NRA more speed resources...

BronsonTB

I see the RSA looking for more speeding resources (radio news)…they have garda speed guns, garda speed vans & private speed vans….so more than enough if used efficiently as is….

I can’t believe all accidents are just speed related…

I’d like to see some more emphasis put on the quality of the vehicles on the road if they are genuine about improving the roads.
All well in good having the NCT for those that do get it, but what about the thousands that don’t bother?? How often are they checked or stopped? We all know of examples of people going years without any.
When’s the last time there was a roadside campaign to actually improve ‘driver awareness’ of both their vehicle & how they are driving….

Just examples I see daily at the moment….(provable with dash cam footage)

Before 8am or after 4pm - Driving in the dark with just parking lights on & 10 cars behind, driving at 5k an hour because they can’t see where they are going!!
No lights on all at dusk/dawn, one working front light, one rear light, no brake lights
No working indicators or not using them
Driving with front fog lights in sunlight
Driving with rear fog lights at 11am with no fog!

Some random checkpoints before 8am & after 4pm any day of the week would do wonders.
Generate revenue for on the spot fines to cover cost of checkpoint, better awarensss for drivers to ensure they have working lights at all times (Not just once/twice a year for NCT)
People have become very complacent since the enforcement is minimal. (And I’m not blaming the garda!)

I just think it shouldn’t be just all about speed….




Mod Note: The title should be RSA not NRA...

pa990

BronsonTB wrote: »

Driving with front fog lights in sunlight
Driving with rear fog lights at 11am with no fog!

pa990

When the NRA are looking for more resources, are they looking for resources for their budget, ie signage, road calming etc.

Or are they looking for other organisations (Gardai) to have larger budgets for speed enforcement.

If the latter is the case, then this could be for:
- more man hours/ ot budget for speed enforcement.
- Updating of antiquated Garda ROBOT speed vans (which are expected not to be replaced at end of life, and for the entire operation to be handed over to GoSafe, as per inspectorates report)
- Updating of Garda Laser Guns, of which there are only 2 types. (all over 10 years old)

shietpilot

Yeah, driving with parking lights at 8 pm when it's pretty much pitch black has been a big thing in the recent weeks. I've seen it a lot myself. You've no hope of spotting a pedestrian on the road with those lights!

Del2005

BronsonTB wrote: »

I see the NRA looking for more speeding resources…they have garda speed guns, garda speed vans & private speed vans….so more than enough if used efficiently as is….

I can’t believe all accidents are just speed related…

I’d like to see some more emphasis put on the quality of the vehicles on the road if they are genuine about improving the roads.
All well in good having the NCT for those that do get it, but what about the thousands that don’t bother?? How often are they checked or stopped? We all know of examples of people going years without any.
When’s the last time there was a roadside campaign to actually improve ‘driver awareness’ of both their vehicle & how they are driving….

Just examples I see daily at the moment….(provable with dash cam footage)

Before 8am or after 4pm - Driving in the dark with just parking lights on & 10 cars behind, driving at 5k an hour because they can’t see where they are going!!
No lights on all at dusk/dawn, one working front light, one rear light, no brake lights
No working indicators or not using them
Driving with front fog lights in sunlight
Driving with rear fog lights at 11am with no fog!

Some random checkpoints before 8am & after 4pm any day of the week would do wonders.
Generate revenue for on the spot fines to cover cost of checkpoint, better awarensss for drivers to ensure they have working lights at all times (Not just once/twice a year for NCT)
People have become very complacent since the enforcement is minimal. (And I’m not blaming the garda!)

I just think it shouldn’t be just all about speed….

I do very little mileage but every time I go out I see people on their phones or going through red lights, along with plenty of other offences, the Gardaí are on the road 24/7 yet never seem to catch anyone. I know that the RSA think that exceeding the speed limit is the only problem but the Gardaí should be enforcing all road legislation not just speeding, DUI and tax

Del2005

shietpilot wrote: »

Yeah, driving with parking lights at 8 pm when it's pretty much pitch black has been a big thing in the recent weeks. I've seen it a lot myself. You've no hope of spotting a pedestrian on the road with those lights!

Most times they don't even have parking lights on they have DRLs on, which means no rear lights. Ironic that a supposed safety feature has made cars more dangerous.

bazz26

Del2005 wrote: »

Most times they don't even have parking lights on they have DRLs on, which means no rear lights. Ironic that a supposed safety feature has made cars more dangerous.

DRLs are designed so road users in front of you can see you better during daylight hours. You cannot always mitigate for every idiot factor where the clown behind the wheel doesn't have the intelligence to know when to switch between DRLs during the day and full lights at dusk. The same clowns drive around for 6 months with blown bulbs.

ironclaw

Whats even more incredible if you could easily configure the vans to detect most of the offenses you have listed here e.g. Blown bulbs, incorrect fog light usage, tax, insurance and NCT enforcement. If tolling comes into the M50, there are ready models to detect the misuse of lanes.

Alas, that will require a large tender and millions spend on fact finding.

Del2005

ironclaw wrote: »

Whats even more incredible if you could easily configure the vans to detect most of the offenses you have listed here e.g. Blown bulbs, incorrect fog light usage, tax, insurance and NCT enforcement. If tolling comes into the M50, there are ready models to detect the misuse of lanes.

Alas, that will require a large tender and millions spend on fact finding.

There's already a device that can do all that, and more, and doesn't require millions for development or fact finding, the mark one human eyeball. The added benefit of this ancient technology is that it can also detect loads of other traffic offences like DUI, phone use and uninsured/unlicenced drivers (a vehicle can display everything correctly for a camera, but the camera can't tell if the operator is legal)

mikeecho

ironclaw wrote: »

Whats even more incredible if you could easily configure the vans to detect most of the offenses you have listed here e.g. Blown bulbs, incorrect fog light usage, tax, insurance and NCT enforcement. If tolling comes into the M50, there are ready models to detect the misuse of lanes.

Alas, that will require a large tender and millions spend on fact finding.

Insert. Money making/fish in a barrel / it just blew/ On the way to have it fixed/It's a French car I have to take the bumper off

RobAMerc

Del2005 wrote: »

Most times they don't even have parking lights on they have DRLs on, which means no rear lights. Ironic that a supposed safety feature has made cars more dangerous.

i couldnt agree more - the stupidity of this law was beyond belief

ironclaw

Del2005 wrote: »

There's already a device that can do all that, and more, and doesn't require millions for development or fact finding, the mark one human eyeball. The added benefit of this ancient technology is that it can also detect loads of other traffic offences like DUI, phone use and uninsured/unlicenced drivers (a vehicle can display everything correctly for a camera, but the camera can't tell if the operator is legal)

A human eyeball costs money and is prone to error and fatigue. A camera can operate 24/7 and make a fairly good educated guess. Tax, Insurance and NCT is black and white, very easy. Lights, you can make a very good guess and can be passed to a human for checking. No light? Automate a letter and have the car attend a Garda station / NCT center within X days for checking. So your Garda is tied up for 10 mins to check all the lights on a car as opposed to sitting at the side of a road for hours on end and perhaps wasting 30 mins with a single motorist. I know that example is incredible far fetched but there are processes where we can actually free up Gardai to do the stuff technology can't.

mikeecho wrote: »

Insert. Money making/fish in a barrel / it just blew/ On the way to have it fixed/It's a French car I have to take the bumper off

Again, true. And I say all that as someone who actually does need to remove a large part of my bumper and air box to reach my headlight, but it is possible to do if someone with an iota of intelligence sits down and tenders it.

Del2005

ironclaw wrote: »

A human eyeball costs money and is prone to error and fatigue. A camera can operate 24/7 and make a fairly good educated guess. Tax, Insurance and NCT is black and white, very easy. Lights, you can make a very good guess and can be passed to a human for checking. No light? Automate a letter and have the car attend a Garda station / NCT center within X days for checking. So your Garda is tied up for 10 mins to check all the lights on a car as opposed to sitting at the side of a road for hours on end and perhaps wasting 30 mins with a single motorist. I know that example is incredible far fetched but there are processes where we can actually free up Gardai to do the stuff technology can't.

My car is fully road legal yet if I let a 10 year old drive it the camera won't pick that up, a Garda will. We've CCTV all over our towns and cities yet people are committing numerous crimes with near impunity.

The reason why our traffic laws are routinely ignored is because of the use of cameras, a Garda standing at the side of the road would make a fortune. Just looking at Stop Search Seize or any of the other police shows from numerous countries shows that police stopping vehicles, usually on instinct, results in multiple offences being discovered

What is the waste of resources if the Garda is enforcing the law? A broken law is a broken law.

ironclaw

Del2005 wrote: »

My car is fully road legal yet if I let a 10 year old drive it the camera won't pick that up, a Garda will. We've CCTV all over our towns and cities yet people are committing numerous crimes with near impunity.

The reason why our traffic laws are routinely ignored is because of the use of cameras, a Garda standing at the side of the road would make a fortune. Just looking at Stop Search Seize or any of the other police shows from numerous countries shows that police stopping vehicles, usually on instinct, results in multiple offences being discovered

What is the waste of resources if the Garda is enforcing the law? A broken law is a broken law.

I agree, but we are talking about different things. I'm not saying replace the Gardai, I'm saying we leverage tools that allow them to focus on other tasks that they as humans can instinctually or otherwise excel at.

A camera won't pick up a 10 year old driving your car, its not meant to. But it can process thousands of cars per minute on the M50 for tax, insurance and NCT without breaking a sweat. Something that a human could never achieve. Could it recognise a blown bulb? Yes, we have definitely reached the stage where that is possible. Speeding, absolutely issues there. So, a resource that never gets tired, is always operational and costs less than a human is doing the work of potentially a hundred fold. Those 100 humans it frees up can actually respond to a house call, talk to a drunk driver and concentrate on human centric activities. There is literally no downside. The issue with CCTV is that its not processing binary data with no grey area i.e. 'Is that car tax valid? Yes / No' as opposed to 'Does that person look suspicious and did they just run off with a loaf of bread?'

97golf

Recent crackdown found "135,010 vehicles were checked and 341 of them were found to be travelling in excess of the speed limit."
So 0.25% of motorists speeding. Is that where the resources should be put?

r3nu4l

97golf wrote: »

Recent crackdown found "135,010 vehicles were checked and 341 of them were found to be travelling in excess of the speed limit."
So 0.25% of motorists speeding. Is that where the resources should be put?

Interesting! Something else to consider. Of all crashes where speed is a factor, I'd like to understand what other factors were at play.

How were the brake pads? What was the tyre tread depth on the vehicle? What was the tyre pressure at the time? Was the Muppet over the legal alcohol limit, using a phone, high? Etc.

Yes, if people slowed down the likelihood of serious or fatal injuries would diminish but equally, if all those other factors were correct, there might not even be a crash. Easier to stick a van with a camera on the side of the road than actually police for these other factors though, I suppose...

quadrifoglio verde

A campaign telling people what side of the road to walk on would be a help. Likewise the value of a high vis.
The most effective form of advertising for high visibility clothing is being in the drivers seat and coming up on pedestrians with and without. Remarkable the difference between both.

1 in 3 pedestrians that I overtake seem to be walking on the wrong side of the road these days. Doesn't make sense.

At least the idiot in offaly who snapchatted his midnight rural walk home in the dark seemed to be on the right side of the road

Charles Babbage

The port Tunnel or or the Lee or Shannon tunnels are an obvious place to trail cameras to enforce lights, every 3rd or 4th vehicle has no lights. Yet they don't bother.
As for the human eyeball, the obvious thing is for the camera to identify likely cases and transmit it to human operator who can just type yes or no.

Del2005

r3nu4l wrote: »

Interesting! Something else to consider. Of all crashes where speed is a factor, I'd like to understand what other factors were at play.

How were the brake pads? What was the tyre tread depth on the vehicle? What was the tyre pressure at the time? Was the Muppet over the legal alcohol limit, using a phone, high? Etc.

Yes, if people slowed down the likelihood of serious or fatal injuries would diminish but equally, if all those other factors were correct, there might not even be a crash. Easier to stick a van with a camera on the side of the road than actually police for these other factors though, I suppose...

I'd rather if they published car incidents the same way that they report aircraft incidents, I
remember reading in the press an air incident report where there was no injuries or damage to the aircraft but due to a misunderstanding with ATC the pilots of a light aircraft could of hit a mountain in Kerry but didn't.

Why when we are loosing an A320 annually on our roads are the details of the fatal crash not available to the public? You'd think that they wanted to hide something. And as for respecting the dead, when a pilot makes a mistake they don't get privacy even for non fatal incidents so why should motorists?