Garda speed checkpoints over weekend.

Speeding

Was travelling along the N2 recently between Carrickmacross and Ardee. Just outside Ardee is a speed checker which shows your speed as you approach it. It doesnt seem to be a garda speed check but just something to warn you of your speed.

Anyway, on approaching it, doing 58 (as per speedometer), it clocked up that i was doing 63mph. There was no car in front or behind so it could only have been reading my speed.

I wonder is it deliberately set too high to scare people who are close to the limit.

Re: Speeding

There are such machines in Raheny on the Howth Road. One consistantly under-records the speed level.

Re: Speeding

Legend: I think you may be worrying unduly about the dangers of third party reporting of bad driving. In my case, I only report the most blatantly bad driving. For example, the last time I did so was when a young fellow passed me and five/six other cars all in one go on a relatively windy road. There was a hard shoulder, so his logic must have been that if he met someone coming the other way they could pull in. Fine until the day that he meets someone as stupid as himself coming the other way. If there is some room for "interpretation" as to what is or isn't dangerous, I wouldn't bother.

Of course, there is always the danger that someone will make a malicious/false report. However, that is where the presumption of innocence comes in. Ultimately, the credibility of the witness then becomes an issue. That is why I always make it clear that I am happy to make a statement/testify if the guards want (though it has never come to that - as already mentioned, I usually just ask that they have a word)

Realistically, if a guy is driving like an idiot, he is going to be spotted by a lot of different drivers. So if people were more willing to report bad driving, it would be very easy for the guards to spot the reallly bad offenders, because they would be the subjecct of multiple independent complaints. If everybody reported just, say, the two or three worst offences they saw each year, this would have a huge bearing on road safety.

Re: Speeding

I have to agree with legend99 on this one. It should be the job of the Gardai to enforce the rules of the road, not the job of the people. There are plenty people out there bearing grudges against others. Have 2 or 3 come together and report a mutual enemy and the guy could be slapped with 5 points for careless driving (another offence I find very disturbing as it is not defined in law).
I know that this is an unlikely case, but our free country is based on the protection of the innocent first and foremost, not the apprehension of the guilty. This is the reason why many people get away with crimes on a 'technicality'. It is the choice we have made that the protection of the innocent is more important than any other consideration.
If I pass 2 drivers in sequence both of which are driving at 40 mph and they both report me as a 'dangerous young male' driver, am I then to be presumed guilty of that offence on the basis of 2 people's opinions vs 1? Is there not a requirement here that there be some solid proof required?
If the purpose of reporting traffic offences was that a Garda in the next town could go along the road and catch the offender in the act then I would find that fair enough.
But law that can lead to witchhunting leaves a sour taste in my mouth.