Meanwhile on the Roads...

For the second time in my life i had a motorist stop to get out and yell abuse at me.

I was out for a nice spin on Saturday when i met a small blue car on "Pucky Lane" Garristown.

It's a small, grass down the middle rural road and the oncoming car did not slow down. So i pretty much stopped and pulled tight to the verge. I gave a shout as what i thought was a panicked elderly man drove past waaaay too close.

Anyway as we all know this type of scenario is not massively unusual in the countryside so i continued on my merry way.

About 3 or 4km later i was taking a left onto a side road with a car just behind me, so as i got onto the small road i checked and the car had followed me so i slowed and waved him through.

A little blue Mazda 2 drives past and then slams on in front with the passenger window open and a teenage boy in passenger seat. I genuinely thought i was going to be asked for directions.

What followed was an odd encounter. This man mid 50s or early 60s in awful sunglasses and a very red bald head jumped out to remonstrate because

1. I wasn't "sharing the road" when we met
2. I don't "own the road" no more than he does
3. I assume I hurt his feelings by shouting?

Anyway I say odd because he did in fairness seem to listen to my reasoning, for example, that i did indeed "share the road" but that it was very difficult when he was on my side driving straight at me. But then he went off on another rant about ownership of said road etc.

Anyway I told him he was obviously too stupid to argue with. He got back in his car. Did some more yelling past his embarrassed child. I retorted that he should F off and learn to drive his half a car, and we all lived happily after.

Christ…..

"HILL STREET BLUES"

Why have Dublin City Council installed traffic lights at the junction of Hill Street and Parnell Street?

The stagged junction was fine and self-regulating between road users and pedestrians. Now, traffic backs up on all approaches causing unnecessary tailbacks. Also, why is there a 2 car parking bay on the left-hand side of Hill Street (as you drive up it) - it is blocking vehicles going up Hill Street in particular and this leads to cars on Parnell Street being blocked - and so on. Completely unnecessary.

I obviously misread the announcement in May as the actual roll-out. They'l be getting the Killkennyans back up by describing the N25 one as "Waterford", though If it were me, I'd be having it on the stretch between New Ross and Wexford. It's a road I'd be on reasonably regularly and the section earmarked doesn't usually strike me as as having excessive speed, whereas the NR/Wexford stretch I've rarely failed to see some example of excessive speed/aggressive/stupid driving. Maybe being a wider stretch of road means fewer crashes, or maybe it's a time of day thing.

Newstalk talking about distracting touchscreen consoles, drivers looking in awe at their laps, all novice drivers born with phones attached to hands, etc

The judge said the van was “hiding” behind a wall near a church and a filling station, and he had spotted four motorists jamming on their breaks to avoid getting done by the speed camera. “The location is dangerous. It’s going to lead to accidents – not prevent them,” he declared.

Inspector Conor Madden said there had been a number of road accidents at that location which had resulted in serious injuries. But Judge Faughnan said the van was “shooting fish in a barrel” instead of slowing down traffic.

Why would motorists be ignoring the speed limit in a "dangerous location" anyway? 😕

WTF like?

Am I naive to think that the judge's job is to enforce the law?

I'm seriously tempted.

You're probably right, and I did see the recent report about how only one judicial complaint was admissible last year, but

Isn't anyone who uses the roads directly affected by the misconduct of this judge?

If only there was some way to avoid having to jump on the brakes when you see a speed van

There's plenty of drivers who are at or below the limit, and still jump on the brakes when they see a speed van.

There's quite often a Go Safe van parked at the location below at 08:00 in the morning. The limit is 80km/h and it's immediately after a roundabout. The distance from the roundabout means that with no traffic, someone would need to be accelerating extremely hard to reach 80 before passing the van. In regular rush hour traffic 80 is practically impossible there.

Still doesn't stop a significant percentage of drivers hitting their brakes when they see the van there - despite the fact that they are nowhere near breaching the limit.

It's not fun coming down that hill on a bike at the best of times, never mind when the concertina braking is in effect.

https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.2432314,-6.1311797,3a,75y,333.25h,89.3t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sgLAbUAyMmK6-p4_fouWV7w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAwOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The cynic in me suspects the van is posted there at rush hour in order to bump up the stats on "vehicles monitored for speed" as opposed to actually expecting to detect anyone breaking the limit.

The vans have that range - but they can only be configured to look at a specific area at any given time. So if it’s monitoring a spot 500m away, then it’s not monitoring the traffic at 300m - for example.

To make the long ranges less attractive - on a straight stretch if they configure them to detect at a distance of 500m, then they need a clear line of sight for that 500m - anything in between could block the reading.

Add to the complication that they can’t issue a ticket if more than one vehicle in the picture and it makes the long range detections by vans completely impractical.

Hand held speed guns are more likely to be used for long range detections - but the level of manned speed traps seems to be very low these days