Garda speed checks

Trampas

Once again the garda are out doing speed checks on roads where they can get drivers like shooting ducks in a barrell.

They must need to bring in the figures for the bank holiday weekend.

They were on the chapelizord bypass heading back into the city at the top of the hill on a road you would hardly see an accident especially on a sunday afternoon when not much traffic on it.

PowerHouseDan

I drove to Galway on Friday not once speed check..... Drove back today not one speed check.....

ballooba

Traffic Corp car on the Dual Carriageway between Newbridge and Naas. Some dickhead in an SUV came steaming up behing me at 60mph and changed lanes at the last minute. Speed limit is 50mph.

They were on the opposite side though so I doubt they clocked him.

Bee

Trampas wrote:

Once again the garda are out doing speed checks on roads where they can get drivers like shooting ducks in a barrell.

They must need to bring in the figures for the bank holiday weekend.

They were on the chapelizord bypass heading back into the city at the top of the hill on a road you would hardly see an accident especially on a sunday afternoon when not much traffic on it.

The public needs an input as to where Garda check points should be. There effect on road safety is zilch, they are only acting as Stealth Tax collectors whilst having zero discernible effect on road safety.
We need to motivate public opinion to make an effective use of check points etc. It took years to happen but excellent journalism highlighted the corruption in the Catholic church and it is now resulting in some real action on the abuse cases.

Perhaps we need a similar campaign to highlight road safety and the whole rotten totally ineffective system that is run by the Gardai hand in hand with the Min of Justice to bring about real change.

How about a letter writing campaign to newspapers constantly highlighting the mis-use and abuse of police resources akin to the Chapelizord one?

Bee

Guy:Incognito

Bee wrote:

The public needs an input as to where Garda check points should be. There effect on road safety is zilch, they are only acting as Stealth Tax collectors whilst having zero discernible effect on road safety.
We need to motivate public opinion to make an effective use of check points etc. It took years to happen but excellent journalism highlighted the corruption in the Catholic church and it is now resulting in some real action on the abuse cases.

Perhaps we need a similar campaign to highlight road safety and the whole rotten totally ineffective system that is run by the Gardai hand in hand with the Min of Justice to bring about real change.

How about a letter writing campaign to newspapers constantly highlighting the mis-use and abuse of police resources akin to the Chapelizord one?

Bee

Does no one see that logic that if you dont break th espeed limit, they cant catch you no matter where they set up, or what hedge they hide behind.

highdef

I agree Stekelly. People here generally appear to think that you must break the speed limit - like as if the speed checks are some sort of evil. I stick to the speed limits and always have and have never had a problem so therefore have never had a problem with any kind of speedcheck.
People, if you just drive at the speed that the signs on the road say you can drive at (heck you can even drive a bit faster if you want and the gurads will let you away with it!), you should never have a problem. I really cant see what the problem some people have here.

leeroybrown

Stekelly wrote:

Does no one see that logic that if you dont break th espeed limit, they cant catch you no matter where they set up, or what hedge they hide behind.

While I definitely agree that you're right in saying that, but I also think that there is a problem when a lot of people are more likely to do 80+(MPH) on a narrow road with blind exits, tight bends and a few 'black spots' than on a wide dual carriageway with a hard shoulder.

Trampas

highdef wrote:

I agree Stekelly. People here generally appear to think that you must break the speed limit - like as if the speed checks are some sort of evil. I stick to the speed limits and always have and have never had a problem so therefore have never had a problem with any kind of speedcheck.
People, if you just drive at the speed that the signs on the road say you can drive at (heck you can even drive a bit faster if you want and the gurads will let you away with it!), you should never have a problem. I really cant see what the problem some people have here.

I have no problems with speed checks on roads it the roads they do it on is my problem.

The country roads people are hammering the speed limit and getting away with it unless they crash.

TheBigLebowski

Bee wrote:

They are only acting as Stealth Tax collectors

Surely it's only a tax on people who break the law and drive over the speed limit...to which I say good enough for them.

rambler

True if you don't break the speed limits you have no worries, but I do have on country roads where I have seen people doing dangerous speeds and overtaking, these are the places where I would like to see the speed traps. I would then know that the Garda are helping to save my life and the life of others. I can't see how a garda sitting maybe at 5:30 am in the morning in a 30 mph Zone and stopping a guy doing maybe 40 MPH where there is no one else around is helping to save my life or that of others

Victor

So what are they meant to do at 5:30am, truant inspection?

Have you seen the way some delivery trucks behave at 5:30am?

About 1% of speeding fines are on motorways, which account for about 1% of our roads, but a much higher % of traffic. So you are less likely to be checked on a motorway.

mackerski

Stekelly wrote:

Does no one see that logic that if you dont break th espeed limit, they cant catch you no matter where they set up, or what hedge they hide behind.

This is true - so now explain how the current enforcement practices are supposed to boost safety.

Dermot

cyclopath2001

mackerski wrote:

This is true - so now explain how the current enforcement practices are supposed to boost safety.Dermot

By reminding people that they must obey road safety laws?

gurramok

PowerHouseDan wrote:

I drove to Galway on Friday not once speed check..... Drove back today not one speed check.....

I concur this view. I drove to Newry Sat morn for shopping in monsoon rain and yet there was not a single speed check on the motorway despite the majority of cars passing by me cruising at 80mph and most of them were not yellow reg drivers.
Its a good thing and a bad thing, good thing that garda are not systematically targetting motorways and a bad thing that they didnt have a single speed check.

Victor

gurramok wrote:

I concur this view. I drove to Newry Sat morn for shopping in monsoon rain

Laser / radar / infrared detectors are of less use in the rain as the drops refract / defract / reflect / absorb the signal.

HelterSkelter

Stekelly wrote:

Does no one see that logic that if you dont break th espeed limit, they cant catch you no matter where they set up, or what hedge they hide behind.

You're totally missing the point here. The point is they don't set up speed traps at the times and in the locations where most of the accidents occur. They are not seriously trying to address the problem.

BTW, they were out on the Nass Road (3 lane dual carriageway) near the Long Mile Road junction speed checking traffic heading into town on Saturday afternoon at 5pm. It's a 50kmph zone there, total joke if you ask me. How can this road be 50kmph and dangerous single carriageway roads with sharp bends, blind junctions, slippery surface road signs, etc are 80 - 100kmph?????

HelterSkelter

I'd like to see them set up a check (note: not speed check) on one of those single carriageway country roads that has a no overtaking zone, you know the ones with the signs saying no overtaking for the next 5km or whatever distance. They should stop the people who overtake and throw the buck at them.

PrettyKitty

It's not just speeding that is the issue here - almost every accident on a weekend is a one car collision with a tree/ditch/etc!! So drink driving needs to be addressed with much harsher penalities, etc... This (and speed) need to be addressed - but it's careless driving full stop!!

A couple of weeks ago I was in a car following my boyfriends dad in his car. We were about to join the slip road onto the dual carriageway when a car came bombing towards us! He had missed the turn and instead of going on to the next exit and coming back he just turned down the sliproad coming on to the road!! If we had been a couple of seconds faster we wouldn't have stood a chance.

And what about the drivers who drive so close to the car in front. Not necessarily breaking the speed limit, but should the car in front have to break suddenly they don't stand a chance!! I have seen this far too many times in heavy rain, fog and so on.....it annoys me so much.

Speed is an issue, yes, but careless driving encompasses much more than just speed! Idiots who crawl along the motorway are just as dangerous!!

Phew! Glad I got that off my chest....I'm a nice person really!

ballooba

HelterSkelter wrote:

I'd like to see them set up a check (note: not speed check) on one of those single carriageway country roads that has a no overtaking zone, you know the ones with the signs saying no overtaking for the next 5km or whatever distance. They should stop the people who overtake and throw the buck at them.

Maybe the don't because that would cause a dangerous obstruction.

bungeecork

Speed cameras are better than nothing. My sister was fined by post for doing 35 in a 30 zone. It's easy to drift beyond the slower limits and very easy to miss the very small signage when the local limits change several times on the same road. It sucks when you always intentionally drive below the limit and then are busted when you slip up. Hopefully the hoons who drive to pubs sober with every intention of driving home drunk ("ahh sure I've only had a few like") will all get busted some day.

There are thousands of motorists in Ireland who bought their driving license from the Post Office. That's how you did it in the old days, "Two 1d stamps and a drivers licence please". No test, no questions. No one ever explained to them how to signal at roundabouts, but it hardly matters. Those that were taught how to signal at roundabouts don't seem to apply that knowledge very often. Does anyone care?

Does anyone here actually know the golden rule regarding signalling at roundabouts?

mackerski

gurramok wrote:

I concur this view. I drove to Newry Sat morn for shopping in monsoon rain and yet there was not a single speed check on the motorway despite the majority of cars passing by me cruising at 80mph and most of them were not yellow reg drivers.
Its a good thing and a bad thing, good thing that garda are not systematically targetting motorways and a bad thing that they didnt have a single speed check.

Sounds like a nice safe traffic flow to me. Why should they operate a speed trap there?

Dermot

formatman

slightly off topic but they should ban Micras and learner drivers on Bank holidays weekends !

took me an extra hour to get to Cork because of slow drivers over the weekend because of them

anyway rant over

not one speed check either on the way

HelterSkelter

gurramok wrote:

I concur this view. I drove to Newry Sat morn for shopping in monsoon rain and yet there was not a single speed check on the motorway despite the majority of cars passing by me cruising at 80mph and most of them were not yellow reg drivers.

That's only 5mph or 8kmph over the speed limit, not really a huge deal. I don't think the guards would even fine these drivers if they had a speed check in operation.

Victor

bungeecork wrote:

when the local limits change several times on the same road.

Several changes suggests several signs....

D'Peoples Voice

HelterSkelter wrote:

You're totally missing the point here. The point is they don't set up speed traps at the times and in the locations where most of the accidents occur. They are not seriously trying to address the problem.

BTW, they were out on the Nass Road (3 lane dual carriageway) near the Long Mile Road junction speed checking traffic heading into town on Saturday afternoon at 5pm. It's a 50kmph zone there, total joke if you ask me. How can this road be 50kmph and dangerous single carriageway roads with sharp bends, blind junctions, slippery surface road signs, etc are 80 - 100kmph?????

If I remember rightly Victor showed the link to the legislation in relation to the (R110). In 1994, the FF/Lab Government changed the road between the red cow roundabout and the kylemore junction to a 2/3 lane local/regional road R110, therefore because it's not a national primary or secondary road, it's speed limit must be 60 km/h or lower Hardly the Gardai's fault for policing OUR laws!
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=-700000&Y=7012500&width=500&height=300&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=mercator&db=&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&inmap=&table=&ovtype=&zm=0&scale=500000&multimap.x=233&multimap.y=163

The problem I have with speed cameras is that there are not enough of them where there are road works going on. Trying going 60 km/h on the road between Rathcoole and Naas, and see how long before people start beeping, telling you to ignore the speedlimit! It's madness!

bungeecork

Victor wrote:

Several changes suggests several signs....

Correct, all of them that same baby size - half the size the old MPH signs used to be.

luckat

There must be a map of where (a) accidents and (b) fatal accidents have happened in the last five years. Surely these are the places to target?

Though until Ireland has a law that you can't drive if you have *any* drink taken...

mackerski

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

therefore because it's not a national primary or secondary road, it's speed limit must be 60 km/h or lower

There's no law that sets a ceiling of 60km/h on non-national roads. There is one setting a default limit of 80km/h, but that can be raised to at least 100km/h and possibly even 120km/h as far as I'm aware (like that'll ever happen...).

Dermot

HelterSkelter

luckat wrote:

There must be a map of where (a) accidents and (b) fatal accidents have happened in the last five years. Surely these are the places to target?

Though until Ireland has a law that you can't drive if you have *any* drink taken...

You can get a breakdown of number of fatalities/injuries by road number from the accident reports on the NRA web site. I think what you are after though is to have the locations of the accidents broken down in more detail. I have never come accross a report with this info though.