Meanwhile on the Roads...

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068432#Comment_122068432

Alot like unmarked cameras, give it 3 months when the fines are at a peak and then you will see no one along a bus route speeding during certain hours. It's why I was a fan of the idea of unannounced cameras on bus lanes to cover bus lane usage and speeding. Just do it, no big fan fare. 28 days later the fines start hitting people, 3 months later it's too risky and people laugh at Muppets doing it, one year later it's habit and kids start to learn and carry this on through life.

blackwhite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068613#Comment_122068613

I’m not sure Gardai on buses would be catching speeding?

Cameras for bus lanes are indeed the obvious solution to stopping the abuse of bus lanes. However IMO we need high-visibility of unmarked car policing also - to police the various other poor behaviours at commuting times (and other times TBH)

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068432#Comment_122068432

That's true. As noted above, the UK forces involved got publicity through other means.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068432#Comment_122068432

True, but I think that one of the problems here is that policing has been decidedly and deliberately visible. So it's led to an 'if you can't see them you're safe' attitude. For example, go safe vans being as wilfully visible as possible. Wouldn't hurt to instil a fear of being caught even when you can't see who's trying to catch you...

blackwhite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068767#Comment_122068767

It’s why a fleet of unmarked patrol cars pulling people would be most effective (and not just a fleet of basic-spec i40s with a visible extra aerial).

If people constantly see a random make of unmarked car with blues flashing and a car pulled over for some unspecified offence then it’s gets the message through to people that there might always be an unmarked car sitting behind them

Thelonious Monk

Deep into the bridge tonight. This stretch seems to be the trickiest part. Lads will be out all night I'd say. At this stage I'm pretty obsessed with these roadworks!

https://streamable.com/2ogw54

Edit: Wrong thread!

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122068678#Comment_122068678

I wasn't saying they would catch speeding, more that them being incognito might actually be a better long game. I presume they would catch phone users, inattentive drivers, dangerous driving, bus lane use etc. Also no harm to have them on public transport as well, two birds with one stone.

zell12

TheJournal readers share

A Dubliner who has recently given up regular cycling for public transport said the feeling of threat from drivers had become “overwhelming after Covid”. He quit cycling after being hit by a van that veered into a cycle lane at speed.

https://www.thejournal.ie/dangerous-driving-roads-ireland-enforcement-safety-6364885-Apr2024/

Paddigol

Someone made a very valid point to me recently - you rarely ever see motorcycle Gardai anymore. Surely they'd be a very cost-effective and efficient option for roads policing. Much better view of drivers on mobile phones, mobility, ability to filter through stationary/ slow moving traffic, much more mobile than a car etc.

I remember coming across a clip the Oz police force put out of one of their moto-coppers catching motorists on their phones, in a way that would have been very difficult for a car-driving garda to have done.

magicbastarder

The father of a friend of mine once flicked a cigarette butt out the window of his car and it landed in the lap of a motorcycle cop.

I was once driving down the quays, over 20 years ago, and a motorbike cop hammered on the window and told me to turn the music down. It was the Kevin Shields remix of 'if they move, kill em' by primal scream which demands to be listened to loud.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078054#Comment_122078054

The only time I see them is when they're giving escorts to visiting ambassadors going to the Aras or teams going to Landsdowne or Croker. I guess the vroom vroom stuff is much more fun than handing out tickets for using phones.

We also have garda bicycles, which only seem to get out to big events at Marlay or Croker. You'll very, very rarely see a garda monitoring traffic on a bike, which gives the same much better view as a motorbike.

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078080#Comment_122078080

Did you turn it down?

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078080#Comment_122078080

that's a tune!

I hope you look at him confusedly and yelled "WHAT?!"

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078182#Comment_122078182

i turned it up while fixing him with a cold, hard stare.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078868#Comment_122078868

it's a **** corker of a tune. well, 'tune' might be stretching it.

blackwhite

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078156#Comment_122078156

They use them to do speed checks on the N11 from time to time - easier to conceal the bike behind a wall or hedge than a full patrol car.

blackwhite

Garda on foot outside the British Embassy this morning had a car stopped was taking the drivers details as I passed this morning. Assuming it was for bus lane use.

buffalo

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/louth/news/courts/louth-judge-dismisses-drink-driving-charge-after-listening-back-to-audio-recording-of-gardas-evidence/a1783149146.html

This van was swaying, and sparks were coming from the rear.

Gda Buckley said the driver seemed to be struggling badly to control the vehicle. The rear wheel on the right-hand side was ‘disintegrated and practically on rims’.

He placed the patrol car on the road and when the van came to a stop he got out and went over to this vehicle.

Gda Buckley continued that the defendant was struggling to sit up straight in the driver’s seat. There was a smell of drink from him, and his eyes were bloodshot.
…
…no time of driving had been given.

The charges were dismissed.

😡

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122080876#Comment_122080876

Absolutely infuriating. I fully expect people to direct their ire at the judge and the 'legal system', but to me this is a perfect example of what happens when you don't have a dedicated roads policing unit. You get 'ordinary' Gardai who have to fit roads policing into a host of other duties they're expected to perform on a daily basis. And when there's a culture of disinterest in roads policing and road safety coming all the way down from Government, to Garda Top Brass to Superintendents, it's not a shock that there's a lack of care in how offenders are charged and offences prosecuted. In this case it seems that a basic prerequisite to prosecuting the charge was overlooked.

Again, people will say "bloody lawyers" "common sense" etc etc etc. But it's like in any line of work - if you don't demand high standards, if you don't resource for high standards, you'll get a mess. The Judge's hands were probably (I'm not a criminal lawyer) tied as soon as the defence pointed out the deficiency.

Absolutely infuriating. If that offender had killed someone that day, the politicians would be out wringing their hands and offering "thoughts and prayers". All they really need to do is actually - REALLY - take the issue of roads policing seriously.

As an aside, today on the bus I witnessed an impatient driver undertaking another car on the slip road joining the N11 just after the Southern Cross in Bray. It took him a while, he had to abandon his attempt once because the vehicle in front was one of those wide Ford Ranger types, and he had to half drive onto the grass verge, but he managed to undertake the other car in front of him - which was also merging - and gain a whole 3 places in the bumper to bumper traffic once he had joined the traffic. That's the attitude we're dealing with here.

sy_flembeck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122081424#Comment_122081424

That whole area is a 5hitshow lately. I was driving across the N11 last week past Hill's Garage towards the roundabout. Bit of traffic and the car behind, like many others lately, takes a left into the garage, careers across the forecourt and comes out the other exit on Killarney Road two whole cars in front of me. I lined up beside him at the lights at St. Fergal's Church a minute or so later as those two cars had peeled off in the interim. Net gain for him = 0!

And don't get me started on the ones who come off the N11 southbound, race up the left lane, which is solely for traffic crossing the N11 to go northbound, then go round the roundabout, passing 2 exits and turn right onto Southern Cross. At no roundabout anywhere is this correct

zell12

Sign says accident, but RTÉ blurb says killed and crash

A5 is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the country

Paddigol

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-the-locations-of-nine-new-speed-safety-cameras-around-ireland-following-rise-in-road-deaths/a467130968.html

Something odd about that headline… what's the implication, that they're just money-making rackets? Maybe the Indo could use ' ' in its headlines when describing 'accidents' and 'collisions' between trucks and pedestrians/ cyclists on our roads from now on too.

JMcL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078080#Comment_122078080

When I was living in Kilmainham in the early noughties I used to nip out at lunchtime for the odd lap of the park. One day I was filtering past a queue of cars at the junction near the hospital down by the Chapelizod gate to head up the Furry Glen. The lead car was making to turn right, and hadn't noticed me until I was right up beside him. Adrenalin kicked in and I accelerated right across the junction - in front of a squad of trainee motorbike guards (they used to train in the park, don't know if this is still the case) - the head honcho of which read me the riot act, quite rightly as I should have had better awareness.

Not long after that, this time somewhere up near the Aras, I passed a similar squad one of whom was trying, largely in vain, to lift his bike which had keeled over. I didn't laugh. Ish.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122078054#Comment_122078054

Saw a motorbike Garda parked up in clontarf recently. Motorist at the lights with phone in hand. He was waving at her for a while until she even noticed him, and then he just signalled to her to put the phone down. No ticket or anything.

JMcL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122090458#Comment_122090458

On a related note, the Wild Ones Podcast had a very good in-depth interview with Cycling Mikey last week - what motivates him etc. (on YouTube but you can also find audio only versions). Well worth a listen.

(PS. I'm just realising I'm replying to you on a "Meanwhile on the roads" thread right after replying to you on a "What whiskey are we drinking" thread - no idea what that says 😅)

Cabaal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122090458#Comment_122090458

Only way this behavior is going to stop is driving bans, make people really fear touching the phone.

TheChizler

Walking the dog tonight and in the space of two minutes two drivers passed having full blown video calls, phones in hand held in front of their faces. The weird thing was both had their hands free system on at full volume, only reason I looked up to notice them.

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122091240#Comment_122091240

There could be the death penalty for phone use but it wouldn't have made any difference to that interaction. As with many things in Ireland, it's not the lack of available punishments that's the issue - it's the lack of enforcement.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122092395#Comment_122092395

And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, where people who want to do the right thing on the roads eventually just give up and exceed the speed limit, hop into bus lanes, park on cycle paths with hazards on, have a quick check of the football results on their phone, tap out a few texts, because everyone else does it and lets face it, it makes your life easier if you don't have to play by the rules, yet nobody is ever really seen to be punished - sure we all know where the speed vans are likely to be parked up. Of course we're all aware of the rising death toll on the roads, but as humans we're adept at rationalising these things along the lines of "ah yeah but it would never happen to me, I'm very careful when I drive after a few pints or text with one eye on the road, or rip down the bus lane because I'm turning left in a couple of kms".

Road traffic offences aren't taken seriously by anyone, really. There's very little outrage in the media (who are more interested in the clicks they get for having a pop off the Greens), Govt are happy to just ride out any storm like the one we have now and offer "thoughts and prayers". The judiciary deal with half baked prosecutions from the Gardai/ DPP. The Gardai are under-resourced. And there's no incentive to individual Gardai to make anything more than a token effort.

Its just one giant collective shrug in this country.

magicbastarder

Its just one giant collective shrug in this country

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/05/03/rsa-declines-to-appear-before-tds-because-of-immediate-road-safety-priorities/

"In a letter to the committee, the chief executive of the RSA Sam Waide said the authority could not appear partly due to “operational priorities”.

Mr Waide said the RSA has “limited availability” due to “immediate road safety priorities”."