Fines for some offences to double from midnight tonight.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119794848#Comment_119794848

are the gardai really going to check cars parked in EV bays are a) plug ins, and b) plugged in?

one of the fines doubling is the one for a cyclist not stopping for a school traffic warden. i'd bet all my bikes that that particular fine has not been levied ever. and i often see motorists drive past/around them at the school near me in complete confidence there's no way they're going to get in trouble.

hildegaard naughton apparently dodged the question several times on morning ireland this morning as to whether extra resources are being placed into enforcing these fines.

bluedex

I think this would be okay and a good thing if it really was used as an attempt to reduce dangerous driving.

However, instead of speed traps at dangerous black spots or a place where speed would be dangerous, we all know they'll stick them on the safest 3 lane major roads at the point where the limit is 60kph, or immediately after the point where the motorway goes from 120 to an 80kph carriageway. Pure optics and revenue generation.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119797917#Comment_119797917

Depends how you define " speeding " ?

A small vocal minority of nanny staters would happily reduce speed on the M1 to 50 kmph if they had their way

mattser

Crashing red lights fast becoming the national pastime also. 2 motorists and 1 mamil yesterday the short time I was out. Never mind points, that should be an arrestable offence.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119798852#Comment_119798852

Gardai wont but traffic wardens can and do.

The only indication they need to check is on the actual pillar where green light means not charging and blue light means charging. If not blue then fine issued. This happens already.

gary550

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119798293#Comment_119798293

I didn't mention phone use at all I mentioned speed, only speed.

I agree on the phone use, penaltys should be stiffer. Same for drink driving, there is a special place in hell for them.

whee5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119798063#Comment_119798063

Then we need to confiscate vehicles.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119798396#Comment_119798396

No, this one: https://www.drive.com.au/news/nt-open-speed-limits-extended-gq184y/

Witcher

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119800787#Comment_119800787

It's the same road..they re-introduced speed limits on it.

ChickenDish

PR exercise, there is zero enforcement at present. Speed enforcement company will make a killing though.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119800806#Comment_119800806

Yes, but not because of accidents, but because of a political outcry from medical authorities, the Police and people who aren't interested in facts based on the actual crash ststistics.

In general, humans have a completely messed up perception of risk that is badly disconnected from reality. Facts don't matter. A good example would be the opposition to nuclear energy in Ireland or people having a fear of flying or a fear of terrorism.

People were 'uncomfortable' about the open speed limit so they reintroduced limits based on this visceral feeling, not the facts based on accident statistics. That article by the BBC you linked to mentioned the NT having a higher rate of accidents than the rest of Australia, trying to infer that it was caused by open speed limit on that one road, when it wasn't. The BBC is dreadful for this sort of journalistic dishonesty. They see their proper function as moulding peoples opinions and perceptions, rather than just reporting facts.

Have you ever driven long distances in Australia?

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119797327#Comment_119797327

What happened to your thread asking if there were other people like you, who supported Russia's war crimes in Ukraine? Was that deleted for being an obvious wind-up?

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119797917#Comment_119797917

230 km/h on a motorway isn’t particularly fast if the vehicle/road conditions allow for it

GreeBo

Speeding doesn't always cause crashes, however it always increases likelihood of fatalities.

top floor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119796290#Comment_119796290

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30944970.html says only 40% of court fines are paid, with much lower than that in urban areas.

Also https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/majority-of-court-fines-are-going-unpaid

These are the cases taken and convicted in court. A lot of cases get "dropped" before conviction due to defects or just court delays and backlogs.

Having said that the "reduced penalty point" incentive encourages quite a high payment rate by before court charges are brought. But for offences with no penalty points there is no great incentive to pay up.

mikeecho

In some countries, groups like the AA or organisation that are pro motoring advocate against speed cameras or points.

Here on boards the 'motoring enthusiast's '

Want to ban fossil fuel, and crucify everyone, I wonder if they are suffering from saddle sore.

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119810586#Comment_119810586

Blame social media for a lot of this madness. Amazing the concentration of people who want to be seen to be supportive of the latest whizz which will universally be sold as positive progress and denouncing anyone who doesnt 100% subscribe to the ideas.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119796309#Comment_119796309

You say that like it's a bad thing.

It's actually dangerous drivers who are gouging money out of ordinary people. The speed van network costs us about €10 million more than it brings in, so that's two schools not being built each year because ordinary people are being gouged by those who can't be arsed to stick to a speed limit.

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119823353#Comment_119823353

Hmmm. Doesn't it stand to reason then that if you got rid of the speed van network, then you'd save €10 million each year, and could build those two schools with the money instead?

Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children????? 😁

Victor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119829152#Comment_119829152

No. The government makes its money in preventing collisions. Remove the speed vans, collisions go up and medical and social care costs go up.

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119829257#Comment_119829257

Whoosh......

kirving

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119829257#Comment_119829257

Road deaths have gone down since their introduction, but that could be correlation rather than causation. We've also had new roads, safer cars, better training. Given we are paying a (Isle of Mann based) private company a lot of money for the service - has it been proven that speed vans actually prevent collisions?

To put the risk in context, as to why drivers don't see speeding as a dangerous activity...

180,000 drivers were caught speeding in 2021, and presumably many more than that regularly speed. 136 people were killed on our roads in 2021. According to the RSA, approximately 1 in 3 fatal accidents involved "exceeding a safe speed". That, IMO is intentionally obscure language for the purposes of a headline, because they go on to state "Exceeding a safe speed refers to driving above the speed limit or driving at a speed that is too high for the road/conditions."

So fewer than 45 drivers were driving above the speed limit when they killed themselves and/or someone else. On average, you have less than 0.00025% (45/180,000) chance of being involved in a fatal collision, because you were speeding. As someone said earlier, humans are very bad at assessing risk, especially so with highly unlikely events.

mikeecho

The chances of being caught for speeding are slim.

I regularly drive 500km in a day, and it wouldn't be uncommon not to see any speed enforcement, and if I do, I might see two gosafes or Garda cars enforcing speed limits.

Now, drive that distance in the US/Canada , multiple cop cars checking speed, drive in Germany or Netherlands, speed cams everywhere, there's a reason everyone there hits the brakes when the speed limit charges.

Closer to home, going to the UK, SPECS and speed vans especially on the ferry routes, and over-head gatso's on the motorways.

If you get caught speeding in this country, you are either extremely unlucky or driving with your eyes closed.

Having said all that, in not in favor of points, just have fines.

magicbastarder

i've had a licence for 24 years i think, and used to drive around the country for a couple of years in a field service role. i've never once been breathalysed.

Having said all that, in not in favor of points, just have fines.

other way around for me. fines are meaningless to well off people, whereas points are points if you're rich or poor.

NoviGlitzko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119823353#Comment_119823353

There's a difference between dangerous driving and going over the limit. 2 strikes and your license taken off you is mad stuff.

User1998

Does anyone know is there an official tolerance with speed cameras? For example in the UK you are allowed 10% plus 2mph. So on a 70mph zone you are allowed 79mph. And if you use Waze you could probably add another 6mph to that as cars speedometers always under read. So around 85mph (136 kph) on the speedometer.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119850231#Comment_119850231

How long would it take to get drivers to cop on and start obeying speed limits, most of the time?

mikeecho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119850470#Comment_119850470

There is no official tolerance

Victor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119850470#Comment_119850470

I suspect you won't get both of those at the same time.

magicbastarder

Car speedometers are not consistent been makes/models as to how much they overstate your speed anyway.