enough. I have a head cold and am not at my sharpest. Be nice to me

Testament1

conneem-TT wrote: »

This is very intersting and you can even see from the news features over here that all of the recent accidents involving young men over here had normal everyday cars involved.

I don't see how they can use the recent accidents we have had here as evidence of "boy racer" behaviour when the cars involved were as ordinary as you could find

If only the RSA/Guards could adopt this kind of logic and common sense. Id be on the road most days (driving a modified car usually) and most of the stupid and dangerous driving i see comes from ordinary cars. Its about time that the powers that be got a bit of cop on and start targeting all cars and drivers regardless of age or sex instead of trotting out the usual "new clampdown on boy racers/jap import cars" bullsh*t.....

Drummerboy08

Ah, the same old drivel.

Maybe tackling the root of the problem i.e. proper driver education would solve this problem.

Alas, doing that costs money, and doesnt make it.

Reg'stoy

conneem-TT wrote: »

How do you know the driver was <30 if he flew past you?

Hmmm let me see, most cars have a rear view mirror (proper sarcasm as oppossed to your lame effort) caught sight of car and thought what a tool and guess what saw passenger as car flew past, I tend to keep an eye on a car travelling at that speed in this mornings road condtions. He was in his twenties and guess what again I made an educated guess.

I think most bookies would give me fairly short odds that the driver who was! male was also in his twenties or younger.

But then thats whats wrong with Irish road safety, instead of questioning the stupidity of a driver of whatever age or sex doing high speed in bad road conditions, you question my and more than likely most peoples assumption as to the age of the driver.

Rightly or wrongly society tends to demonise young male drivers, I as a young fella sped untill I had my fill of "Christ I could have died there" moments. So I can't help looking at younger drivers now and think "slow down/cop on son". You too sir will one day think the exact same thing however much that scares you, and no matter how much you'll deny it now; I'm afraid it's true .

conneem-TT

Reg'stoy wrote: »

Hmmm let me see, most cars have a rear view mirror (proper sarcasm as oppossed to your lame effort) . . .

It was a straight question, no sarcasm and no need to be aggressively defensive. It was just to highlight the following popular opinion

Reg'stoy wrote: »

I think most bookies would give me fairly short odds that the driver who was! male was also in his twenties or younger.

Reg'stoy wrote: »

But then thats whats wrong with Irish road safety, instead of questioning the stupidity of a driver of whatever age or sex doing high speed in bad road conditions, you question my and more than likely most peoples assumption as to the age of the driver.

The problem is people adding in assumptions of the demographic involved as you did when you allocated it to a "boy racer". It creates a stereotype as seen in the media that accidents rarely occur to anyone except young males and that the average young male is reckless.

I've said it before in many other thread that you need to judge the driving behaviour and not what the driver or the car is.

Mycroft H

I'm delighted. But they need to do more. Coming down on younger people in general would be a good approach. Show that dangerous driving will not be tolerated at all.

The RSA say that 40% of road deaths are caused by people under 25 and equates to 96 deaths of young people in 2009. Now I know people will say that the under 25's may make up a large proportion of the driving population but thats still 96 lives lost and thats 96 lives too many. People will complain that the Gaurds are tarring all young people with the same brush by cracking down on them but if you drive sensibly and with respect for other road users, you shouldn't be worried.

Paparazzo

PCPhoto wrote: »

the thing is that they are driving so slow they cause someone to overtake and an accident happens - they just potter away in their own little world - completely oblivious to the other drivers !!!

I do agree that some "elderly" people on the roads are a danger - it seems like everyone else on the roads is a danger - EVERYONE should be made do advanced driving tests - learn about road awareness .... learn how to spot/deal with motorists/cyclists/pedestrians etc on the roads.

Hold on, I'm not a fan of auld wans driving their micras at 20kph, but it the above happens, it's no way the old persons fault!

Eric Cartman

kind of an interesting statistic there , id hazard a chance at saying almost 75% of drivers under 30 are male anyway (or close enough) so ofcourse there will be more accidents, and as it said ACCIDENT RATES ARE FALLING

Atomic Pineapple

landyman wrote: »

I'm delighted. But they need to do more. Coming down on younger people in general would be a good approach. Show that dangerous driving will not be tolerated at all.

The RSA say that 40% of road deaths are caused by people under 25 and equates to 96 deaths of young people in 2009. Now I know people will say that the under 25's may make up a large proportion of the driving population but thats still 96 lives lost and thats 96 lives too many. People will complain that the Gaurds are tarring all young people with the same brush by cracking down on them but if you drive sensibly and with respect for other road users, you shouldn't be worried.

Spending money on education for young drivers, a proper driving test, better quality roads, more resources for the gardai, a liaison programme so the gardai can interact with young drivers rather than be the villains.

These sorts of ideas will help reduce the deaths on our roads.

Not targeting a stereotype just to keep the general public happy, and once the general public keep buying this they will get away with not spending real money to tackle the problem properly.

conneem-TT

landyman wrote: »

The RSA say that 40% of road deaths are caused by people under 25 and equates to 96 deaths of young people in 2009.

No they don't, they say

40% of deaths were aged under 25

I only have the stats for 2008 but the breakdown in that year from the RSA Fact Book was (the figures for 2009 are lower);

for those aged under 25

Pedestrians - 18
Pedal Cyc. - 4
Motor Cyc. - 11
Car Drivers - 44
Car Pass. - 31
Other - 7

Drummerboy08

landyman wrote: »

I'm delighted. But they need to do more. Coming down on younger people in general would be a good approach. Show that dangerous driving will not be tolerated at all.

Woah, easy on the tar on your brush there buddy.

I'm the youngest person (not only youngest male) in the office, and guess what? I am the only male without any points on my licence. I'm one of 3 in the whole office (females included) have have no points on their licence.

Its easy to say "we need to target young people, they're the problem of speeding and cancer and everything else that we want to blame them for"

What about targetting the 70 year old who drives at 80kmph whether its a 50 zone or a 120 zone?

What about targetting the rep on the road who as 8 points on his licence for speeding and being on the phone?

What about targetting the 40-something mom who decides its a great idea to pick up little Oisin from his buddies house after drinking 3 glasses of wine?

Its all well and good targetting young people simply because they are involved in the most accidents, but in case people havent noticed thats like a pub owner targetting travellers because they are more likely to cause a row. Its discrimination, pure and simple.

The RSA say that 40% of road deaths are caused by people under 25 and equates to 96 deaths of young people in 2009. Now I know people will say that the under 25's may make up a large proportion of the driving population but thats still 96 lives lost and thats 96 lives too many. People will complain that the Gaurds are tarring all young people with the same brush by cracking down on them but if you drive sensibly and with respect for other road users, you shouldn't be worried.

This campaign should be about getting all road users - young and old - to slow down and drive properly.

I would also like to see statistics of who's involved in ALL accidents - not just fatal ones. I would think that the average age rises somewhat in that case.

This constant tarring of young people needs to stop. I accept that we are involved in alot of fatal accidents. In fairness to that argument, it is a very small minority of young people out of the total driving population. With better driver education - in schools, a proper driving test, and proper lessons, I would imagine the number of fatalities will drop dramatically.

stephendevlin

I live in Donegal.. I see it all the time. guys in 4x4's overtaking 4-5 cars at a time . tailgaiting is serious (when they are on my ass I slow down) then they get annoyed at me because they had to brake suddenly. people veering over onto the other side of the road happens every day i go on the road especcially lorries with drivers on the phone & speeding. double parking is rife. no guards to be seen .... anywhere.... most people have no regard for the law / other people driving on the road and are completely ignorant to the damage they could do to your property or well being

Hotwheels

Nodferatu wrote: »

its because of boy racers my f**king insurance is so high, stupid c**ts

And I'd go round and stone all the houses that were flooded and claimed on their insurance policy's...A percentage of the total claims are added to you car insurance as well...:rolleyes:

IMO, driving education needs to start at school level, that's where we need to start from.

stephendevlin

women drivers too can be a hazzard as much as men. I had a woman pull across from a left hand lane to enter an EXIT of a car park when I was coming up the right hand lane (where the exit was) . I got stopped just in time, another incident a bus went into the left lane at a rounabout (which was signposted and newly marked for left hand turns ONLY decided he would take a swing at the roundabout when going straight on. I was in the other lane and it didnt end nicely he had to pay for repairs done to my car.

ShadowHearth

omfg not again...
more then half were under 30...

so how many people actually driving pass 30? i know alot, but i really think that theres way more people on the road before 30 age group.


i love boyracers in theyr 29... havent seen much of them to be honest... i actually havent seen any...

so i presume anyone that drives something with more hp then lawnmover is statisticly a boyracer...

opinion guy

Paparazzo wrote: »

Hold on, I'm not a fan of auld wans driving their micras at 20kph, but it the above happens, it's no way the old persons fault!

I profoundly disagree with this. The old dears doing 20kph are just as dangerous as the boy racer doing 120kph. Its all to do with turbulence really. The safest way for traffic to flow is uniformly - i.e. everyone doing roughly the same speed, or within the same rang of speed. This is why motorways have minimum speed limits as well as max. The granny doing 20kph in the 100kph zone is a serious hazard as she disrupts the flow of traffic and creates turbulence as everyone has to adjust to her presence. Turbulence = accidents.

There probably should be a minimum speed limit on national primary routes as well as motorways. Quite apart from that if you can't safely drive the limit on national roads, then you have no business driving a car in the first place.

ardmacha

There are valid points about enforcement of traffic regulations generally, driver education and the like. There are drivers of limited competence, drink drivers etc in all age groups and men and women alike and these should be subject to penalty where appropriate.

But there are some people who know perfectly well that they are driving dangerously, but they do it for the "buzz" and this group are mostly young males and it is absolutely appropriate to target them.

Atomic Pineapple

ardmacha wrote: »

But there are some people who know perfectly well that they are driving dangerously, but they do it for the "buzz" and this group are mostly young males and it is absolutely appropriate to target them.

I agree but "target them" properly in the manner I outlined in my previous posts and stop coming out with these public statements of intent and demonisation of all young drivers that are ineffective and give the impression that the RSA are completely incompetent.

Insomniac_

Always mistaken for one.. Drive a Honda Civic .. typical boy racer car but I drive it because it was cheap at the time and love the look of them.. Nothing fancy done too it.. Just tinted windows from the previous owner (My Uncle) .. Don't drink or anything and might pop down too the seafront a pick a few mates up from the pub etc. Gards stop me obv everynight and nearly know me by name now.. Have never caused any trouble on the roads but I still get the dirty looks as I drive by.. Id understand If I was flying up and down the roads but I dont.. Most people I know who have spent there fortune on there car take it extremly careful as too not damage there car.. Its my mates with the ****boxes .. micra's starlets..puntos .. that rally around the roads at night nearly killing themselves on the n11.

Anyway I agree they should crack down on them .. I do be at the lights and my car seems too attract them looking for a race or something -.-

Anyway

jaffa20

Rather than targetting boyracers all the time, i don't know why the gardai can't arrest those who are "extremely intoxicated" and attempt to drive but when prevented from putting others lives at risk threatens to damage their career.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/drunk-td-threat-to-ruin-garda-career-2343669.html

Ah it's ok, he's sorry

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0920/sheehanpj.htm

:rolleyes:

Viper_JB

This is your standard politics BS really, again with the RSA pinning the blame soley on one group of people, no looking at the bigger issue, no looking at the state of the roads, or sections of the roads which are known to have alot of accidents on them....no as per usual it's down to young males, the murderers of the Irish roads, driving along with skulls attached to the bonnet at a million miles an hour past schools. There is no problem with older drivers who trundle along at 40 mph reguardless of where they are.

And again through out all of this, the blame is soley rested 100% on one group of people who are a conviently easy target. They don't seem to have much intension on actually lowering road deaths. They're more concerned with justifing their jobs and picking on the easy targets and of course removing any onus of responcibility from themselves.

ShadowHearth

I would honestly love to know: what are they calling boy racers? Is that any male under 30?

Its just anather RSA bull****.

There is only one thing that can make death rate lower: for garda to be on the actuall road!!!!!! I can be driving a month before i will even see a garda car!

Rsa spended millions on bull**** adds and ather rubbish. Why not just let go all those office rats and recruit more garda?! More garda on the roads - less stupid ideas in the heads.