the late late show

Reduce road deaths caused by drink and speeding.

1. Speed. Fit a limiter to the cars of drivers with penalty pointers over x number of points for speeding.
2. Drink. Fixed jail terms for offenders/repeat offenders.
 
MugsGame said:
4. Breathalyse drivers in pub car parks!
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I have heard this suggestion loads of times. It doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Breathalyser checkpoints in car parks would be highly visible and as a result would catch nobody, as intending drunk drivers would clearly see the checkpoint and presumably change their minds about driving. Checkpoints a short distance away, but far away enough not to be visible from the pub, will be far more effective in catching offenders.
 

But isn't the whole purpose of the thing to get them to change their mind about driving if that is what they are planning to do. Better that nobody even gets behind the wheel so nobody ever gets caught than having someone drink and drive for 500 yards into the waiting arm of the law. Not very realistic I know but we can always dream.
 
Indeed, but I don't think there are enough Gardai in the force to man checkpoints in car parks and on the roads and deal with all the other crime, public order and other incidents that require attention on an ongoing basis. Placing Gardai in car parks will effectively take them off the roads meaning that if I want to drive home from the pub I can simply walk out of the pub, have my car parked a few hundred yards away and drive home from there.

And don't forget that an increase in drunk or tipsy pedestrians walking on roads at night (particularly on rural roads without footpaths) will inevitably lead to more pedestrian fatalities.
 
davidoco said:
Reduce road deaths caused by drink and speeding.
1. Speed. Fit a limiter to the cars of drivers with penalty pointers over x number of points for speeding.
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Problem isn't simply speed, its inappropriate speed in a given situation. Most of the crashes are by people doing 80km in a 60 zone, or 60km in a 40 zone - very few are caused by drivers doiing 120km/ph in a 100km/ph dual-carriageway.

Limiting cars to 100 or 80 km will still allow drivers to break the speed limit on small country roads or suburban estates.


davidoco said:
2. Drink. Fixed jail terms for offenders/repeat offenders.
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Agree.
 
Have they sorted out the random breath test nonsense yet?
Last I heard they were still wasting time arguing about whether or not it was constitutional.


On the front of my US drivers licence there is a statement at the bottom that says

"Operatioin of a motor vehicle constitutes consent to any sobriety test required by law"

If I fail a test, or even If i refuse to take a test, I lose my licence for 1 year.

Surely it can't be rocket science to implement a scheme like this . By making the act of driving be the consent to tests you get around any constitutional issues.

Of course you still need to enforce this, but that's another issue. At least lets stop the pointless arguments about what laws we are allowed to have. It's bad enough that there are so many bad laws that aren't enforced, but when a good law comes along every reason under the sun is dreamt up not to implement it.

-Rd
 

You miss the point -- we can't think of bringing in drink-driving laws that have't first been passed by the vintners association!

Of course real deterrents would save lives. If drivers knew for certain that their cars would be seized and crushed, as well as losing their licenses, it would stop a lot of them drinking and driving, or indeed driving without insurance!
 

You're out of touch. Random breath testing has been in force here for several months at this stage.
 
Why not add a device to the speed limit signs that triggers an electronic governer in the car? Then, as you pass the sign your speed is capped. A bit like the devices on junctions that buses use to have the lights change for them.
 
He musn't have had the "GPS and onboard computer navigation" thing turned on - otherwise it would have served before he crashed into RTE
 
frash said:
He musn't have had the "GPS and onboard computer navigation" thing turned on - otherwise it would have served before he crashed into RTE
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LOL!

I would advise posters to be carefull not to prejudice the case since the Saturday Night incident concerns criminal damage and is currently being investigated by the Guards.
 
ajapale said:
LOL!

I would advise posters to be carefull not to prejudice the case since the Saturday Night incident concerns criminal damage and is currently being investigated by the Guards.
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Fair point but I think that RTE running the story on their main evening news and interviewing Ryan Turbridy about it may prejudice the case slightly more than AAM...
 
Has anyone a link to details of the proposed system? I'd love to see the specs.
 
Leo said:
Has anyone a link to details of the proposed system? I'd love to see the specs.
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Specs? It's nonsense as far as i know. Basically he's talking about using gps systems with on-board computers on every car on the road to communicate with each other and determine if a crash is about to happen and then intervene in the cars controls to avoid the crash.

In theory it's possible. Bmw and Merc have been tinkering with such ideas for a while with a view to integrating them in cars a few generations from now (i.e. well over a decade).

In fairness it's the kind of theory that a six year old would come up; Would it work? Sure. Is it even remotely feasible to impliment today? No.

He's got some nerve to look for €5 million for this 'idea' (it's been thought about years ago but no one else was crazy enough to think it could be done today).
 
Eurofan said:
In theory it's possible. Bmw and Merc have been tinkering with such ideas for a while with a view to integrating them in cars a few generations from now (i.e. well over a decade).
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Collision detection systems are currently available in high-end cars in Europe and Asia. As far as I know its not available in the US due to potential legal problems.

So as to why he thinks he could sell just the idea for €5 million is a wonder
 
Yeah, pretty much convinced it wouldn't work myself, but would love to see his proposal.

The only way GPS would be accurate enough for this application would be through the use of Differential GPS with ground based stations. Each and every vehicle on the road would have to be fitted with transceivers, and somewhere, the location and velocity of all of these would have to be tracked. The costs would be horrendous! Not to mention the fact that many of the worst accidents are not the result of two vehicles crashing into each other.

Technology has a part to play here, but it has to be self contained. Systems along the lines of fatigue detection devices (already in production) and radar would have a greater, um, impact!
 
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