I remember as a young lad my mother used to call drivers who went through the lights late as "Amber Gamblers". Nobody went through a red light however. Today, in Cork at least, it is wholesale. I would go so far as to call it an epidemic. 2 incidents in the past week have left me shocked. For anyone familiar with Cork City, I was approaching the lights from Gael Cross at UCC wanting to turn left onto Western Road. The lights went amber and I stopped normally. As the lights went red my small fella asked me to change the radio station. As I was doing so, and the lights were now red for at least 1 second, the car behind me swerved past me and shot around the corner up the Western Road. If anyone was crossing the road or if there was a cyclist on the road they were goners. The other day at a similiar T junction I saw a car coming through the red lights and had to mount a footpath to avoid the car who took off normally through a green light.
Without being too dramatic, someone is going to get killed. For what? A few lousey seconds. If we ever want to have our kids cycling again things need to change.
As for what can be done, I think penalty points are not the answer...too many people get off on technicalities etc. I think the Gardai should have the power to seize the car for 24 hours for dangerous driving. If someone breaks a red light a tow-truck could be called and the car impounded for 24 hours with a 200e fine for retrieval. Try it for 6 months and see how it goes.
It's at the stage now where I see more and more cars creeping through green lights. As I said, someone is going to get killed.
Without being too dramatic, someone is going to get killed. For what? A few lousey seconds. If we ever want to have our kids cycling again things need to change.
As for what can be done, I think penalty points are not the answer...too many people get off on technicalities etc. I think the Gardai should have the power to seize the car for 24 hours for dangerous driving. If someone breaks a red light a tow-truck could be called and the car impounded for 24 hours with a 200e fine for retrieval. Try it for 6 months and see how it goes.
It's at the stage now where I see more and more cars creeping through green lights. As I said, someone is going to get killed.