Being stopped to answer surveys by Gardai

B

bond-007

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Just wondering are you obliged to stop and answer surveys being conducted by county councils etc at the roadside, they had a garda with them. Under what powers can a garda stop and detain you for such a purpose? Seen this happening today in Kilkenny City.
 
I assume it was just for safety reasons.
Under the road traffic act I think (am open to correction here) there is three people you are obliged by law to stop for when travelling on the road.

A)a farmer who is moving his cattle on the road,
B)a garda
C) lolly stick people who guide children across the road.

I was informed that should you be stopped by a customs' official who wants to dip your tank for coloured diesel and there is no guard present you do not have to do so.
 
Obligation to Stop-Road Traffic Act

109.—(1) A person driving a vehicle in a public place shall stop the vehicle on being so required by a member of the Garda Síochána.
(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence.

I would have thought the Customs boys had just as much a right to stop you.
 
On the occasions I have been stopped to answer a road traffic survey the local authority had it set up like roadworks (cones, signs, high viz jackets etc). I reckon the same oblligation on drivers to stop at roadworks applies in this case.

On the question of the powers of revenue C&E inspectors I was always under the impression that their stop and sieze powers were even more draconian that those afforded to An Garda Siochana.
 
ajapale said:
On the question of the powers of revenue C&E inspectors I was always under the impression that their stop and sieze powers were even more draconian that those afforded to An Garda Siochana.
Click to expand...
Would have thought so. They can just take the jammer off you on the spot can't they?
 
This may have been a traffic survey which is done in the planning stages of a town bypass / ring road or similar. I participated in one of these about 7 years ago in Mullingar, which now has its bypass in place I believe.

Purpose of such a survey is to find out where you are coming from and going to, to understand the pattern of traffic within a town, and to figure out whether this traffic will end up on the bypass or not, where junctions with the bypass are needed etc.

In the course of a day, we had one or two individuals who were suspicious of our motives and didn't want to answer the questions. We let them continue on their paranoid little way....
 
Honestly.....I wonder about some people really...what's the harm in being stopped to answer a few questions via a road survey. We all know in this country how badly we need more and more improved motorways etc. These surveys are important for modelling of new infrastructure networks in terms of junctions/turning movements etc.
 
I was stopped for one of these surveys once and was under pressure for time so I simply asked the person doing the survey if I had to take it and she said that I did not have to and so I just drove away. You don't have to take the survey so I'm sure that you don't have to stop
 
i am sure the customs people have more power than the gardai in this field,
im quite sure they do not need a search warrant where as gardai do,i have been stopped a few times by customs for various reasons
 
Customs have indeed extensive powers to search and seize but the one power they do not have is to stop you on a public road.
 
Bond007
You are incorrect on this one. I have read court cases where people were convicted of obstruction for not stopping for the customs. I searched the revenue site about stopping by customs and found a "enforcement manual". It tells you their powers.. i forgot to take note of the page..it is a large document.
 
Times must have changed, because you would always have gardai with them to do the stopping. Prehaps they changed it so that Gardai were not needed?
 
Unless things have changed in the very recent past customs do not have the power to stop vehicles on a public road. They need the Gardai with them. They do however have extensive powers in relation to the entry onto private property that Gardai do not have
 
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