Garda speed checkpoints over weekend.

Drove from Galway -> Sligo -> Lietrim -> N Ireland and back .. not one Garda speed checkpoint?

Any other reports?

Elk

Speed traps

I drove to Leitrim and back, didn't see one trap until I got back to Rathfarnham and found a guard hiding behind a bus stop on a wide open 30 mph area.
I know the usual suspect will disagree with me on this but I really think the guards would be more useful travelling up and down on the main roads and clamping down on the real maniacs.Twice in the space of a half mile I came around a corner and faced an oncoming car on my side of the road.On both occasions the car had crossed a double white line.If these madmen thought they were going to be spotted they might be more careful.

Re: Speed traps

I'd agree with you, I'm not saying that people speeding in Dublin shouldn't be caught but with limited resources it should be a question of where they can be deployed to do most good. Virtually every motorist driving on our national roads witnesses at least one example of very dangerous driving (and high speed headon collisions on national roads are the most dangerous type of accident). So it should be like shooting fish in a barrel for the gardai make arrests.
Given that the signs indicating how many people have died on a road don't seem to work perhaps a sign indicating how many drivers were caught by gardai and how many points/fines/prison terms were given out might be a greater deterent.
A few weeks ago I was given a lesson in the futility of speeding, after having been overtaken early on in my journey by a car doing around 85mph I spent the rest the journey sporadically catching up with this car as it got stuck behind traffic. By pure coincidence my destination was the same as this driver's but I reached it only minutes later but without having given myself the opportunity of arriving with many more penalty points than I left with.

Agreed

Here here ... we had mad feckin tail gaters all the way from Knock to Galway.. I just don't understand these people.. Any ideas on how to deal with tail gaters?

re how to deal with tailgaters

Step on your brakes hard enough so that they don't rearend you but hard enough so that they get a fright.

or

you could try slowing down to some ridiculous speed and when they try to overtake you put it in second and take off. They'll get the idea eventually.

or

turn your foglights on.

no cops

Dublin to Killarney on Thursday afternoon, not one until we got to Kerry border, then passed by 4 separate ones - had a few scares I tell ya... .

Killarney to Dublin on Sunday, not one copper the entire way. Agree with comments above, especially the ones about driving accross the centre line - happened twice on tightish bends. :eek

Speed checks over the weekend

I'm an example of someone who didn't manage to get away this weekend and all I could see were Garda checks! Driving from Inchicore to Chapelizod I was stopped for tax and insurance checks on the way out and the way back, driving along the Grand Canal Saturday evening my tax and insurance was checked again and I drove through two Garda speed checks off the M50 towards Swords. So that's where they all were.

Speeding

How do you know if you were caugh on camera speeding? does it flash as you drive past. think I may have been caught on N4 outside Mullingar. was doing 68 in a 60 mph zone I think. What are my chances of being done?

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Two things....someone told me you can only get points if a guard stops you and sees you as the driver....that if you only get a note in your door saying your car was going 45 in a 30 zone tis only the fine you get, no points...is that true? Bit of a hole in the law if it is.

Second, from reading papers the guards have discretion on what they decide to bag at a spot. So if it is a 30 road with great visibility, good weather, not a built up area and safe to go faster they might set the gun to 40Mph. On the other hand they might set it to 33 if the conditions were the opposite or it was outside a school etc.
My understanding was that they often set it at speed limit + (10% + 1Mph). ie. 60Mph = 67. But I guess its really up to the senior guard in the area what they set it at...

Points

I got a speeding ticket, compliments of a camera, back in Nov 02, and from reading it (I still have it) I had to make a payment within 28 days and receive 2 points. If I dont then I get prosecuted and get 4 points. Alternatively I could state I was not the driver but would then have to name the driver and let them take the blame. All that said, they put the wrong car reg no on the ticket so I got away with it.

Re: Speed traps

I know the usual suspect will disagree with me

Click to expand...

Thanks Tom - That did make me smile.

While listening to Liveline last week, Joe had two calls in succession - One from the self-employed lady who was annoyed about getting caught for doing 78 in a 60 zone on a main road. Her excuse was a) she thought it was a 70 zone (slaps forehead in disbelief) b) she is self-employed and just trying to do a days work (vision of road-signs with special speed limit for the self-employed). She was absolutely convinced that the guards should be focusing on those speeding in urban areas.

She was immediately followed by the lady caught doing 42 in a 30 mph urban area, who was absolutely convinced that the guards should be focussing on the main roads.

Joe's populist angle prevented him from pointing out the irony...

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Speaking honestly, if I was doing 45+ in a 30 zone...more than 50% over the limit, I feel that 2 points and an eighty quid fine is way too little. I hope they quickly start going after people speeding by a certain percantage over the limit with the dangerous driving charge and hit them for 5 points.

Guy in work with me, doing 52 in a 30 zone, gets 2 points. Someone else I know doing 35 in a 30 zone gets 2 points....is that equitable...no way.

speeding on the roads

I seem to recall this topic coming up for discussion before. To the chap who commented:

"If these madmen thought they were going to be spotted they might be more careful.2

Well, actually, they were spotted- by you and numerous other drivers.

I know we have a centuries old fear of being seen to inform on people, but would you not consider calling the guards about these people? I do. Not often - perhaps once a year, and only for particularly egregious violations; And I generally just ask the guards in the next town to stop the guy and soften his cough a wee bit. I have never actually gone as far as making a statement and seeing it through to a prosecution, though I always make it clear that I will do so if the guard wishes.

If there were more third party reports to the guards, it would be infinitely more effective than checkpoints/speedtraps, because bad drivers would feel that they were at constant risk of being caught.

Re: speeding on the roads

Store the number on your mobile phone speed dial.

Re: re how to deal with tailgaters

Step on the brakes!
Slow to ridiculous speed...then take off!
Turn on your foglamps!

They all sound like "Driving without due care and attention" to me.

How many points is that.....

1890 205 805 Garda Traffic Watch is your only man!

speedy gonzales

I think the Brits have a system where the greater the speeding 'offence' is the greater the fine. ie 35 in a 30 zone less than 40 in a 30 zone and 50 in a 40 zone less than 60 in a 40 zone etc. Did anyone watch that program on BBC1 last Sunday about drinking hours in British cities, the program itself was on Nottingham. Anyway near the end of the program , this guy is arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, but they have to take him to the nick to blow into a machine that measures your alcohol level. Anyway theres this solicitor hanging around then nick all the time getting the drunks out on bail etc, and he accompanies the guy who is charged with drunken driving into the room with the machine. Up comes the reading as 42 and the limit is 39, but he starts laughing and says its policy not to prosocute anyone that close to the level. Maybe I missed something but I thought over the level for drink driving was set in stone.

..

Saw the program.....I would have assumed the following. Every measuring machine in the world has to have a level of tolerance. If you did Physics in college people start taking about something being X metres +/- 2% or whatever.

Therefore, if that machine has a tolerance reading of 10% than that reading was 42 +/- 4.2. I.e. Maybe he was under the reading if the machine was more accurate. I think its the same principle as to why the guards don't clock you for goign 61 in a 60 zone. Maybe even though their machine says 61, your speedometer says 60 etc etc.

In addition, both the checks on your man were breath checks. I would presume it is his right to demand that a blood check, which is the proper proper measurement I would assume(as the limit is in terms of alcohol in your blood) that he had the right to demand to take a blood sample text.
If the doctor took 20 minutes to get there, and lets be honest it would probably take longer, and your man swamped himself with water for that 20 minutes he'd pull himself back under the limit.

The scam I have heard of is that you demand for the doctor etc etc, put your head in a trough and start drinking water and then when he arrives profess to a fear of needles and go with the urine sample and hope you have diluted it.

As I never ever ever even take a sip of a drink if driving I can't comment on how it works or not works....I could never drink and drive anyways. For starters when I'm drunk I often think that if I was in a car I'd hit the first parked car in sight....I have no idea how you would steer when drunk. And second,I'd never be able to sleep again if I blew someone into pieces because I was drunk at the wheel.

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"If there were more third party reports to the guards, it would be infinitely more effective than checkpoints/speedtraps, because bad drivers would feel that they were at constant risk of being caught."


This point seriously bothers me. First off, its imposible to know someones speed if they pass you out. You are taking a wild guess based on an assumption that your speedometer is in anyway accurate.

Second, person X says I was going 120 Mph when I passed him out. I say no way Jose....I passed that guy out safely after being behind him for 5 miles when he was veering all over the road in a dangerous manner.

So what happens. I always thought that one was innocent until proven guilty. My word against his so who is guilty.
Second, friend of mine was done for chucking a fag butt out the window. He says he didn't do it. Obviously Joe Bloggs says he did. Now I have no idea if he did it or not. Wouldn't surprise me because he smokes and has the memory of a sieve. But he just got a fine in the post. Now whats that all about.......surely thats an assumption of guilt.....where is the natural justice??