Galway peeps - National Slow Down day this Friday

beardybrewer

Thought it was worth sharing for those hitting the road this weekend to be mindful of a campaign starting tomorrow to raise awareness (read: issue many tickets) for speeding:

http://www.garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=11216

snubbleste

Garda members who are not responding to emergency calls will be leading by example - reducing their speed, and driving at speeds appropriate to the prevailing conditions.

asdfg!

All very well when the real issue is people speeding with drink taken in the middle of the night.

galwaycyclist

asdfg! wrote: »

All very well when the real issue is people speeding with drink taken in the middle of the night.

Disagree. The most serious and pressing problem is sober people speeding during daylight hours when they are sharing the roads with a range of other road users.

People speeding with drink or drugs taken at 3 in the morning are mainly a threat to themselves.

biko

Thread veers immediately from off the "slow down please" into the "the real issue is" ditch

Zzippy

biko wrote: »

Thread veers immediately from off the "slow down please" into the "the real issue is" ditch

Ah, I see what you did there! Nice...

Mr_A

biko wrote: »

Thread veers immediately from off the "slow down please" into the "the real issue is" ditch

If it had not been going so fast this could have been avoided.

Wompa1

Just in time to nab all the unsuspecting tourists. Devious. Don't put up enough speed limit signs. Tourists come over and speed, don't take their pleas of not seeing a sign as an excuse and hit them with an on the spot fine in conjunction with some bogus campaign.

Wonder how many will get caught during Race Week when the blinders are put on.

El_Dangeroso

The bitterness is strong in this thread.

Am I the only one who welcomes this non-cynically?

thesandeman

Now if only they did something about cyclists hitting pedestrians avoiding rickshaws on the footpaths as they are waiting for the traffic lights to change so they can cross the lanes at the roundabouts!!

snubbleste

Definitely not national slow down day. Vehicles unable to stay within the heavily signposted 50kph limit on the N6 this morning.

Dan_Solo

Next week: national Gardai enforce traffic laws day.

lampsie

Given that it took me 25 minutes to get from Kearneys Texaco to the G Hotel at lunchtime, I've a feeling Galway is taking this a bit too seriously...

Redhairedguy

I thought this was a bit of a joke.

I only saw one Garda car yesterday. Flying down the Tuam Road at close to 80kmph, no sirens on or anything.

Equally, I was driving out to and back from Spiddal yesterday, and traffic was bombing along at its usual 70km in 50km zones.

No difference than any other day imo.

biko

Yeah, I have not noticed any particular difference in driving. Seen a few Garda cars about but no check points or similar. Suppose we'll get the stats in the papers this week.

desaparecidos

When's the last time you actually saw someone speeding that made you think it might cause an accident? And no, 80kph on the 50kph 4 lane perfect visibility, perfect surface N6 isn't going to cause an accident.

Contrast that to people who drive way too slow, almost like static objects on the motorway you catch them up so quick, force people to overtake on country roads etc.

The message should be to speed up in general.

Padkir

desaparecidos wrote: »

When's the last time you actually saw someone speeding that made you think it might cause an accident? And no, 80kph on the 50kph 4 lane perfect visibility, perfect surface N6 isn't going to cause an accident.

Contrast that to people who drive way too slow, almost like static objects on the motorway you catch them up so quick, force people to overtake on country roads etc.

The message should be to speed up in general.

You should have stopped before the last sentence. People are just going to focus on that now when they read you're post and get angry about it!

I agree with the majority of your post and the limit on the N6 is ridiculous!!

antoobrien

Redhairedguy wrote: »

I thought this was a bit of a joke.

I only saw one Garda car yesterday. Flying down the Tuam Road at close to 80kmph, no sirens on or anything.

Equally, I was driving out to and back from Spiddal yesterday, and traffic was bombing along at its usual 70km in 50km zones.

No difference than any other day imo.

They had the safety revenue generation vans out along the Monivea Rd for most of the weekend.

desaparecidos wrote: »

When's the last time you actually saw someone speeding that made you think it might cause an accident? And no, 80kph on the 50kph 4 lane perfect visibility, perfect surface N6 isn't going to cause an accident.

Contrast that to people who drive way too slow, almost like static objects on the motorway you catch them up so quick, force people to overtake on country roads etc.

Right sentiment, wrong sentence to finish I fear. Drive at the speed appropriate to the conditions, up to the speed limit would be better.

The biggest problem with the speed limits on roads is the blatantly wrong speed limits on roads in general. The best example of this is on the Monivea Rd where the speed limit between Ballintemple & Carnmore Cross is 60km/h - one of the best paved roads in the county. Compare that to the side roads off it and Monivea Rd beyond Carnmore cross where the limit is 80km/h on worse roads. These plainly wrong limits do nothing to encourage driving at the speed limits, with the result that they are routinely ignored.

beardybrewer

My brother-in-law was on the M18 and said he did see lots of guards hiding on the ramps at the overpasses. He didn't see many people pulled over but did get a ticket for a red light later when he was lost in Westport.

galwaycyclist

desaparecidos wrote: »

When's the last time you actually saw someone speeding that made you think it might cause an accident? And no, 80kph on the 50kph 4 lane perfect visibility, perfect surface N6 isn't going to cause an accident.

Contrast that to people who drive way too slow, almost like static objects on the motorway you catch them up so quick, force people to overtake on country roads etc.

The message should be to speed up in general.

I see it everyday. Furthermore, if I understand you correctly, your apparent argument is that if a behaviour does not directly cause death or injury then thats all ok. In my view this is a perverse argument.

Taking your argument to its logical conclusion would mean that we would have to accept that like speeding other forms of threatening and abusive behaviour would be ok as well - so long as nobody actually gets injured?

So it would be ok for someone to walk around waving a gun in the faces of random strangers provided it wasn't loaded or they didn't pull the trigger. It would be ok for anyone who wanted to walk around waving a knife at random strangers, children, women with baby buggies, elderly people crossing the road etc - provided they didn't actually stab them?

If you don't like meeting slower traffic on country roads then perhaps you should confine yourself to driving on motorways?

desaparecidos

galwaycyclist wrote: »

I see it everyday

I very much doubt that.

galwaycyclist wrote: »

if I understand you correctly, your apparent argument is that if a behaviour does not directly cause death or injury then thats all ok

Clearly you don't understand me correctly, because I didn't say that at all.

galwaycyclist wrote: »

If you don't like meeting slower traffic on country roads then perhaps you should confine yourself to driving on motorways?

Completely impossible seeing the vast majority of roads in the country are not motorway.

Redhairedguy

galwaycyclist wrote: »

So it would be ok for someone to walk around waving a gun in the faces of random strangers provided it wasn't loaded or they didn't pull the trigger. It would be ok for anyone who wanted to walk around waving a knife at random strangers, children, women with baby buggies, elderly people crossing the road etc - provided they didn't actually stab them?

Arra Jaysus. Take the dramatics down a peg or two. desaparecidos make a point (silly or otherwise); but it's still just an opinion.

Discussing the specifics of 'Slow Down Day', its findings, and what impact it might/might not have; as well as general areas where this scheme would have been best suited, will all fly on this thread.

Insinuating that speeding is akin to waving a knife at pensioners, or any other ráiméis like that, will not however.

Valar dohaeris!!!

galwaycyclist

Redhairedguy wrote: »

Insinuating that speeding is akin to waving a knife at pensioners, or any other ráiméis like that, will not however.

For your benefit I did a quick google on the search terms "elderly fear speeding cars"

SPEED KILLS
http://www.slower-speeds.org.uk/files/speedkills.pdf

The wrong speed choice kills three times as many people as drink driving. And yet speeding is considered by most drivers to be the moral equivalent of parking on a double yellow line. 85% of drivers admit to breaking the law by exceeding the speed limit.

The casualty statistics are only the tip of the iceberg. Inappropriate road speeds are the biggest source of danger on our streets, causing anxiety for loved ones, curtailing the freedom to walk and cycle and disrupting access to local facilities.

Residents fear speeding cars
http://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerryman/news/residents-fear-speeding-cars-27412624.html

I fear for the safety of my neighbours. A very dangerous situation is fast developing and we feel that someone may be seriously injured as a consequence," he said. "Many of the residents here are elderly or have young families; as things stand now, for the people living here, we don't feel safe.

Villagers who live in fear of speeding cars
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Villagers+who+live+in+fear+of+speeding+cars.-a060260313

Elderly people feel trapped in their homes. The don't feel safe to venture down to the shops in the rush hour. Certainly for people who are uncertain on their feet and may take some time to cross the road, they do feel intimidated.

"Parents don't feel the roads are safe enough to allow their children to walk or cycle to school, and so take them by car.

Speeding cars a danger at Navan avenue
http://www.meathchronicle.ie/news/roundup/articles/2008/12/10/34046-speeding-cars-a-danger-at-navan-avenue

Residents of Connolly Avenue, Navan, have warned the area is an 'accident waiting to happen' because of traffic speeding along the avenue to avoid tailbacks on the Trim Road into the town centre.

The residents, many of them elderly, have expressed serious concern at the dangers and said they feared the traffic mayhem could lead to a fatality.

OAPs call for action to slow speeding cars
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/OAPs-action-slow-speeding-cars/story-13267905-detail/story.html#axzz2VLZTTnKm

ELDERLY people fear they could be knocked over now that more cars are hurtling past their retirement complex.

And they say the recent development of The Meadows estate has led to many cars travelling at well beyond the 30mph speed limit.

biko

Galwaycyclist, as pointed out by RHG - don't go making wild and frankly a bit strange comparisons. You'll only drag thread off-topic.
And stay local please, I understand you're trying to make a point but stats/news snippets from other towns and other countries may not apply to Galway city and will also risk making this thread global instead of local.

On topic; this slightly older news says "..speeding is the most common offence for which Galway drivers male and female accumulate penalty points", maybe someone has more recent stats?
http://www.galwaynews.ie/25556-galway-women-drivers-show-joke-male-motorists

snubbleste

A lone Garda was observed pointing a hairdryer shaped object toward the M6 at the Coolough roundabout today. That seems to be a favourite spot.

pleasant Co.

snubbleste wrote: »

A lone Garda was observed pointing a hairdryer shaped object toward the M6 at the Coolough roundabout today. That seems to be a favourite spot.

It's early in the month, might as well get those quotas filled and outta the way :cool: