Speed camera tycoon caught speeding twice in the same week

Johnny Utah

The Irish Mail on Sunday caught Xavier McAuliffe speeding twice in the same week. I wonder will the Gardai take any action?

Irish Mail on Sunday wrote: »

Mail on Sunday catches new speed camera tycoon speeding - twice in the same week





He is the multimillionaire profiting from the Government’s new €65m anti-speeding initiative – but the high-flying Fianna Fáil supporter has shown little regard for road safety laws.

Xavier McAuliffe, the man behind the new network of mobile cameras, has been clocked speeding twice in three days by an Irish Mail on Sunday investigation.

The camera tycoon is the main mover behind the GoSafe consortium, which is being given taxpayers’ money to run an army of speed camera vans that have already snapped other speeding motorists across the State.

While the company is being paid over €35,000 a day to encourage motorists to slow down, it took an MoS investigation, using our own internationally approved police radar gun, to catch the 65-year-old.

He was snapped travelling at 81kph in a 60kph zone on Tuesday of last week; and 140kph in his powerful 4x4 the following Friday.

The controversial tycoon, who was a supporter of Bertie Ahern and then denounced the former Taoiseach for having ‘no balls’, declined to comment this weeekend on the MoS investigation.

Mr McAuliffe’s assistant argued that the businessman could not answer questions about his own speeding because he is not a spokesman for the GoSafe consortium – and therefore could not comment on road safety.

Nevertheless, it was Mr McAuliffe who personally signed the €65m contract with two senior Fianna Fáil ministers – Justice Minister Dermot Ahern and Transport Minister Noel Dempsey – as well as Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy.

The GoSafe web page says that Mr McAuliffe’s company, Spectra, the main backer of GoSafe, is ‘dedicated towards providing services in road safety’.

It adds: ‘Spectra’s solutions are designed to enable governments and agencies to influence driver behaviour and deliver safer roads and an efficient transport network.’

Since the vans were rolled out two weeks ago, motorists have been snapped across the State: some have already been sent penalty notices.




Some drivers complain bitterly about the speeding strategy. Indeed, one GoSafe van was completely destroyed in an arson attack as it snapped drivers on the Dundalk to Carrickmacross road at around 5am on Friday.

However campaigners point out that speeding is the biggest cause of road deaths, and that many lives can be saved if motorists slow down.

Failing to heed this advice, however, Mr McAuliffe was first caught speeding on Tuesday, November 16, when he returned to his home within the grounds of his Co. Kilkenny hotel, Lyrath Estate, driving a grey 2007 Volkswagen Touareg, at about 2.30pm.

He was driving at 81kph on the road – even though it is clearly marked as a 60kph zone.

He had just passed a sign reading: ‘Speeding? Up to 4 Penalty Points. Get the Point, not the Points.’

As our picture clearly shows, at the moment the reading was taken, Mr McAuliffe’s car was on its own on the road and gave a clear reading.

The incident was also filmed on high-definition video.

To ensure that this instance of the Kerry-born tycoon’s speeding wasn’t an isolated incident, the MoS again monitored his driving three days later, on Friday November 18.

At 1.30pm Mr McAuliffe drove out through the gates of his Lyrath Estate and immediately accelerated to speeds in excess of the 100kph limit.

He was later recorded travelling at 143kph in a 120kph zone.

Mr McAuliffe, who had an unidentified passenger in the front seat, was again recorded on high-definition video and photographed at the wheel of the vehicle as he sped towards Dublin.




The state-of-the-art radar gun used by the MoS to record Mr McAuliffe is certified and independently tested.

It is supplied by Decatur Electronics, a principal supplier of such equipment to police forces across the world.

The equipment has previously exposed speeding by the Garda driver of Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s state car and Bus Éireann coaches.

In addition to an automatic test the gun carries out on all its electronic components each time the radar is switched on, the MoS manually tested the radar with certified tuning forks supplied by the manufacturer.

Furthermore the equipment was tested against the speedometer of an MoS vehicle.

All our evidence is available to the authorities to pursue should they wish to do so.

Mr McAuliffe’s spokeswoman told the MoS: ‘He won’t actually be entering into conversation on GoSafe so I can make life easy for you there.’

When it was explained that it was a matter of Mr McAuliffe’s personal speeding, she said she would consult her boss.

She then said: ‘I’ve just been speaking with him and just to come back to you, just to make you aware, his position is not CEO of GoSafe. He’s not CEO. He doesn’t have a title in it and he’s not the spokesperson in relation to anything to do with GoSafe.’

She said: ‘The Garda Síochána are the only spokespersons who are in a position to speak in relation to anything to do with GoSafe. In relation to your accusation on him speeding, if you can quantify that, if you can stand by that and you wish to publish that then that’s your choice.’

When told that the MoS simply wished to give Mr McAuliffe an opportunity to respond to the evidence, she said: ‘He’s not in a position to. The only people who can speak publicly on GoSafe is an Garda Síochána.’

Mr McAuliffe began his career as a photographer in Butlin’s, in his words: ‘doing pictures of events like the Glamorous Gran’.

The separated father of two founded his hugely successful Spectra Group in 1968.

With assets estimated to total €37m earlier this year, he has several other business interests, including a food processing company and property portfolios here and in South Africa.

Once a keen pilot, Mr McAuliffe was banned from flying helicopters for seven years after an accident in Co. Kerry in 1992 that killed his young female passenger, 22-year-old Siobhán Casey.

In 1999, the Moriarty Tribunal heard he had invested £52,500 in Celtic Helicopters, a company run by former taoiseach Charles Haughey’s son Ciarán.

He was famously the subject of reality TV show Five Star in 2006, which charted the opening of his exclusive Lyrath Estate Hotel.

Opening night was a disaster, with the then taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, snubbing the event after it emerged the hotel wasn’t in compliance with planning laws.

Mr McAuliffe accused Bertie of having ‘no balls’, but later said sorry.

In September 2008, the MoS revealed the Government’s own speeding habits when Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s Garda driver was clocked at 106kph in an 80kph zone.

By law the cars of senior ministers are exempt from speeding regulations.

The Road Safety Authority says speed is the main factor in 54 per cent of single vehicle crashes.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1333766/Speed-camera-tycoon-Xavier-McAuliffe-caught-speeding-twice-week.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

-Corkie-

Best thread/post I have seen in ages... Good man Johnny..:D

Iwannahurl

Oh dear. Not inspiring at all.

Reminds me of this sorry tale from a few years ago.

Just goes to show (a) how common speeding is and (b) how useful speed guns are for exposing the problem.

Is the video available yet?

bonzos

He is up to neck in FF and is a multi millionaire.....in this country that means he is untouchable and above the law.end of!!!

Atomic Pineapple

Not a hope will any action be taken, nor should there be, if it was just someone normal it wouldn't be in the paper. He's a business man and not an anti speeding campaigner.

D_murph

What a hypocrite :mad::mad:. Of course, nothing will ever come of it. Typical of how this country is being run at the moment :rolleyes:.

Turner

draffodx wrote: »

Not a hope will any action be taken, nor should there be, if it was just someone normal it wouldn't be in the paper. He's a business man and not an anti speeding campaigner.

I dont see the problem here. He is a member of the public and a successful business man.

If he had been clocked by a camera van he would get points on his license or have the option of fighting it in court, like anybody else.

Nobody is above the law with regard to official camera vans even Gardai, many Gardai receive penalty points from these cameras.

Are people just jealous because he is a successful business man?

Guy:Incognito

D_murph wrote: »

What a hypocrite :mad::mad:. :.

Why is he a hypocrite? How do you know his stance on speeding? All he is is a guy that happens to have a business that is supplying speed detection vans.

D_murph

Stekelly wrote: »

Why is he a hypocrite? How do you know his stance on speeding? All he is is a guy that happens to have a business that is supplying speed detection vans.

I would have thought that would be obvious . He's supplying the gear to catch people doing exactly what he does himself. Cant make it any plainer for you than that...

Atomic Pineapple

D_murph wrote: »

I would have thought that would be obvious . He's supplying the gear to catch people doing exactly what he does himself. Cant make it any plainer for you than that...

He's only doing that to make money, I doubt he cares about road safety, I dont agree with the use speed cameras but if the government gave me 65million to roll them out I'd happily do it!

Iwannahurl

Chief--- wrote: »

Are people just jealous because he is a successful business man?

No, tis the optics.

And, I would venture to say, a certain amount of enterprising populist opportunism on the part of the tabloid newspaper in question.

Johnny Utah

In the interest of road safety, I think that action should be taken for these two speeding offences. So, that's 4 penalty points plus fines, or maybe worse (eg. dangerous driving) depending on what the video footage shows. After all, you only need a witness statement to bring a prosecution (see below), but the MoS have HD video footage of Mr McAuliffe's driving.....



http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056004451&highlight=driving



Perhaps, the Traffic Corps should closely monitor Mr McAuliffe on an ongoing basis seeing as he's a persistant offender?

LookBehindYou

I wonder did the reporter report it to :
Garda Traffic Watch line on 1890-205805

The Gardai would officially investigate it and ask the reporter if he would be willing to give evidence in court.

Will that happen ???

Iwannahurl

Don't want to digress, and will delete post if necessary, but this line in the Mail on Sunday report caught my eye:

By law the cars of senior ministers are exempt from speeding regulations.

Is that true, and where could I confirm it?

Turner

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Don't want to digress, and will delete post if necessary, but this line in the Mail on Sunday report caught my eye:

By law the cars of senior ministers are exempt from speeding regulations.

Is that true, and where could I confirm it?

MInisterial cars are driven by Gardai.

All Garda (Ministerial) drivers are exempt from speed limits and are highly trained advanced and escort trained drivers.

All Gardai on duty are exempt from speed limits.

Iwannahurl

Chief--- wrote: »

MInisterial cars are driven by Gardai.

All Garda (Ministerial) drivers are exempt from speed limits and are highly trained advanced and escort trained drivers.

All Gardai on duty are exempt from speed limits.

Beg to differ, at least in principle. Letter of the law maybe, but there are other considerations.

I won't push this as it's off-topic, though related in that Garda behaviour on the road is important in terms of giving good example to the citizenry (optics again).

Here's what the Garda Inspectorate have to say, and I'll leave it at that (emphasis added):

Police officers operating Garda vehicles must provide a positive example for other road users and management should develop policies to ensure such is the case. In non-emergency situations, police officers should fully comply with the rules of the road in the operation of vehicles, observing speed limits, traffic signals and refraining from the use of mobile phones while driving. Roads Policing: Review & Recommendations (2008)

Anan1

D_murph wrote: »

I would have thought that would be obvious . He's supplying the gear to catch people doing exactly what he does himself. Cant make it any plainer for you than that...

I'm afraid that's still not clear enough for me. If he'd been caught by GoSafe and let off then that would be a story.

Atomic Pineapple

Anan1 wrote: »

I'm afraid that's still not clear enough for me. If he'd been caught by GoSafe and let off then that would be a story.

Exactly, its a non story in reality here.

MagicSean

Johnny Utah wrote: »

In the interest of road safety, I think that action should be taken for these two speeding offences. So, that's 4 penalty points plus fines, or maybe worse (eg. dangerous driving) depending on what the video footage shows. After all, you only need a witness statement to bring a prosecution (see below), but the MoS have HD video footage of Mr McAuliffe's driving.....



http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056004451&highlight=driving



Perhaps, the Traffic Corps should closely monitor Mr McAuliffe on an ongoing basis seeing as he's a persistant offender?

What action can be taken? An official speed gun camera was not used. A Garda did not witness it. I can't beleive you actually think the Gardaí should set up surveillence on this man to catch him speeding.

Zulu

The Mail on Sunday have evidence?



Well that must be a first.

D_murph

Anan1 wrote: »

I'm afraid that's still not clear enough for me. If he'd been caught by GoSafe and let off then that would be a story.

Sorry to hear that. The fact is that he was caught twice in the space of a very short time (by who was irrelevant as he was still caught) over 20KHM over the limit both times.

I would doubt he will fall afoul of his own vans somehow. If anyone would know where they are, it would be him and easy to find out for him in any case.

I could not give a crap how much money he has or how successful he is. Jealousy as stated previously here is not my motive but I do find it a bit rich that the guy in charge of these things is himself well able and willing to break the limit by big margins like that.

Zulu

D_murph wrote: »

The fact is that he was caught twice in the space of a very short time...

Acxtually, the fact is, he wasn't "caught" at anything.

A tabloid paper is reporting that they say he was speeding.

The Dagda

The most interesting thing for me was the mention of €35,000 per day that GoSafe charge the country for providing this service!

That can't be right, surely? Over €12,000,000 per year? That seems rather a lot. Does anyone know if this is true?

Zulu

It's not how much it's charging the state per day that you should be interested in, but rather, how much it's costing the state per day.

It's a subtle difference, but you can't ignore revenue created by fines, costs saved in rta injuries & deaths, freeing up AGS for other duties etc..

Anan1

D_murph wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. The fact is that he was caught twice in the space of a very short time (by who was irrelevant as he was still caught) over 20KHM over the limit both times.

Actually, it's not. A tabloid reporter in search of a story is not an impartial witness.

D_murph wrote: »

I would doubt he will fall afoul of his own vans somehow. If anyone would know where they are, it would be him and easy to find out for him in any case.

That's pure speculation on your part though, isn't it?

D_murph wrote: »

but I do find it a bit rich that the guy in charge of these things is himself well able and willing to break the limit by big margins like that.

Why? He owns a company that supplies camera vans, and he may have broken the speed limit. Where's the link?

Iwannahurl

Zulu wrote: »

It's not how much it's charging the state per day that you should be interested in, but rather, how much it's costing the state per day.

It's a subtle difference, but you can't ignore revenue created by fines, costs saved in rta injuries & deaths, freeing up AGS for other duties etc..

Exactly. Cost benefits must be factored in, and that takes time to calculate and appreciate.

"Life and health cannot be exchanged for other benefits in society."

Zulu

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Exactly. Cost benefits must be factored in, and that takes time to calculate and appreciate.

Time the Mail on Sunday no doubt, would rather use making up their next story :P

The Dagda

Zulu wrote: »

It's not how much it's charging the state per day that you should be interested in, but rather, how much it's costing the state per day.

It's a subtle difference, but you can't ignore revenue created by fines, costs saved in rta injuries & deaths, freeing up AGS for other duties etc..

Our government would be proud of you, mentioning a figure that cannot be accurately measured but appeals to higher principles than purely vulgar money!

In case you're interested, just to break even from speeding fines, it's over 400 tickets per day...

Iwannahurl

Anan1 wrote: »

He owns a company that supplies camera vans, and he may have broken the speed limit. Where's the link?

There isn't a rational link, but that's not how these stories are read (or written).

I repeat: it's the optics.

I'm just a Joe Soap, but in theory if I was caught speeding or drink driving after promoting road safety on Boards I would look like a clown and people would doubt my bona fides*.

You can scale that up appropriately for a national outfit implementing a 'controversial' surveillance operation.





*Apologies for the Latin. Mea culpa.

Atomic Pineapple

Iwannahurl wrote: »

I'm just a Joe Soap, but in theory if I was caught speeding or drink driving after promoting road safety on Boards I would look like a clown and people would doubt my bona fides*.

He never promoted road safety, he just supplies the vans, cameras and man power to the government in return for a nice pay cheque. For all we know he might not care about road safety or catching speeders at all.

Anan1

Iwannahurl wrote: »

There isn't a rational link, but that's not how these stories are read (or written).

I repeat: it's the optics.

I'm just a Joe Soap, but in theory if I was caught speeding or drink driving after promoting road safety on Boards I would look like a clown and people would doubt my bona fides*.

You can scale that up appropriately for a national outfit implementing a 'controversial' surveillance operation.

I take your point, but there still isn't a rational link. It's poor journalism, written for the titillation of stupid people.

Zulu

The Dagda wrote: »

Our government would be proud of you, mentioning a figure that cannot be accurately measured but appeals to higher principles than purely vulgar money!

Well if you'd rather just jump to pointless sensational conclusions based on farcical stats that resemble a shred of truth, then how this for you: HSE house of horrors, as red-tape kills 263 babies in 2009.

...of course it's not true, there were 75000 live births last year, and with an infant mortality rate of 3.5, that would equate to 263 babies dieing, but don't let that get in the way of a good story. :rolleyes:

In case you're interested, just to break even from speeding fines, it's over 400 tickets per day...

You know this for a fact - or are you just trotting out more sensationalist bs?

Iwannahurl

The Dagda wrote: »

Our government would be proud of you, mentioning a figure that cannot be accurately measured but appeals to higher principles than purely vulgar money!

In case you're interested, just to break even from speeding fines, it's over 400 tickets per day...

There are around 2.5 million vehicles licensed in this state.

400 vehicles fined per day (nationally?) would be a daily 'hit rate" of 0.02%.*

The horror, the horror...





*Someone please tell me if my maths are wrong.

Iwannahurl

Anan1 wrote: »

I take your point, but there still isn't a rational link. It's poor journalism, written for the titillation of stupid people.

Personally I always search between pages 2 and 4 when I feel like some stupid titillation...

The Dagda

Zulu wrote: »

Well if you'd rather just jump to pointless sensational conclusions based on farcical stats that resemble a shred of truth, then how this for you: HSE house of horrors, as red-tape kills 263 babies in 2009.

...of course it's not true, there were 75000 live births last year, and with an infant mortality rate of 3.5, that would equate to 263 babies dieing, but don't let that get in the way of a good story. :rolleyes:

You know this for a fact - or are you just trotting out more sensationalist bs?

It strikes me as rather weird to bring dead babies into a discussion about speed cameras, but that's just me...

It also strikes me as strange that you would accuse me of making "sensational conclusions" when you are the one who brought up DEAD BABIES
and because I'm only pointing out something mentioned in the article, not pushing any agenda or viewpoint.

It's just simple math's, 35k per day, 24/7 is well over 12million divided by 80 speeding fine equals nearly 450 fines per day...

Zulu

Kudos, you missed my point with exceptional grace.

The Dagda

Zulu wrote: »

Kudos, you missed my point with exceptional grace.

You had a point about speed cameras wrapped up in a story about dead babies?

Johnny Utah

k_mac wrote: »

What action can be taken? An official speed gun camera was not used. A Garda did not witness it.

If there's evidence of speeding and/or dangerous driving, then yes, it should be followed up. There was no Garda witness in the following cases:


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056004451&highlight=driving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmmmBGhFr-8


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_n7q4gb2n4

k_mac wrote: »

I can't beleive you actually think the Gardaí should set up surveillence on this man to catch him speeding.

:rolleyes: It was a joke, hence the smiley!