Remember the McAuliffe truck stunk ...

Saab Ed

It didn't just go away. Prison time seems unlikely and in fairness would seem a bit harsh, nobody was actually hurt. Big aul fine though might sort it.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/truckers-could-face-jail-for-youtube-charity-stunt-1.1541541

BMJD

Fair enough it was a really, really stupid thing to do but they were well intentioned:

Their solicitor Padraig O’Connell said they had carried out the enterprise on Sunday morning of October 14th 2012 for the Share a Dream, the ill children’s charity, and Pieta House, the suicide charity, but admitted it could have been better organised.

and I'm sure the guys involved have learned their lesson but prison is OTT considering the scum that are roaming the streets every night. They have probably lost their jobs already.

He rejected a suggestion from Mr O’Connell that there were no consequences. In fact, Judge O’Connor said the “frightful example “ to young men who viewed it on You Tube and decided to immitate it might have terrible consequences.

Oh please, are a few young fellas really going to fire up their artics and copy this? There are zillions of videos on youtube featuring some of the afforementioned scum stealing, joyriding and burning peoples' cars already. Do something about that, your honour.

colm_mcm

This wasn't the only stunt they pulled though. They were going the wrong way around roundabouts etc IIRC

challengemaster

One of many McAuliffe trucking's "well intentioned" stunts that put the public at risk. Well intentioned doesn't cut it tbh.

This is where the precedent gets set.

All they (and everyone else in the country) will learn if they don't get properly prosecuted, is that dangerous driving is grand as long as "you've learned your lesson and won't do it again" from a slap on the wrist.

Considering the amount of CPC training, and the potential damage of 3-a-breast truck rolling road block, it should be viewed as much worse than normal dangerous driving, and rightly so.

Throw the book at the stupid cúnts.

And I'm severely disappointed to hear the company is being let off.

vicwatson

colm_mcm wrote: »

This wasn't the only stunt they pulled though. They were going the wrong way around roundabouts etc IIRC

And reversing up a road was another with cars having to swerve to avoid the truck.

This is blatant dangerous driving. I would throw the book at them big time. They were thick enough to put all the law breaking videos on youtube !! :rolleyes:

vicwatson

Remember this one

vicwatson

Or these

And how the hell are you supposed to get on to the roundabout ?

unkel

vicwatson wrote: »

Remember this one

Never mind all the other stuff.

Parking on the driving lane of a motorway...

Partly hidden by a bridge...

By a professional driver...

Deserves a conviction of dangerous driving and a lenghty ban - say 5 years. If I were the judge, I'd hand down a suspended jail sentence too. Sorry if that makes the lad lose his job, but that was utter madness

mickdw

unkel wrote: »

Never mind all the other stuff.

Parking on the driving lane of a motorway...

Partly hidden by a bridge...

By a professional driver...

Deserves a conviction of dangerous driving and a lenghty ban - say 5 years. If I were the judge, I'd hand down a suspended jail sentence too. Sorry if that makes the lad lose his job, but that was utter madness

Agree completely. 2 distracting trucks overhead too to make it even worse.

ratracer

If ever there was a case of small man syndrome on the roads, these clips prove it out. What a shower of Muppets. I'd agree with the judge here, and surely the company has some liability for the actions of its 'drivers'.

CiniO

unkel wrote: »

Never mind all the other stuff.

Parking on the driving lane of a motorway...

Partly hidden by a bridge...

By a professional driver...

Deserves a conviction of dangerous driving and a lenghty ban - say 5 years. If I were the judge, I'd hand down a suspended jail sentence too. Sorry if that makes the lad lose his job, but that was utter madness

With all respect it doesn't look like motorway.

Surely parking there was illegal, but I see more dangerous parking nearly every day.

MadsL

BMJD wrote: »

They have probably lost their jobs already.

Given the owner of the company appears to have been involved in encouraging and filming this that's a serious injustice.

He should lose his Road Transport Operator haulage license. I sincerely hope that happens.

JohnBoy26

MadsL wrote: »

Given the owner of the company appears to have been involved in encouraging and filming this that's a serious injustice.

He should lose his Road Transport Operator haulage license. I sincerely hope that happens.

No that probably won't happen and unlike you I hope it doesn't.

while the actions of the company and those involved where inexcusable and should be dealt with, taking away their licence is the wrong way to go about it imo as it could mean the loss of jobs for innocent people working for this company who had nothing to do with this. That is something we don't need in these though times.

JohnBoy26

CiniO wrote: »

With all respect it doesn't look like motorway.

Surely parking there was illegal, but I see more dangerous parking nearly every day.

indeed that road is a dual carriage way.

Dr Turk Turkelton

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

indeed that road is a dual carriage way.

Ah well sure as long as its "only" a dual carriageway-grand so carry on.

JohnBoy26

Cuchulainn1. wrote: »

Ah well sure as long as its "only" a dual carriageway-grand so carry on.

I don't know who you are quoting as there is no "only" in my post and nor did I say or imply it was "grand" because it was a dual carriageway. It's dangerous on any road. As I have travelled on that road before I was only making the point that cinio was correct in that it wasn't a motorway like others tought it was.

Perhaps you should read posts more carefully in future before posting smart a$$ comments like the above.

MadsL

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

[/B]
No that probably won't happen and unlike you I hope it doesn't.

while the actions of the company and those involved where inexcusable and should be dealt with, taking away their licence is the wrong way to go about it imo as it could mean the loss of jobs for innocent people working for this company who had nothing to do with this. That is something we don't need in these though times.

It is pretty clear that the company owners encouraged this behaviour - just look at the company's website and the wedding shenanigans. Not fit to hold the licence.

Mycroft H

MadsL wrote: »

It is pretty clear that the company owners encouraged this behaviour - just look at the company's website and the wedding shenanigans. Not fit to hold the licence.

It made sense for Nolan transport to loose their licence when they and their driver were proved negligent in not securing a steel load to a flat bed trailer which killed 2 innocent people when it came loose round a corner.

Instead they were fined a paltry 1 million euro and were let carry on. Seems we put a 500k price on life these days.

So when McAuliffe get a slap on the wrist effectively, I'm not surprised.

unkel

CiniO wrote: »

With all respect it doesn't look like motorway.

Eh yeah. There's no hard shoulder to speak off, the lanes are narrower and there is barely any space in the centre reservation either

Which all makes it a lot worse than a motorway (except that most drivers might drive a tiny bit slower)

keithclancy

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

[/B]
No that probably won't happen and unlike you I hope it doesn't.

while the actions of the company and those involved where inexcusable and should be dealt with, taking away their licence is the wrong way to go about it imo as it could mean the loss of jobs for innocent people working for this company who had nothing to do with this. That is something we don't need in these though times.

Sorry, but even if the company didn't advocate this, it was still on youtube and there were multiple incidents.

So either:
The boss was OK about it.
Or he did nothing about it.

One is as bad as the other and company should lose their license.

cjt156

Its ludicrous to imagine that the company didn't organise this series of stunts to their own ends.
Are we supposed to believe that the drivers got together to pull this off on their own initiative, without the knowledge of management?

"Here lads, let's all go out and film ourselves repeatedly driving dangerously in the company vehicles; stick it up on that youtuber ting. Be gas altogether."

MadsL

cjt156 wrote: »

Its ludicrous to imagine that the company didn't organise this series of stunts to their own ends.
Are we supposed to believe that the drivers got together to pull this off on their own initiative, without the knowledge of management?

"Here lads, let's all go out and film ourselves repeatedly driving dangerously in the company vehicles; stick it up on that youtuber ting. Be gas altogether."

https://www.facebook.com/pages/McAuliffe-Trucking-Company/299820356776

http://www.mcauliffetrucking.com/wedding.html


No shame really.

tin79

CiniO wrote: »

With all respect it doesn't look like motorway.

Surely parking there was illegal, but I see more dangerous parking nearly every day.

Oh please. You see more dangerous parking than a truck being stopped under a bridge, on a dual carriageway, in the driving lane, with no hard shoulder, hazards not even on, with two further trucks parked overhead to add the distraction factor almost every day?

On what planet do you see this?

That video is one of the most idiotic parking examples I have even seen.

January

keithclancy wrote: »

Sorry, but even if the company didn't advocate this, it was still on youtube and there were multiple incidents.

So either:
The boss was OK about it.
Or he did nothing about it.

One is as bad as the other and company should lose their license.

The videos were removed pretty quick sharpish by the company but someone (me... and one or two other posters) had already copied them and re-uploaded. They also tried to bully me, both here and on Youtube, into taking the videos down by threatening me with the Gardai because I was in breach of "copyright laws" even though they claimed at first that they didn't upload the videos.

stoneill

tin79 wrote: »

Oh please. You see more dangerous parking than a truck being stopped under a bridge, on a dual carriageway, in the driving lane, with no hard shoulder, hazards not even on, with two further trucks parked overhead to add the distraction factor almost every day?

On what planet do you see this?

That video is one of the most idiotic parking examples I have even seen.

I agree with CiniO - as bad as this parking is, I have witnessed much worse on N4, the M50, the N3, the N11. Cars parked half on hard shoulder and half on lane 1 to change inside tyre, vans parked facing the wrong way, trucks pulled in side by side to "chat", even a car stopped on the outside lane of the N4 just past Kinnegad.

If that video is one of the most idiotic examples that you have ever seen, you haven't witnessed much of what goes on the roads of Ireland.

power pants

wasn't it the daughter of the firm that uploaded them in the first place?

MadsL

stoneill wrote: »

I agree with CiniO - as bad as this parking is, I have witnessed much worse on N4, the M50, the N3, the N11. Cars parked half on hard shoulder and half on lane 1 to change inside tyre, vans parked facing the wrong way, trucks pulled in side by side to "chat", even a car stopped on the outside lane of the N4 just past Kinnegad.

If that video is one of the most idiotic examples that you have ever seen, you haven't witnessed much of what goes on the roads of Ireland.

You know there is more to it than that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNkcnEcm3go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u26P76dFF7Y

Yawns

think I still have them videos on my youtube account.

Disappointing to hear the company is being let off considering 1 of the directors is a director in both companies and he was on boards giving one poor story after another, trying to deny it happened etc.

CiniO

tin79 wrote: »

Oh please. You see more dangerous parking than a truck being stopped under a bridge, on a dual carriageway, in the driving lane, with no hard shoulder, hazards not even on, with two further trucks parked overhead to add the distraction factor almost every day?

On what planet do you see this?

That video is one of the most idiotic parking examples I have even seen.

Truck stopped in driving lane of dual carriageway where 100km/h limit applies.
On straight stretch so it can be seen by drivers approaching, so everyone should have enough time change lane in theory.
I'm not saying this parking is not dangerous.
I'm saying that it's not bad comparing to what I see often.
Example:
This is road with the same speed limit of 100km/h. Difference is that when travelling at 100km/h you can't break in time to avoid parked just behind blind bend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TN1sKliyz8

IMHO that's way more dangerous.

MadsL

CiniO wrote: »

Truck stopped in driving lane of dual carriageway where 100km/h limit applies.
On straight stretch so it can be seen by drivers approaching, so everyone should have enough time change lane in theory.
I'm not saying this parking is not dangerous.
I'm saying that it's not bad comparing to what I see often.
Example:
This is road with the same speed limit of 100km/h. Difference is that when travelling at 100km/h you can't break in time to avoid parked just behind blind bend.


IMHO that's way more dangerous.

The dangerous part is the not moving bit with no hazards on.

You are approaching at 100 kph expecting the truck to be doing 80 kph. So effectively closing in on it at 20 kph - you check your mirror - and back to the truck which has now 'moved' toward you at five times the rate you expected. Oh crap, you are closing on a stationary object at 100 kph, and there is someone in the outside lane.

Straight sections create optical effects like that.

CiniO

MadsL wrote: »

The dangerous part is the not moving bit with no hazards on.

You are approaching at 100 kph expecting the truck to be doing 80 kph. So effectively closing in on it at 20 kph - you check your mirror - and back to the truck which has now 'moved' toward you at five times the rate you expected. Oh crap, you are closing on a stationary object at 100 kph, and there is someone in the outside lane.

Straight sections create optical effects like that.

Sorry but I tend to disagree.
Judging speed and distance of other vehicles is one of the most basic skills which people should learn on drivers training.

You can't assume that truck in front of you is doing 80km/h when it's actually parked. I know that bridge creating shadows and extra trucks on top of the bridge can be distracting, but even though there must be something wrong with driver who can see obstruction in form of parked truck in front of him while he is doing 100km/h and is not able to stop in time or even better change lane.

MadsL

CiniO wrote: »

Sorry but I tend to disagree.
Judging speed and distance of other vehicles is one of the most basic skills which people should learn on drivers training.

You can't assume that truck in front of you is doing 80km/h when it's actually parked. I know that bridge creating shadows and extra trucks on top of the bridge can be distracting, but even though there must be something wrong with driver who can see obstruction in form of parked truck in front of him while he is doing 100km/h and is not able to stop in time or even better change lane.

It's a reasonable assumption, by the time you have checked the mirror, you have a serious situation.

Not everyone is a perfect driver.

The truck drivers in this situation could have contributed to someone's death.

CiniO

MadsL wrote: »

It's a reasonable assumption, by the time you have checked the mirror, you have a serious situation.

Not everyone is a perfect driver.

The truck drivers in this situation could have contributed to someone's death.

He could have.
But I still think guys who park on blind bends are worse.
It's because they can't be seen, while truck parked on straight double carriage way - can.

MadsL

CiniO wrote: »

He could have.
But I still think guys who park on blind bends are worse.
It's because they can't be seen, while truck parked on straight double carriage way - can.

I drive a lot on perfectly straight desert roads, you know the stuff you see in movies. It is amazing how deceptive a straight road can be when judging speed and distance.

John_Rambo

Everyone, including the judge is ignoring the real scourge, the ill taste, the criminality and hideousness of the hillbilly, white trash paint jobs on the trucks. Surely, surely surely there has to be a law against taste as bad as that?

MY EYES!! MY BEAUTIFUL EYES!!!

Cuddlesworth

Mr Kupiec also pleaded to dangerous parking at Mullaghmarky,Castleisland on the date

Is that the bridge incident?

January

Think it's absolutely scandalous that the company has gotten off the hook scott free here...

John_Rambo

January wrote: »

Think it's absolutely scandalous that the company has gotten off the hook scott free here...

Dead on. One of the drivers is pretty young. I wonder what the reaction would have been if he'd refused to take part in the PR exercise? And that's was what it was, a show off, look at us and 'how much money we have' egotistic amateur 'king of the road' PR botch job.

Dawn Rider

January wrote: »

Think it's absolutely scandalous that the company has gotten off the hook scott free here...

Not to mention that they're still using stills from the crash video as publicity.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151898608096777&set=a.10151897447736777.427894.299820356776&type=1&theater

Some may say they weren't fined because they made a donation to charity...

Others may suggest the phrase 'it was for charity' is an excuse after the fact. A bit like saying 'to be fair, he was drunk'.

St. Leibowitz

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/three-men-who-raced-trucks-jailed-for-misguided-endeavour-29626617.html

Jail.

Padraig Mor

I'm still astounded that the company was left off the hook. I'll admit to stereotyping here but I can't a 20 year old and two Poles deciding to do this off their own bat - far more likely they are low paid workers ordered to do it with no choice.

JohnBoy26

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/three-men-who-raced-trucks-jailed-for-misguided-endeavour-29626617.html

Jail.

For two days which is pointless Imo.

djimi

Padraig Mor wrote: »

I'm still astounded that the company was left off the hook. I'll admit to stereotyping here but I can't a 20 year old and two Poles deciding to do this off their own bat - far more likely they are low paid workers ordered to do it with no choice.

I agree about the company (and perhaps there is an investigation going on there), but the bottom line is you always have a choice, and these guys should have known better.

challengemaster

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

For two days which is pointless Imo.

It's a conviction, which will have a serious impact on them in terms of employment in the future, and also if they ever want to emigrate.

It's more about sending a message, and rightly so. Nobody else is going to follow suit.

Fair play to the judge.

galwaytt

djimi wrote: »

I agree about the company (and perhaps there is an investigation going on there), but the bottom line is you always have a choice, and these guys should have known better.

...but sometimes that choice is Hobson's..........

CiniO

challengemaster wrote: »

It's more about sending a message, and rightly so. Nobody else is going to follow suit.

It must be about sending a message, because if everyone for bit stupid behaviour on the road in this country went to jail, then 50% of drivers would have to go.

MadsL

CiniO wrote: »

It must be about sending a message, because if everyone for bit stupid behaviour on the road in this country went to jail, then 50% of drivers would have to go.

This behaviour wasn't stupid, it was f.cking criminal.

Three abreast on a major road, parked up on a dual carriageway. They were just lucky no-one died and they weren't facing manslaughter charges.

CiniO

MadsL wrote: »

This behaviour wasn't stupid, it was f.cking criminal.

Three abreast on a major road,

Was there anyone coming from the other side? Did they directly endanger anyone?
I can see people overtaking forcing oncoming drivers to move to hard shoulder to avoid accident. That's 3 abrests also, and it really endangers people on the road. On wide roads with hard shoulders (f.e. N5 Castlebar to Ballaghaderren i see as least one incident every time I drive there).

parked up on a dual carriageway.

M6 between Dublin-Galway. Usually more than 10 parked up cars on motorway between those 2 cities.

They were just lucky no-one died and they weren't facing manslaughter charges.

Yes, sure.
Looks like things people see on videos, must be way more dangerous that things you see in real world.

MadsL

CiniO wrote: »

Was there anyone coming from the other side? Did they directly endanger anyone?

Well that's alright then. Let's only prosecute people who do stupidly dangerous stuff when they hurt people.

I can see people overtaking forcing oncoming drivers to move to hard shoulder to avoid accident. That's 3 abrests also, and it really endangers people on the road.

Ah, but did they " directly endanger anyone?"

M6 between Dublin-Galway. Usually more than 10 parked up cars on motorway between those 2 cities.

Parking on a motorway to take publicity stills is OK now? This lad was on the road, not the hardshoulder. And a professional driver.

Yes, sure.
Looks like things people see on videos, must be way more dangerous that things you see in real world.

Trucks three abreast is perfectly safe now? Get real.

gebbel

No mention if they were put off the road. 2 days behind bars, bad as it is, is surely nothing compared to losing their licences for a lengthy period.

_Kaiser_

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/three-men-who-raced-trucks-jailed-for-misguided-endeavour-29626617.html

Jail.

.. for 2 nights?! Irish "justice" system at its finest! :rolleyes: