Traffic lights 'not a garda responsibility'

eth0_

I live in Drogheda and for the past month there have been very disruptive road works outside the train station on the main road into the town.
These roadworks finally finished about a week ago, and while they were ongoing, the builders had temporary traffic lights, and had wrapped black plastic over the real traffic lights.

Well, you'd think they'd remove the black plastic from the traffic lights before they b*ggered off, wouldn't you? No! A week has passed, the road is finished, and there are NO traffic lights operating at a very busy and dangerous junction. They haven't been turned off because I could see the lights changing on one as the plastic had come off it a bit. There was also a temporary road block in place on a little slip lane that's used by some people to get onto the Dublin road from some estates, which has not been removed - and there's absolutely no need for the block to remain!

Rang the Guards last night to ask if they were aware of this accident waiting to happen. Their response? "Ah now....that's not our responsibility, you'll have to ring the council in the morning".

??!?!?!?!?!?!
There could be a massive smash up at this junction and the guards don't give a damn about preventing it! I even explained that the lights aren't turned off so it's not a matter of having to turn them on and re-sequence them - just take the covering off!

I'm really astounded at the laziness of the Guards and the council!

dub45

Did you say to them that in the event of any accident that you would be making it clear to the press radio and television that you had reported the matter to them? That worked for me in one particular case. But sometimes I do wonder what the Guards do interest themselves in.

eth0_

Originally posted by dub45
Did you say to them that in the event of any accident that you would be making it clear to the press radio and television that you had reported the matter to them?

No I didn't, but i'll keep that in mind next time anything like this crops up
I'm going to write a letter to the local newspaper.

BrianD

One would have thought that after receiving notification that they would inform the Council whose job it is.

Do Gardai actually do anything these days??

Kone

That's disgraceful eth0_!

Guardians of the Peace my arsé!

Andrew Duffy

I encountered a dark red, non-reflective temporary barrier in the driving lane of the M4 one night during the Celbridge interchange works. When I rang the police in Maynooth, which was forwarded to Naas, they weren't interested and told me to call Celbridge, which is, of course, closed at night. I was shaking with anger at the blasé attitude towards what was effectively a wall constructed across a 70 mph carriageway.

Victor

Check the green pages in the phone book for the Road Overseer for your area. They tend to have an out of hours number available.

eth0_

Originally posted by Victor
Check the green pages in the phone book for the Road Overseer for your area. They tend to have an out of hours number available.

I think my father has rung the council this morning, but tbh it shouldn't be a citizens responsibility to do this, the Guards are going up and down that road and have seen that the lights are still covered up and they don't give a sh*t.

You'd think they'd be more proactive - we all know how allergic they are to doing paperwork in the event of a crash!

jesus_thats_gre

I am also sure they wish people would call the correct people and leave them alone to defeat crime.

All sarcasm aside, have you ever sat in work and tuted after someone approached you about a query that have absolutely nothing to do with you and then proceeded to insist that its your responsibility. They are normal people doing a normal job.

LFCFan

Originally posted by jesus_thats_gre
They are normal people doing a normal job.

What a crappy attitude this is. They are the Gardai. Part of their job description is to protect us and prevent accidents etc etc. The least they could have done was take Ethos' details and proceed to ring the correct people and make sure, for the safety of road users, that something was done about it. If we can't even rely on the Gardai for road safety, what chance have we got.

parsi

If the lights have been out for a while then why should the Guard have to do anything about it - the council gives the road-opening permission and is responsible for overseeing the whole thing.

It often appears that when lights are out-of-order traffic flows better at choke-points - the Kinsale Rd roundabout is a good example of this..

Lights do fail and thats why when we do our competency test we learn about how to proceed through them.

We have to get away from the notion that the Guards are there for everything - I know I rang them to find out the time of the St Patricks day parade but that's not what they are there for. Its a bit akin to ringing up tech support with a "computer" problem when in fact its aISP related problem - to the caller it seems a legitimate query but to the recipient its plainly not in their bailiwick.

eth0_

Originally posted by parsi

We have to get away from the notion that the Guards are there for everything - I know I rang them to find out the time of the St Patricks day parade but that's not what they are there for. Its a bit akin to ringing up tech support with a "computer" problem when in fact its aISP related problem - to the caller it seems a legitimate query but to the recipient its plainly not in their bailiwick.

Jesus christ. You and jesus_thats_gre obviously haven't read my original post.
The lights ARE WORKING. They are COVERED UP. They have been WORKING BUT COVERED UP FOR NEARLY A WEEK. The council obviously haven't been informed. I didn't notice until yesterday, a SUNDAY, and I don't know about your local council but Drogheda corporation certainly don't open on a Sunday and I wasn't aware there was an out of hours traffic light department.

I rang the police because there is a VERY REAL CHANCE THERE WILL BE A CAR CRASH AT THIS JUNCTION. I would have assumed the police would take this seriously.

If someone had abandoned a car across one lane of a dual carriageway, would you be saying "I am also sure they wish people would call the correct people and leave them alone to defeat crime"? Have you ever heard of the term 'proactive'?

parsi

You're expletives certainly add to your argument.

What we are saying is that in this case where there wasn't an immediate danger (as distinct from a car parked across one lane of a dual carriageway) and the lights wre covered (but working as they had been for a period before) it was the councils responsibility.

It is up to you to educate yourself to look up the phonebook and see if they have a number - they all seem to have one for such out-of-hours emergencies. Ideally the Guards should have suggested you ring the council but unfortunately not all requests for help or advice get the reasoned response sometimes we meet someone who just says its not my problem and that's that.

BTW - if you're going to quote someone then please ensure correct attribution - I didn't make the defeat crime comment.

eth0_

Originally posted by parsi
You're expletives certainly add to your argument.

BTW - if you're going to quote someone then please ensure correct attribution - I didn't make the defeat crime comment.

Please go back and read my last post again, you obviously haven't grasped it was aimed at you and jesus_thats_gre!

Expletives? Our Lord's name is an expletive now? Well Holy Mary!

And FYI the lights might have been working since the road was finished and then covered up again since, I only noticed it yesterday as I am not a car driver

Victor

Chill folks, what has been in the water the last few days.

Originally posted by eth0_
Expletives? Our Lord's name is an expletive now? Well Holy Mary!

No, I think it's blaspheming or something.

parsi

Originally posted by eth0_
Please go back and read my last post again, you obviously haven't grasped it was aimed at you and jesus_thats_gre!

Expletives? Our Lord's name is an expletive now? Well Holy Mary!

And FYI the lights might have been working since the road was finished and then covered up again since, I only noticed it yesterday as I am not a car driver

Mother of God ;-)

It's because you're not a car driver that it seems such a problem ! Drivers are used to dealing with this sort of rubbish every day of the week and twice at weekends. Strangely it seems that drivers generally deal with the alck of lights by approaching them more cautiously in the knowledge that they have no "green light - way is clear for you to whoosh through withot fear of anyone or anything in your path" and instead have to deal with the fact that there might be someone coming :-)

BrianD

Just thinking about the issue. It is not a Garda issue though they would need to know as it is a potential traffic issue (they might have to make the matter worse by doing some point duty) it is really the council who need to be informed. At the same time if the Garda is told the least they can do is pass on the info.

Victor

So if there was a pothole, that might cause an accident, who would we call?

Kone

Originally posted by BrianD
Just thinking about the issue. It is not a Garda issue though they would need to know as it is a potential traffic issue (they might have to make the matter worse by doing some point duty) it is really the council who need to be informed. At the same time if the Garda is told the least they can do is pass on the info.

Well said BrianD

Kone

Originally posted by Victor
So if there was a pothole, that might cause an accident, who would we call?

Superman? Or the Coastguard?

jesus_thats_gre

By calling the Gardai because there "might be a serious accident" and not looking up the correct number in the phonebook that would actually get the problem resolved, all I can think is that you must be lazy. To think, you could have taken the covers off yourself in the time you have spent arguing how right you were to call the Gardai.

Or let me guess, its not your responsibility

eth0_

Actually, jesus_thats_gre, if you bother to read my original post it's clear that I was under the impression that this WAS a garda responsibility, in the traffic department. I was unaware there was a private company in Dublin that looks after the traffic lights for the whole of the country (as I found out yesterday). They were apparently informed they needed to uncover the lights nearly a week ago, but because they're from a place far, far away (Dublin), it took them an extra specially long time to get someone out.

MrPudding

Yeah eth0, shame on you for not knowing who was in charge of traffic lights and making a very reasonable, IMO, that the guards might be in the least bit interesting in something which is potentially dangerous. I mean really what were you thinking.

MrP

eth0_

Originally posted by MrPudding
Yeah eth0, shame on you for not knowing who was in charge of traffic lights and making a very reasonable, IMO, that the guards might be in the least bit interesting in something which is potentially dangerous. I mean really what were you thinking.

MrP

*hangs head in shame* I am such a bad girl

jesus_thats_gre

Originally posted by eth0_
Actually, jesus_thats_gre, if you bother to read my original post it's clear that I was under the impression that this WAS a garda responsibility, in the traffic department. I was unaware there was a private company in Dublin that looks after the traffic lights for the whole of the country (as I found out yesterday). They were apparently informed they needed to uncover the lights nearly a week ago, but because they're from a place far, far away (Dublin), it took them an extra specially long time to get someone out.

Apologies, I was just winding you up with my last post. I couldn't help it.

freetoair

Well done Etho_ !
The covers are now off the lights so your whinging phone calls must have worked