Limerick Garda fined €900

scholar007

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0419/limerick-based-garda-fined-900-for-offences.html

Sounds very tragic for all concerned


"Fines of €900 have been imposed on a garda who was found to have no driving licence, no car tax, and two bald tyres on his car following a fatal accident on a motorway outside Limerick."

Just 1 question - Where exactly did this traffic Corps Officer park his car when he was at work? You wouldn't have to be Inspector Morse to notice no tax and bald tyres on a car in the car park outside the job.

No driving licence and this guy is in the traffic corps?

flutered

methinks joe or biddy soap would not get away so lightly.

Paulzx

scholar007 wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0419/limerick-based-garda-fined-900-for-offences.html
31451287


No driving licence and this guy is in the traffic corps?

From my reading of the full article he wasn't in the Traffic Corps

mathepac

I'm not a member of the emergency services but I was always lead to believe that Gardai were covered to drive State or other cars in the line of duty, even without a licence. Is it conceivable that he could have done his training without a licence? On a side note, if he never held a licence, he cannot have had insurance.

Paulzx

flutered wrote: »

methinks joe or biddy soap would not get away so lightly.

Why?

Paulzx

Greenmachine wrote: »

What a cruel and pathethic decision by the judge. €900 for two death. Life just got astromonically cheaper. He deserved to be done for 2 counts of manslaughter at the least. RTE should have the balls to put up his picture. That is the norm for these kind of cases.

Did you actually read the article?

He was not culpable for the deaths of the 2 people. He commited no offence with relation to their deaths. They were lying in the middle of a motorway when he came around the bend. Their deaths, whilst tragic were not the result of a criminal offence.

He was done for no driving license, car tax and bald tyres. Its ridiculous that a serving garda should be driving his personal vehicle whilst commiting these offences but its a big difference from actually causing the deaths of two people

Bosh

When's Ballinasloe Fair on again?

They'd make a fortune selling sanctimonious high horses over the next fews days. :rolleyes:

TylerIE

flutered wrote: »

methinks joe or biddy soap would not get away so lightly.

Methinks joe or biddy soap would not have made the RTE news for minor traffic offences detected after a not-at-fault Fatal RTA.

Theres been similar Accidents before where pedestrians died where the driver was not at fault but motoring offences were detected and it never got media attention - Some didnt even go to court.

My sympathies remain with the man, who happens to be a Garda, who was subjected to such a horrible accident, and with the families of the deceased.

mathepac

TylerIE wrote: »

...
My sympathies remain with the man, who happens to be a Garda, who was subjected to such a horrible accident, ...

He killed two people. I have no sympathy (or empathy ) for him whatsoever.

As a Guardian of the Peace and an upholder of the law, an officer of the State who has sworn to do his duty and has taken a solemn oath to do just that, the expectations of the State about his conduct need necessarily to be higher than that of a civilian.

The arguments I have have seen seem to imply because he's a Guard and killed two innocent people we should cut him some slack. I happen to hold the opposing view and believe he should be held to a higher level of accountability.

Why is he not an ex-Guard now, this minute?

BrianD

This is disgraceful behaviour by a member of AGS however it seems to be another example of complete disregard for the law by those who are supposed to uphold it.

This is an extremely tragic case but lessons also have to learned. This mans position in the force is completely untenable - no tax, no licence, defective car (NCT?). WTF?

Furthermore given this trend of incidents involving Gardai behind the wheel it is very hard for the public to understand how a Garda can drive around in a car that they know to be defective or in another case spend working time in a pub.

The public are tired of this crap. It has to stop.

aN.Droid

In the end of the day he did cause the two deaths of those two people. If he was following the law he would of never been in that car and would of never met those people on the road.

Punishment was not harsh enough in my eyes - not even anywhere near it.

x4winnie

I am horrified that this man is still employed as a garda, is there no justice in this corrupt country of ours, if i drove my car with no driving licence, motor tax and bald tyres, Id be banned from driving at the very least. He should be sacked, he is not fit to serve the people of this country.

2qk4u

Old school corruption is alive and well... if it was me I be typing this from a cell in mountjoy.

john citizen

One law for them one law for us.
Quote from RSA rules of the road:
As a driver, you must always be aware of your speed and judge the appropriate speed for your vehicle, taking into account:

driving conditions,
other users of the road,
current weather conditions,
all possible hazards,
and speed limits.
No more questions m'lord

TylerIE

2qk4u wrote: »

Old school corruption is alive and well... if it was me I be typing this from a cell in mountjoy.

With respect, of two incidents I was on the fringes of, both drivers were committing similar offences and hit pedestrians who died (and in both incidents pedestrians who were at the side of the road, not in the middle of the road) they didnt have any court proceedings afterwards. It was enough for them to have been involved in a (not-at-fault) fatal collision and to have seen their victims lying on the road or seriously ill in hospital afterwards, without state sanctions.

He should have had his car in order, having a license or having tax or having safer tyres wouldnt have stopped the collision as it occured.

SNAKEDOC

my understanding of the article is that he didn't produce his licence at the scene or there after hence the no driving licence charge but he did have a licence to drive a car and then the two bald tires which may or may not contributed to the accident produced two more charges themselves. so he was prosecuted for non production of a licence at the scene of an rta and two bald tires. I think if he was driving illegally without holding a valid licence then he would have been dealt with more severely, after all if he wasn't supposed to be driving then he would not have killed those two people. thats my thoughts they may be wrong

mathepac

TylerIE wrote: »

...
He should have had his car in order, having a license or having tax or having safer tyres wouldnt have stopped the collision as it occured.

How do you know that? If you have specific information as to his speed, the actual state of his tyres and any other pertinent information, post it so we all have the same basis for reaching our conclusions / opinions and don't adopt this stupid "Oh well I know more / better because I have an inside track" attitude.

The rest of us are basing our opinions and post on information in the public domain, therefore, as usual, our opinions are informed based on the extent of the information we have available to us.

If you have more information but can't / won't share, then I'm afraid your posts come across as supercilious, arrogant and idiotic, hinting at "top secret / inside" information, the preserve of the "insider important people".

TylerIE

mathepac wrote: »

How do you know that? If you have specific information as to his speed, the actual state of his tyres and any other pertinent information, post it so we all have the same basis for reaching our conclusions / opinions and don't adopt this stupid "Oh well I know more / better because I have an inside track" attitude.

The rest of us are basing our opinions and post on information in the public domain, therefore, as usual, our opinions are informed based on the extent of the information we have available to us.

If you have more information but can't / won't share, then I'm afraid your posts come across as supercilious, arrogant and idiotic, hinting at "top secret / inside" information, the preserve of the "insider important people".

Quoted from the RTE Article linked above:

Mr O'Gorman said a very intensive forensic investigation had been conducted at great expense to the State. ......

The solicitor said while he did not want to dilute the tragic consequences of this accident, the garda was not facing any driving charges and there was no criminal culpability in the case.

I have zero information on this other than what was in the media at the time and what is published now. Common sense dictates that merely having a driving license or tax certainly isnt going to guarantee that two people lying in the middle of the road on a motorway/motorway slip road, in the dark are going to be saved merely by virtue of the fact that the driver has these.

If his tyres contributed significantly to the accident then I have little doubt that there would have been further charges! The Garda Ombudsman is far from averse to prosecuting Gardai.

Eru

mathepac wrote: »

Why is he not an ex-Guard now, this minute?

Why? Traffic offences dont stop taxi drivers, delivery men or any other driving occupation and in fact this guy isnt in the traffic corp and does NOT drive Garda vehicles.

john citizen wrote: »

One law for them one law for us.

Your suggesting that he would have been done with something else by the Garda Siochana Ombudsman if he was not a Garda? The problem here is that you dont want him to be dealt with equaly, you want him to be ****ed over because of his occupation.

2qk4u wrote: »

Old school corruption is alive and well... if it was me I be typing this from a cell in mountjoy.

Corruption by GSOC to save a Garda? Do you think before typing? and theres no jail sentence for having bald tyres or no tax or no license. Every day people get done for these offences for the 4th or 5th time and get smaller fines.

x4winnie wrote: »

I am horrified that this man is still employed as a garda, is there no justice in this corrupt country of ours, if i drove my car with no driving licence, motor tax and bald tyres, Id be banned from driving at the very least. He should be sacked, he is not fit to serve the people of this country.

So anyone that works in a 'service' capacity should lose their jobs for a traffic offence? Ever had a speeding pr parking ticket? and pray tell, whats the point in banning someone from driving when they don't have a license to drive in the first place? They are already prohibited from driving! (he did have a license by the way and the Judge went with failing to produce instead)

john citizen wrote: »

As a driver, you must always be aware of your speed and judge the appropriate speed for your vehicle, taking into account:

driving conditions,
other users of the road,
current weather conditions,
all possible hazards,
and speed limits.
No more questions m'lord

That's a statement not a question and your not in the old bailey. Other than that just how did you manage to breed a horse so amazingly high?

BrianD wrote: »

Furthermore given this trend of incidents involving Gardai behind the wheel it is very hard for the public to understand how a Garda can drive around in a car that they know to be defective or in another case spend working time in a pub.

Your hatred between this and other threads really is getting a bit much. Is it in general or just Gardai that should have no rights under labour, civil and criminal law? (Considering you want a Garda sacked for questioning the government in another thread)

All the hate spewing people out there, he did NOT cause their deaths. A forensic collision investigation was carried out and the DPP decided that he had no charges to answer in relation to that. That alone would lead a reasonable person to the conclusion that the collision was unavoidable and not the fault of the tyres. So he should be taken out back, sacked, the jailed and probable shot for good measure because what? He had no tax?????? I hope to god your never involved in a traffic accident thats not your fault and let your tax go by a month or two because things are tight at home.

You better really hope you don't encounter a boards reading Garda cause evidently its throw the key away time

mathepac

Eru wrote: »

... he did NOT cause their deaths. ...

He did cause their deaths. He was driving the car that killed them. The decision not to charge him is a completely different issue to the fact that he killed two civilians while driving illegally, civilians he is sworn to protect, and he did it while breaking laws he had sworn to uphold.

Eru wrote: »

... That alone would lead a reasonable person to the conclusion that the collision was unavoidable and not the fault of the tyres. ...

The only conclusion a reasonable person can reach after the court case is that a Guard killed two people while driving illegally and was fined €900.

Mr Jinx

Limericks wrote: »

In the end of the day he did cause the two deaths of those two people. If he was following the law he would of never been in that car and would of never met those people on the road.

Punishment was not harsh enough in my eyes - not even anywhere near it.

While I do not condone the offences he was convicted of, the 2 people that were killed were on the outside lane of a motorway! Its been made clear in court and all media reports that he has not been held responsible in any way for the deaths.

Delancey

Wow ! Some seriously hysterical posting here - 2 people lie down on a motorway and get killed ( not surprising ) but the fact that the ' offending ' driver is a Garda means he should have been charged with causing their deaths.
Would these people baying for blood be saying the same if it was a Nurse or a Teacher or an Astronaut driving ?

Offences were detected and prosecutions brought in respect of those offences , if the driver was not at fault regarding the deaths then he rightfully was not prosecuted .

Worth bearing in mind this case was subject to a GSOC investigation , it was not the Gardai investigating themselves.

aN.Droid

Mr Jinx wrote: »

While I do not condone the offences he was convicted of, the 2 people that were killed were on the outside lane of a motorway! Its been made clear in court and all media reports that he has not been held responsible in any way for the deaths.

Yes they where in the outside lane of a motorway, but you can't tell me that if the guard was following the law that night and left his car at home where it belonged the two people would still 100% certainly be dead.

Sure someone else may have knocked them down instead but maybe they would not have also? Sometimes late at night on the motorway there could be a minute or two between cars, especially on the outside lane!

I stick to my own opinion and that is that I believe that the guard got off way too easy in this case.

Delancey wrote: »

Wow ! Some seriously hysterical posting here - 2 people lie down on a motorway and get killed ( not surprising ) but the fact that the ' offending ' driver is a Garda means he should have been charged with causing their deaths.
Would these people baying for blood be saying the same if it was a Nurse or a Teacher or an Astronaut driving ?

Offences were detected and prosecutions brought in respect of those offences , if the driver was not at fault regarding the deaths then he rightfully was not prosecuted .

Worth bearing in mind this case was subject to a GSOC investigation , it was not the Gardai investigating themselves.

If it was not a guard that killed those two people then yes I would expect the full punishment of manslaughter to be imposed just as I expected it on the man himself.

But that's just my opinion.

Eru

Limericks wrote: »

but you can't tell me that if the guard was following the law that night and left his car at home where it belonged the two people would still 100% certainly be dead.

The court, the DPP and the investigator from GSOC all believed that he did NOT cause their deaths, they deciding themselves to lie down at NIGHT on a MOTORWAY caused their deaths.

Im pretty sure the people involved know more about the case than you.

Limericks wrote: »

I stick to my own opinion and that is that I believe that the guard got off way too easy in this case.

Why is his occupation even being mentioned? Manslaughter requires a wilful neglect or some course of action suggesting you could have avoided the death.

I put it to you and any other person reading this thread that if you are driving down a motorway or sliproad you would not realistically be able to come to a stop from 120kmh in the short enough distance when you consider the reaction time and distance at the time that the people (in dark clothing) became visible.

hells bells, how many people are knocked down on suburban roads in the middle of the day when cars are doing no more than 40 or 50kmh FFS!

are you serious

great point about stopping distance Eru.. plus reaction time adds a lot into the finishing point of the car, did it have abs we already know about the tyres, but even still.... what was the lighting on the road like..

Now go with me here for my scenario... i'm using figures from the irish rules of the road to satisfy you here http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/speed-limits/speed-limits_stopping-distances-cars.html

So this is to anyone who is saying the guard is wrong.. Lets say YOUR driving at night.. we will even be nice here and say your travelling 100kph a fairly average speed on a motorway.. its dark, the road isnt lit up too well (in fact only by your headlights)and you think you see something in the road (about the length of a football field away) (this something is now 2 people lying directly in your path) you then realise **** ITS A PERSON (by now you this has taken you 3 or 4 seconds to register this and you have already travelled over 80m) you then bang down the brakes you have travelled another 18m before your brain tells your foot to stop the car and the pedal is pressed, then you start slowing down and you have travelled another 59m before the car has stopped... thats a total of over 150m. you have now gone roughly double the distance that you first seen those people at. . . .

Lads and ladies nobody can make their car stop quicker than that not even a guard on or off duty!!

aN.Droid

Eru wrote: »

The court, the DPP and the investigator from GSOC all believed that he did NOT cause their deaths, they deciding themselves to lie down at NIGHT on a MOTORWAY caused their deaths.

Im pretty sure the people involved know more about the case than you.



Why is his occupation even being mentioned? Manslaughter requires a wilful neglect or some course of action suggesting you could have avoided the death.

I put it to you and any other person reading this thread that if you are driving down a motorway or sliproad you would not realistically be able to come to a stop from 120kmh in the short enough distance when you consider the reaction time and distance at the time that the people (in dark clothing) became visible.

hells bells, how many people are knocked down on suburban roads in the middle of the day when cars are doing no more than 40 or 50kmh FFS!

Why not mention his profession? If you read the last part of my post you would of seen that I believe anyone in the same situation deserves a much harsher punishment.

What I am saying is, if he had been following the law he would of not met those two people that night and there would be a chance they would still be alive. It was the outside lane and minutes can go by before another car will be on that lane.

He broke the law by driving that night and that led to there deaths. Yes he was not found guilty of there deaths but I do not blindly base my opinion on that of what the courts find, it is my right to disagree with it.

Bosh

Y'know...read the posts..masochist that I am... composed eloquent retorts.......I started to type..but I said f@@k it. :rolleyes:

All the usual heads will spit their load and have their little moment of moral self superiority and then wipe off their keyboards and wait for the next moment.

While the rest of us with a life move on.

mathepac

Delancey wrote: »

Wow ! ...

Two people died, I think the subject warrants more than the immature facebook-type "Wow !".

Delancey wrote: »

... Some seriously hysterical posting here ...

I agree. The posts are easily identifiable by the 'teen-speak' and exclamation marks associated with them.

Delancey wrote: »

... 2 people lie down on a motorway and get killed ( not surprising ) but the fact that the ' offending ' driver is a Garda means he should have been charged with causing their deaths. ...

There is no need to put quotes around offending - he is a proven offender now.

I find it strange he was not charged with dangerous driving causing death, unless of course he wasn't exceeding the speed limit, had four good tyres on his car, had his headlights operational and beams properly focussed, etc.

The so-called thorough forensic investigation carried out after the Guard killed those two people leaves me with more questions than answers I'm afraid. What findings or conclusions were presented in evidence? I can't see them detailed in any of the reports I have seen - referred to in passing yes, but no detail.

Delancey wrote: »

... Would these people baying for blood ...

I don't hear anyone baying for blood, In fact all the melodramatic words e.g. "Wow !", baying for blood", hysterical" were introduced to the thread by you.

Delancey wrote: »

...
Would these people baying for blood be saying the same if it was a Nurse or a Teacher or an Astronaut driving ? ...

Less of the deliberately obtuse posting please. A Guard who is sworn to uphold the laws of the State kills two people while breaking some of those laws. Nurses , teachers and astronauts have not taken an oath to be the Guardians of the Peace in the State. If you can't see why Guards who break the law should have a different metric applied to them, well so be it, I genuinely give up; obtuseness wins the day

Delancey wrote: »

... Offences were detected and prosecutions brought in respect of those offences , if the driver was not at fault regarding the deaths then he rightfully was not prosecuted ...

Like others who have posted on this topic you seem to think that lack of a prosecution is synonymous with absence of an offence and yet we know that nothing could be further from the truth .e.g. "95 other offences were taken into account Judge"; murder charges pleaded down to manslaughter, discount given on sentence, etc all in the interest of saving the State money (or severe embarrassment). You and I and the dogs on the street know the games 'they' play.

Delancey wrote: »

...
Worth bearing in mind this case was subject to a GSOC investigation , it was not the Gardai investigating themselves.

Exactly my point. As this Guard was not investigated by normal means, by his peers and fellow union members in other words (any fear they might not be objective?), his charges and subsequent sentences on conviction should be of a different order to those a civilian might get.

kub

This is pityfull, the way people are on here complaining about that poor misfortunate CAR DRIVER. Two people for God knows what reason decide to lie down on a road, that just happens to be in an unlit section of an outside lane of a dual carriage way.
I also very much doubt it if this gentleman got any pleasure out of the ACCIDENT, I feel sorry for him now having the thought in his head that he drove a car which, due to the complete fault of others, killed two people.
I think that the guy will have this accident on his conscience for the rest of his life.
I am beginning to think that there are quite a few posters on here who for one reason or another just have it in for AGS and that this is an opportunity to have a pop at the force in general.
Lads I just hope you perfect people are never involved in an accident, especially one that you could not at all prevent.....woops sorry, that kind of stuff does not happen to ye, ye are perfect.

Sofa King Great

Limericks wrote: »

What I am saying is, if he had been following the law he would of not met those two people that night and there would be a chance they would still be alive. It was the outside lane and minutes can go by before another car will be on that lane.

Incorrect, had he been following the law, the two people would have been killed by a car travelling along the motorway which was taxed and had proper tyres, and following the incident, the driver would have presented their license to their local station.

mathepac

kub wrote: »

... I think that the guy will have this accident on his conscience for the rest of his life... .

You make a good point. At least he will have the rest of his life, unlike the two unfortunates he killed.

kub

mathepac wrote: »

You make a good point. At least he will have the rest of his life, unlike the two unfortunates he killed.

Well if he did not kill them, someone else would have.

aN.Droid

Sofa King Great wrote: »

Incorrect, had he been following the law, the two people would have been killed by a car travelling along the motorway which was taxed and had proper tyres, and following the incident, the driver would have presented their license to their local station.

How do you know this. I could stand on the side of a motorway and not see a car go by on the outside lane for minutes at a time.

johnnyskeleton

Limericks wrote: »

In the end of the day he did cause the two deaths of those two people. If he was following the law he would of never been in that car and would of never met those people on the road.

Punishment was not harsh enough in my eyes - not even anywhere near it.

Is there anything to suggest that the next car would not have hit the two people lying in the middle of the road? I mean, its a motorway.

The story is interesting because it shows that there is at least one garda who doesn't comply with the rules of the road and, had there not been a tragic collision, his lack of licence etc might never have become known. However, that doesn't make him responsible for the deaths.

aN.Droid

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Is there anything to suggest that the next car would not have hit the two people lying in the middle of the road? I mean, its a motorway.

ofcourse there is not but at least there would have been a chance of it. Like I have said (probably 3 or 4 times at this stage) I could stand on the side of the motorway and watch the outside lane and it may take minutes before I see another car on it after another at night time.

johnnyskeleton

Delancey wrote: »

Would these people baying for blood be saying the same if it was a Nurse or a Teacher or an Astronaut driving?.

An astronaut would have passed safely a thousand miles above, surely?

are you serious

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

his lack of licence etc might never have become known. However, that doesn't make him responsible for the deaths.

Lads the way the wording of the summons is makes it seem he had no license.. it has already been said it is a summons for not having a license at the time of the crash, as in he did not have it in the car or in his pocket. . . . but he does have one............................................................... get it??

my god you all love a good garda bash on this site!! haha

aN.Droid

are you serious wrote: »

Lads the way the wording of the summons is makes it seem he had no license.. it has already been said it is a summons for not having a license at the time of the crash, as in he did not have it in the car or in his pocket. . . . but he does have one............................................................... get it??

my god you all love a good garda bash on this site!! haha

I don't think anyone has actualy bashed the guards in this thread

I know I personally would feel the same if it was someone from another profession whether that be a begger or the president himself.

are you serious

Limericks wrote: »

I don't think anyone has actualy bashed the guards in this thread

Thats why I said this site

Zambia

Does anyone know why these guys decided to take a nap on a motorway?

mathepac

kub wrote: »

Well if he did not kill them, someone else would have.

My. my you post with such conviction. How do you know that? What scientific evidence have you got? It's just as likely that the next driver would have had a car with road-legal tyres and stopped / swerved safely and in time, unlike the Guard driving illegally who struck them and killed them.

scholar007

Delancey wrote: »

Wow ! Some seriously hysterical posting here - 2 people lie down on a motorway and get killed ( not surprising ) but the fact that the ' offending ' driver is a Garda means he should have been charged with causing their deaths.
Would these people baying for blood be saying the same if it was a Nurse or a Teacher or an Astronaut driving ?

Offences were detected and prosecutions brought in respect of those offences , if the driver was not at fault regarding the deaths then he rightfully was not prosecuted .

Worth bearing in mind this case was subject to a GSOC investigation , it was not the Gardai investigating themselves.

As I said at the start, its very tragic for all concerned. But could someone in the job not have said "Johnny or Paddy or Mick or Aloysius - I saw yer car outside the job and it doesn't look like a great advertisement for AGS when we are supposed to be upholding the law and prosecuting other drivers for no tax, bald tyres" and to top it off according to the report,

"the Garda in question realised the condition of his vehicle was not as it should be, and intended to go to a dealer to get tyres but the dealer did not have the tyres he needed, the court was told"

Like wtf was he driving that required special order tyres?

Was the car roadworthy or NCT'd? I've seen people prosecuted for less.

It is clear from the report that the officer involved was not responsible for the fatalities but it is also clear that neither he nor the car he was driving should have been on the road.

mathepac

scholar007 wrote: »

... It is clear from the report that the officer involved was not responsible for the fatalities but it is also clear that neither he nor the car he was driving should have been on the road.

What killed them? Being struck by a car. Who was driving said car? The Guard who was convicted of minor traffic offences at the scene of the incident after which the men died. In the intervening period, did anyone shoot, stab, poison or otherwise cause the deaths of the victims? Were the hospital staff negligent?

Therefore he killed them. He wasn't prosecuted for it but he killed them or he was responsible for their deaths if you prefer.

scholar007

mathepac wrote: »

What killed them? Being struck by a car. Who was driving said car? The Guard who was convicted of minor traffic offences at the scene of the incident after which the men died. In the intervening period, did anyone shoot, stab, poison or otherwise cause the deaths of the victims? Were the hospital staff negligent?

Therefore he killed them. He wasn't prosecuted for it but he killed them or he was responsible for their deaths if you prefer.

"The court heard the Garda was driving home after work on the M20 southbound motorway outside Limerick when he was confronted by two pedestrians who were on the ground in the middle of the road."

As I said previously, a tragedy for all concerned!

mathepac

scholar007 wrote: »

... a tragedy for all concerned!

I agree, as I've said in at least two (or is it three) other threads, but I maintain that as surely as night follows day, he killed them. He struck them with his car and they died either immediately or shortly afterwards. Those are the facts and nothing can change them.

There is a charge of "failing to stop in time to prevent an accident". I wonder why the DPP chose not to use this.

Terrontress

are you serious wrote: »

great point about stopping distance Eru.. plus reaction time adds a lot into the finishing point of the car, did it have abs we already know about the tyres, but even still.... what was the lighting on the road like..

Now go with me here for my scenario... i'm using figures from the irish rules of the road to satisfy you here http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/speed-limits/speed-limits_stopping-distances-cars.html

So this is to anyone who is saying the guard is wrong.. Lets say YOUR driving at night.. we will even be nice here and say your travelling 100kph a fairly average speed on a motorway.. its dark, the road isnt lit up too well (in fact only by your headlights)and you think you see something in the road (about the length of a football field away) (this something is now 2 people lying directly in your path) you then realise **** ITS A PERSON (by now you this has taken you 3 or 4 seconds to register this and you have already travelled over 80m) you then bang down the brakes you have travelled another 18m before your brain tells your foot to stop the car and the pedal is pressed, then you start slowing down and you have travelled another 59m before the car has stopped... thats a total of over 150m. you have now gone roughly double the distance that you first seen those people at. . . .

Lads and ladies nobody can make their car stop quicker than that not even a guard on or off duty!!

It's not that simple son.

If he were driving a train and therefore could not deviate left or right from his course then you might have a point. Being on a motorway I'd imagine there was plenty of room to the left and right.

I still think I'd have done the same if it were me, although I have never driven a vehicle on the road without a valid license or with expired tax or with tyres I knew were bald.

rondeco

I keep thinking about that thing about being the first to throw stones...

mathepac

rondeco wrote: »

I keep thinking about that thing about being the first to throw stones...

Why, are you from Tipperary?

brandon_flowers

Has anyone mentioned that it is illegal for pedestrians to be on a Motorway?

Terrontress

brandon_flowers wrote: »

Has anyone mentioned that it is illegal for pedestrians to be on a Motorway?

Illegal? It's downright idiotic suicide. Look at the safety precautions for working on the central reservation. And even then it is very dangerous.

It was on RTÉ Radio 1 recently that in Ireland a car parked on the hard shoulder of the motorway has an average of 19 minutes until it is struck by another vehicle. In the UK it is 16 minutes.

Sofa King Great

Limericks wrote: »

How do you know this. I could stand on the side of a motorway and not see a car go by on the outside lane for minutes at a time.

You missed my point. You were saying he wouldn't have been there, I am saying he would be there, just that his tyres would not have been bald.