Meanwhile on the Roads...

Seth Brundle · 28-12-2024 09:26PM

So in the past week we've had a judge dismiss 30 speeding charges because he didn't like the set speed limit. Since then we've seen eight(?) people killed on our roads (here and in NI), at least four of whom were vulnerable road users.

AndrewJRenko · 29-12-2024 11:01AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122993110#Comment_122993110

With at least one child with them, witnessing the event. JFC.

CramCycle · 29-12-2024 09:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122995176#Comment_122995176

That maybe true but it shouldn't be that way, bar motorways, it should be possible and reasonable to walk with an expectation of safety and due consideration from other road users.

zell12 · 30-12-2024 03:47PM

More urging and pleading. Are garda doing their own media now (the microphone)?

https://www.thejournal.ie/garda-roads-policing-safety-deaths-fatalities-christmas-6582861-Dec2024/

magicbastarder · 30-12-2024 04:12PM

I assume just recording it in case they want to stick it up on Facebook or Twitter?

Dr_Colossus · 30-12-2024 05:36PM

But "gardaí were working tirelessly to decrease casualties on our roads, with approximately 2,000 checkpoints carried out each week."

https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/1230/1488510-road-safety/

I've done 700km over the past week and didn't come across a single check point and only one Go-Safe van on the M6. Granted that's just anecdotal but there needs to be a serious increase in policing and actual deterrent/sentencing as evidence by the clip of the scumbags on dirtbikes/quads daunting the squad car in Dublin.

Seth Brundle · 30-12-2024 05:46PM

I'd say that number of checkpoints is from the same AGS internal report that says that each garda is doing 30 minutes of roads policing per shift 🙄

khamilton · 30-12-2024 07:56PM

I did Dublin to Limerick (M7), Limerick to Letrim (M20 and then R roads), and Leitrim to Dublin (backroads and then M4) over the christmas period and didn't pass a single checkpoint, gosafe van, mobile speed check or any visible presence.

magicbastarder · 31-12-2024 07:12AM

...

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2024/12/30/cameras-to-catch-drivers-breaking-red-lights-to-be-introduced-in-dublin/

ednwireland · 31-12-2024 08:28AM

only seen one checkpoints and I've done donegal to dublin4 times in the last few weeks and I was breathalysed at a PSNI checkpoint.

Pinch Flat · 31-12-2024 01:31PM

I'm still astonished that after nearly 25 years of driving here I've only been breathalysed once

Large bottle small glass · 31-12-2024 01:40PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123003620#Comment_123003620

I'm driving since 1992, doing 50k km a year since 1998.

I was never breathalysed until summer of 2023. Have been breathalysed twice since, all in the same town.

Seems to be largely dependent on the Superintendent's attitude to drink driving.

Some days I meet 2-3 speed checks, then I could go weeks without any. Random data isn't a good starting point to extrapolate any trend.

magicbastarder · 31-12-2024 01:49PM

I've never been breathalysed. Doing about 12k km a year for the last ten years or so, driving since the late 90s.

De Bhál · 31-12-2024 01:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123002919#Comment_123002919

From that article

The council’s traffic-monitoring staff observed increasing numbers of drivers running red lights and as a result, had to introduce greater delays between lights turning red for vehicles and the “green man” lighting up for pedestrians, he said.

“Because people speeding through red lights is just so widespread, we have to delay more and more the pedestrian signal to make it safe for pedestrians to step off,” said Mr O’Brien. “That means we have to give more red time to cars, so running the light has actually become counterproductive for cars. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Large bottle small glass · 31-12-2024 02:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123003720#Comment_123003720

I drive a bit more carefully at lights in Dublin; the "red" seems a bit more active in the Black pool.

Years ago when I was up and down between New York City and Baltimore there used to be a noticeable difference between both cities. In one driver's went early on green, the other late into the red. Made for some interesting experiences in a complete tank known as a Chevy Caprice

JMcL · 31-12-2024 04:04PM

It might well be dependant on region. I haven't been on the roads locally that much over the past month, but have seen a few checkpoints down here around Waterford. Random breath checks one evening about a week before Christmas in full "few drinks after work" season ( first time ever being breathalysed - takes a fair amount of air and I didn't realise you could take a breath in between 😅), and 2 more in different places this morning. But that said, with disgraces like that judge and the other gobshite in Mayo from earlier in the year, the situation is dire, and the Guards must have done degree of "why would I even bother". If it takes an amendment to the law to put a stop that opinionated judicial nonsense, then so be it.

AndrewJRenko · 31-12-2024 06:36PM

I've never been breathalysed in 40+ years of driving. I came up to a MAT checkpoint earlier in the year, queued up behind a couple of other drivers they tested, and they closed down the checkpoint as they finished with the car in front and waved me through. I felt a bit cheated!

CramCycle · 01-01-2025 03:38PM

Listening to Radio 1 this morning, they almost stayed one point but eventually started making excuses for driving and through in a bit of victim blaming but from the start, to put it in more relatable terms:

In December in Ireland, one driver per hour was caught drink driving, it was likely much more than this as several reports won't be in yet.

There was one road fatality every 48 hours in 2024.

zell12 · 02-01-2025 10:50AM

Mirror today

The top cop added: “An Garda Síochána has been working around the clock every day of this year…. Gardaí have conducted more than 100,000 checkpoints on Irish roads this year, half of which were Mandatory Intoxicant Testing.

Seth Brundle · 02-01-2025 11:08AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123008386#Comment_123008386

100,000/365/26 = 10.5 checkpoints per county per day

I'd like to see what defines a checkpoint in their view

magicbastarder · 02-01-2025 11:16AM

if there are two million motorists in ireland, that means that if you drive the average number of kilometres per year, you can expect to hit a checkpoint once every twenty years. and breathalysed once every 40 years!

nilhg · 02-01-2025 11:49AM

Someone quoted a stat to me the other day, I have no source for it and am wondering if it could be true?

"80% of males aged 30-49 stopped for speeding, tested positive for alcohol or some other illegal substance"

It would be a small enough sample, only those pulled in by garda on the road, no speed vans but that 80% figure is striking. Do the guards test everyone they pull in for speeding or would they have to form an opinion there was something else wrong?

magicbastarder · 02-01-2025 11:56AM

it's possible that whoever provided the stat misunderstood?

maybe it's that of drivers who were stopped for speeding, and subesquently tested positive, 80% were men?

or; i would start by asking; how many people done for speeding are actually stopped?

and is it standard to run a breathalyser/drug test on every such stop?

it's quite possible that gardai administer such tests in such circumstances only when they have reason to believe the driver is intoxicated - which you would expect would result in a high figure.

also; the stat as quoted states 'tested positive' - does that actually mean over the limit? obviously, you can test positive for alcohol while being under the limit.

nilhg · 02-01-2025 12:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123008611#Comment_123008611

Anything is possible, but the chap who gave me the stat is a bright lad and was very clear in what he had been told but had no more info. I'll ask him when I see him next and see if he can clarify.

magicbastarder · 02-01-2025 12:05PM

even the page on the RSA site raises questions:

Facts

7 out of 10 driver fatalities are men (collision data for 2016-2020).

The National Drugs National Drug Related Deaths Index (NDRDI) report 2013-2017 found

9 out of 10 driver fatalities, who were speeding were men.
9 out of 10 driver fatalities, not wearing a seatbelt were men.

Garda detections (Jan – Sept 2018-2021)

87% of drivers arrested for driving under the influence of drink or drugs were men.
75% of drivers arrested for driving using a mobile phone while driving were men.
74% of drivers arrested for speeding were men.

https://www.rsa.ie/road-safety/campaigns/male-drivers

take that first stat - 9 out of ten speeding driver fatalities were men; but it comes from a specifically drugs related context. so is the stat itself about drugs or not? if not, why are the RSA quoting a source who probably got that info from the RSA themselves?