Meanwhile on the Roads...

magicbastarder

is that the first custodial sentence resulting from motor insurance fraud?

Paddigol

https://www.thejournal.ie/seatbelt-silencers-ireland-6367290-May2024/#:~:text=IRISH%20GARAGES%20HAVE%20been%20selling%20devices%20called%20%E2%80%9Cbeep%20stoppers%E2%80%9D%20aimed,are%20not%20worn%20while%20driving.

We share the roads with this calibre of person

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122136789#Comment_122136789

People have been getting seat belt buckles from scrap yards for this very purpose ever since the beep became a thing.

Kaisr Sose

I don't understand the increase in non use of seatbelts. What's so bad that people don't want to wear them?

magicbastarder

i used to know a chap who refused to wear one; this was 20 years ago so i don't have a totally clear memory of his reasons, but it did include a notion about not being told how to manage his own safety, and he also claimed that 5% of collisions are made worse if you're wearing a seatbelt. i did ask him 'are you planning, if you crash, on crashing in that 5% window?'; i don't recall any reasonable answer.

from the article:

An observational survey by the Road Safety Authority found that there was a 4 percentage point drop in seatbelt use among drivers last year to 95%, with a similar fall recorded for front seat passengers.

that's a hell of a drop, a quintupling of non-wearers?

or i wonder was there a 4% increase in non-wearers?

cletus

https://connachttribune.ie/judge-throws-out-dozens-of-speed-cases-over-van/

So the cases were thrown out because it was considered dangerous that the drivers were jamming on in order to not get done speeding.

This one has me baffled, to be honest...

magicbastarder

if ever i heard an argument for 'disguising' speed camera vans as normal vans…

Macy0161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122137757#Comment_122137757

That was the way before "go safe". Certainly was for the one that was regularly in Kilmac on the N11.

Paddigol

I seem to remember years ago there being issues around the 'hiding' or disguising of speed vans as constituting a form of entrapment that proved problematic in prosecution of cases. Memory is hazy.

I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that if the political will was there they could simply steam roll the issue through with the assistance of the Attorney General. A complete overhaul of the legislation, to address fully the various loopholes that defendants can avail of currently. Just make it a policy that we are now taking speeding and RTA offences seriously - a zero tolerance approach. Just grasp the nettle and say "yes, we are sticking fixed cameras all over the place specifically to try and catch drivers who attempt to modify their driving to avoid visible speed vans. We are sticking cameras on as many traffic lights as possible specifically to record and penalise drivers who break the lights. And fines/ penalty points will be automated".

This softly, softly approach will never work.

Dr_Colossus

Seems like an awkful lot of motorists (53) summonsed to court for speeding in one location (no wonder the courts are so inefficient and cases taking years for an outcome). Guess those 53 are just the number that contested the initial fine so what about all the suckers that paid upfront and took their 3 penalty points for 3 years and resulting increase in insurance premiums? The judge exclaimed "You’re not going to be the benefit if you ignore the administration of justice, you won’t be getting any bounces off me,". Bonus so only to those that contested the fine and actually showed up in court for the day, good to know.

hesker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122137672#Comment_122137672

Who needs a solicitor when the judge can get you off

Paddigol

There he is with his 'entrapment' nonsense. District court judges are a law unto themselves. He's basically appointed himself a consultant road safety expert with zero qualifications. Just a judge who drives a big Merc happy to take the drivers side against the bad speed vans. A bucket load of horse manure. Unfortunately the DPP are never arsed appealing these kind of decisions. Just seen as not worth their while.

The fact that they were jumping on the brakes should've gotten them an extra fine… really grinds my gears - you see it every day on the N11 - some numpty will be driving a couple of feet off your rear bumper and when you pull over after passing, they'll suddenly slow approaching a 'usual suspect' brow/ turn on the road. Plenty of times I'll end up undertaking cars who have jumped on the brakes because they spot a speed van, going from 110/ 115 to 90/ 95 and causing traffic to back up.

But yeah, remember your hi viz lads. Cos that's the problem on the roads.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122137672#Comment_122137672

 It’s shooting fish in a barrel said by, I sh1t you not, a judge. Dear f*cking lord. Imagine the barrel is a choice, and the fish chose to get into it to get shot, then it makes sense, otherwise he is some sham of a judge.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122137899#Comment_122137899

He fined anyone with out a solicitor, in case anyone thought it was OK to represent yourself.

what_traffic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122137672#Comment_122137672

What baffles me here is that nothing of significance has been done to this REGIONAL road now and others in Ballinsloe since they got "the bypass" i.e M6 Motorway over a decade ago now. Church Street is still the same when it was part of the main Galway to Dublin Road N6. Speeding should be engineered out of these types of roads.

JMcL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122137672#Comment_122137672

I was picking my jaw up of the floor on this one, and was coming to post it, but you beat me to it.

If the article is accurate, and I've no reason to believe it's misreporting, he's parachuting in his own subjective and obviously biased (shooting fish in barrel nonsense) "evidence". Surely he's obliged to only treat the evidence before him? Worth a complaint to the judicial council?

standardg60

I completely agree with the Judge tbh, an accident blackspot in a 50k zone? Yeah right.

There used to be a regular van on the drop down from the Dundrum bypass to the village, where you'd have to brake to maintain being under the limit, they'd never position on the other side for anyone going uphill.

It is nothing more than fish in a barrel, and has zero impact on road deaths.

CramCycle

If you can't keep it under the limit there, you will do it elsewhere. It's a 50km zone, if you can't stay under the limit, then you shouldn't be driving. It is as stupid as those people saying that the 30km limit is difficult as they sit in traffic daily averaging, you guessed it, under 30kmph. Memory serves me, there were regular minor crashes there at the car park exit a few years ago. Yes, no recollection of fatal ones but enough that I can see the justification. Also, the line of sight is decent, it was also a bit of a "due care and attention" test as well.

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122138675#Comment_122138675

So what your arguing is that it's fine to speed, as long as nobody died in that spot yet?

Shooting fish in a barrel is a rubbish analogy. All of the locations of speed vans are sign posted on the road, as well as flagged on website. Seems like a pretty poor way of generating cash by telling people where they can avoid being caught speeding.

Weepsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122138675#Comment_122138675

If they are speeding there, they are speeding on the dangerous roads too. It's not that hard to stick to a speed limit. Anyone who says otherwise shouldn't be allowed to drive.

Galway had the highest amount of accident blackspots too only a few years ago, and there has been quite a few high profile crashes around and near ballinasloe, that there should be a zero tolerance approach.

and go look at it. It's a street that has quite a number of houses on it, pedestrian crossings, a national school and speed bumps. It has been engineered to slow people down, and they still cant stick to it. Every single one of them should have been fined.

TheChizler

The bridge came out of nowhere...

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/car-crashes-cork-bridge-19th-29172665.amp

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122140644#Comment_122140644

Was the bridge wearing high viz at the time?

ARX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122137947#Comment_122137947

So people who were breaking the speed limit get off scot-free because the judge thinks that GoSafe weren't playing cricket, old boy? FFS.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122141939#Comment_122141939

That's the nuts and bolts of it, yeah. Unfortunately I think this mentality of RTA enforcement being an attack on motorists is a generational thing that we'll have to put up with until all the old codgers in positions of power are shipped off to nursing homes.

elchupanebrey

On the way to work this evening. 3 cars up ahead passed out a cyclist. All gave the biker plenty of space. The 2nd and 3rd cars crossed the centre line into the path of an oncoming car to make the pass. Obviously trying to drive economically and minimise use of the brake.

Paddigol

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/donegal/news/victim-of-fatal-hit-and-run-in-donegal-remembered-in-the-dail-during-road-safety-debate/a1864351847.html

What sort of person leaves the scene of an incident like that? Seems to be a more and more regular occurrence? How can someone live with themselves while the family of the deceased are left with the added trauma of never knowing what happened.

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122146950#Comment_122146950

The prevalence of motorists crossing over the centre line to overtake cyclist or or parked cars into oncoming traffic, including cyclists is very common. Some people just wont slow down

This type of overtske can be made worse when it's a chain of vehicles tailgating leading to close passes by the following vehicles. These are so close to vehicles in front, they have no clue what is ahead etc. Blind following biind and inconsiderate leading vehicle.

Macy0161

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122146950#Comment_122146950

I would say overtakes that give plenty of space, but where the car can't see what's coming (e.g. on a bend or a brow of a hill) are far more common than close passes. Probably freak me out more. They do it with other slow moving vehicles too. But what is noticeable is that if there is an oncoming vehicle, they expect that to slow down or stop - no danger of them braking and pulling back in!

magicbastarder

i had that the other day - first time up around the back of the airport in eight months, and what i expected to happen, happened - a guy driving an artic overtook me on a blind bend, into oncoming traffic.

as i was further left, i saw the car before he did, and shot my hand out as a warning - but he accelerated into the manouevre rather than hanging back.

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122148208#Comment_122148208

This happens so frequently. I reported a bin truck that drove right up behind me and tried to overtake multiple times out of Enniskerry. Each time they tried, they could not pass due to on coming traffic. It finally overtook me almost fully on opposite side of the road before the last bend. From the left side of the road I could see a cyclist coming towards me but the truck driver could not see them. Senseless stuff. Aound the bend it was dead straight to the garage and beyond. Anyone overtaking before or at blind bends needs their head examined. They are a potential killer, of others, themselves or both.