Garda M50 patrol

StereoSound

Where are they? I never see them.. You can get away with driving 140kph all day long north and south bound... Not that I do that but I see many tearing past me at those speeds or more at all times of the day. Is this country wide? I drive a lot because of the type of work I do and I see sweet F all Garda patroling motorways in this country.

amcalester

I saw a Traffic Corp this morning on my way to work, he was cruising along in the middle lane heading north then sped up to overtake a line of cars and immediately went from lane 3 to the slip road to exit at junction 11.

When he came to the traffic lights at the roundabout he broke a red.

It's possible he got a call and this explains the pisspoor driving but at no point did the blues and twos come on.

So, maybe we're better off without them "patrolling".

porsche boy

Not sure about the M50 but the garda patrols on the N7 are unmarked cars. They had a 3 series for a while.

CiniO

I'm driving over 10 years in Ireland and cover high mileage. Never received a ticket even though im speeding every single day.

JimmyMcGill

CiniO wrote: »

I'm driving over 10 years in Ireland and cover high mileage. Never received a ticket even though im speeding every single day.

Fair play.
This Speed Kills campaign would have you believe every speeder is an out of control lunatic intent on one thing only.

dr.fuzzenstein

JimmyMcGill wrote: »

Fair play.
This Speed Kills campaign would have you believe every speeder is an out of control lunatic intent on one thing only.

Course! As soon as you venture 1 km/h beyond the posted limit, you will spin out of control, your car will erupt into a ball of flame and you will skid backwards into a creche, killing 17 babies.
But everything else is OK (ignoring signs, lines, lights*, lanes, other road users or crawling along at 60 km/h no matter where you are), because you're not speeding and thus are a sage driver.
Automatically and without exception.

*
General rule of thumb is "red means stop", but the first 3-4 cars can still go through, it's grand.

Del2005

StereoSound wrote: »

Where are they? I never see them.. You can get away with driving 140kph all day long north and south bound... Not that I do that but I see many tearing past me at those speeds or more at all times of the day. Is this country wide? I drive a lot because of the type of work I do and I see sweet F all Garda patroling motorways in this country.

They are too busy patrolling the N4 between the M50 and M4 for people exceeding the 80 limit to bother with the huge amount of offences committed on the M50.

rex-x

To be fair the motorway (safest roads in the county) are the last place you want garda resources wasted

John_Rambo

I have a feeling pulling speeders over on the M50 would cause more chaos/problems than solve them. People tend to drop the anchors when they see blue lights and the M50 can be a fairly packed, fast moving urban motorway with not much space to pull in.

The vans would probably cause similar issues. People reducing from 140kph to 9okph at the sight of them.

Gerrup Outta Dat!

StereoSound wrote: »

Where are they? I never see them.. You can get away with driving 140kph all day long north and south bound... Not that I do that but I see many tearing past me at those speeds or more at all times of the day. Is this country wide? I drive a lot because of the type of work I do and I see sweet F all Garda patroling motorways in this country.

I’m more concerned about the **** hogging lanes. They’re much more dangerous and a hindrance than someone tipping along at 160 km/h IMO.

Cuddlesworth

M50 carries what, 160k cars a day roughly. Assuming you encounter roughly 200 cars per journey, with a shift of 1 car per annul, 3 shifts of people per day, two officers per car, you would see a police car once roughly once every 3 years at a cost of roughly 400k+ per year. If you think about wages, maintenance and costs of the vehicles, shift bonuses etc what would you need to see some enforcement?

Sexual Chocolate

Do see them every now and again in unmarked insignias and i40s.

Paulzx

StereoSound wrote: »

Where are they? I never see them.. You can get away with driving 140kph all day long north and south bound... Not that I do that but I see many tearing past me at those speeds or more at all times of the day. Is this country wide? I drive a lot because of the type of work I do and I see sweet F all Garda patroling motorways in this country.

Fair play if you can do 140kph all day long on the m50 during the day.

I'm happy just to be moving.

Markcheese

See plenty of squad cars and traffic Corp in and around n40, n25, n22 their usually not going to bother with some one a bit over the limit, it's too much trouble, and they won't have to wait long for someone doing serious speed while on the phone and undertaking...
. . M50 policing should be done from traffic cameras on gantries, post out the tickets for speeding and driving like a dickhead, let the anpr do the work and direct the Gardaí to cars that ignore the system

Del2005

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

M50 carries what, 160k cars a day roughly. Assuming you encounter roughly 200 cars per journey, with a shift of 1 car per annul, 3 shifts of people per day, two officers per car, you would see a police car once roughly once every 3 years at a cost of roughly 400k+ per year. If you think about wages, maintenance and costs of the vehicles, shift bonuses etc what would you need to see some enforcement?

I was a passenger in a van a few years ago when there was a few crashes on the M50. I'd hazard that 70% or more of drivers were on the phone or otherwise distracted.

The other day I was beside a car in traffic and they had a phone mounted in the middle of the screen below the mirror creating a huge blind spot while a video was playing. Not only is the placing of an obstruction in the center of the screen ignored by the Gardaí, and therefore nearly all motorists, but it's so ignored that people are willing to drive with an video on display.

A regular patrol would pay for itself in fines alone never mind the cost savings from reduced congestion.

deathtocaptcha

I think their presence on the M50 would do more harm than good. It's a very busy, narrow road so there's little space for them to camp somewhere without posing a hazard / obstruction. Same on the on / off ramps - in generally they're all pretty busy spots and space is limited enough as it is...

If they go after someone and pull them over, they potentially have an even more dangerous situation where the car they're going after will pull in on the hard shoulder and someone has to get out and talk to them, putting their own life in danger for what may be a minor speeding offence...

Finally, both cars have to rejoin 3 lanes of traffic on a busy road from a standing start which is another potentially dangerous situation.

CiniO

deathtocaptcha wrote: »

I think their presence on the M50 would do more harm than good. It's a very busy, narrow road so there's little space for them to camp somewhere without posing a hazard / obstruction. Same on the on / off ramps - in generally they're all pretty busy spots and space is limited enough as it is...

If they go after someone and pull them over, they potentially have an even more dangerous situation where the car they're going after will pull in on the hard shoulder and someone has to get out and talk to them, putting their own life in danger for what may be a minor speeding offence...

Finally, both cars have to rejoin 3 lanes of traffic on a busy road from a standing start which is another potentially dangerous situation.

For that reason all over Europe police would never pull you over on motorway, instead they would overtake you, display message to follow them and take you off the motorway through first exit.

It would be mad to pull someone on the hard shoulder of the motorway.

Gerrup Outta Dat!

CiniO wrote: »

For that reason all over Europe police would never pull you over on motorway, instead they would overtake you, display message to follow them and take you off the motorway through first exit.

It would be mad to pull someone on the hard shoulder of the motorway.

Really? Like a lcd screen on the back of patrol car? What if the person claims illiteracy or they claim they didn’t see it and overtake.

Dravokivich

deathtocaptcha wrote: »

I think their presence on the M50 would do more harm than good. It's a very busy, narrow road so there's little space for them to camp somewhere without posing a hazard / obstruction. Same on the on / off ramps - in generally they're all pretty busy spots and space is limited enough as it is...

They have loads of sections reserved for them to wait in. They look like mini lay-bys.

deathtocaptcha wrote: »

Finally, both cars have to rejoin 3 lanes of traffic on a busy road from a standing start which is another potentially dangerous situation.

No you don't. You only have to join 1 lane. And you can use the hard shoulder to build up your speed, prior to merging.

Del2005

Gerrup Outta Dat! wrote: »

Really? Like a lcd screen on the back of patrol car? What if the person claims illiteracy or they claim they didn’t see it and overtake.

One of these mounted on the rear parcel shelf or window.

http://www.101signwholesale.com/images/NS-500UA.jpg

They'll pull you over on the motorway give them a bollocking

I love Sean nos

StereoSound wrote: »

I see many tearing past me at those speeds or more at all times of the day.

So what?

CiniO

Gerrup Outta Dat! wrote: »

Really? Like a lcd screen on the back of patrol car?

Exactly

What if the person claims illiteracy or they claim they didn’t see it and overtake.

I think those signals are clearly defined in law, so you can't just claim illiteracy, same as you can't claim you don't understand traffic signs or signals or markings.

markc1184

Seen a navy coloured Audi pull a car on the m50 a couple of weeks back between the Finglas and Ballymun junctions. Never would have thought it was a Garda car if it passed me only for it had tiny blue lights either side of the reg plate and the usual blinking headlights. Same day also seen a black 5 series and a silver Merc with the blue lights leaving the m50 and joining the m1. Plenty of unmarked cars on the go these days and not the usual Hyundai, Toyota or Ford.

I love Sean nos

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

killing 17 babies.

That's very specific.