Strange by Garda

Kermitt

OK I'm driving to work this morning from her place - Tullow to Maynooth. Came across 4 different speed checks. Great to see the boys out - Its about time they were visible.

BUT On the way past crookstown services a white astra van flew past me (I'm doin 100kph at this point) and past the artic in front of me - and I mean flew. Then I notice a squad car on the other side of the road and as we pass he starts to turn around and on go the bee baw lights. Great - He's going to pull speedy gonzalez in the van I thought - But no - he pulls the artic in front of me- seemingly for doing 4k over his speed limit.. Nothing else wrong apart from he had a dutch reg lorry. And where he pulled him was totally unsafe and downright irresponsible - (Anyone who knows this stretch knows it gets very narrow after crookstown). Are the Gards selectively pulling people for waht they like/because they're foreign??


Sorry for long rant:)

bucks

Kermitt wrote:

Are the Gards selectively pulling people for waht they like/because they're foreign??

If anything most of the guards tend to stay away from the foreign registered vechicles cause there isnt much they can do to them legal wise and they are a waste of time, actually waste of time and garda, yeah i could be on to something there!!

TKK

He possibly had decided on doing the truck and put down the speed gun by the time the astra appeared?

Fey!

Aren't trucks limited to 80kph here? So it you were behind it doing 104kph, then he was 24kph over the limit (30%). Or is it possible that he spotted a major defect on the truck (broken lights, gammy tyre, etc)?

If I'm wrong about the 80kph thing, someone pease tell me so I can delete this post and hide my ignorance a bit!

Kermitt

Not too sure on exact kph figure - Used to be 56mph limit for trucks - About 90kph. The astra had well gone past by the time we got to the garda car too.

Valid point that the truck was speeding, but I thought excessive speed and dangerous overtaking would have warranted a few penalty points. Doubt his van had DOE test either with the state it was in. (94 Astra van - baler twine hanging out the back door)

Our man in Havana

80 km/h for trucks.

What was happening for years was people were setting the speed limiters to 90km/h in direct defiance of the law.

A truck doing 104km/h ie 30% over the limit is fair game, and fair play to the garda for nailing him.

Kermitt

Bond-007 wrote:

80 km/h for trucks.

What was happening for years was people were setting the speed limiters to 90km/h in direct defiance of the law.

A truck doing 104km/h ie 30% over the limit is fair game, and fair play to the garda for nailing him.

This is true -I was unsure of the limit for trucks. Though It still baffles me how he let the guy in the Astra doing 140km/h or so away. I suppose that's life!

Gateway

The lorry going at over 30% of the speed limit is far more dangerous than the Van. Even with the van speeding I would say in an emergency it would have had a shorter stopping distance than the lorry.

The police where correct to stop the lorry instead of the van.

Kermitt

Gateway wrote:

The lorry going at over 30% of the speed limit is far more dangerous than the Van. Even with the van speeding I would say in an emergency it would have had a shorter stopping distance than the lorry.

The police where correct to stop the lorry instead of the van.

Good point - I suppose I was just annoyed that the twit driving aggressively and way too fast got away with it.

conor_mc

Gateway wrote:

The lorry going at over 30% of the speed limit is far more dangerous than the Van.

Not familiar with the road nor the incident, but I would have thought the van speeding head-on into the oncoming traffic could represent a greater danger than the truck speeding on his own side of the road and in the flow of traffic, notwithstanding their relative stopping distances.

Six of one, half dozen of the other though. Cops could only stop one of them, and both were evidently breaking the law.

_Kaiser_

I've regularly encountered 40 ft trucks doing 90-100kph on the roads so it looks like it's a widespread problem.

Of course equally annoying are the ones doing 60-80kph in a 100 zone and who refuse to pull in to let you by, even when it's safe and clear to do so, instead they cause a huge tailback.

There's just no courtesy anymore. And I thought truckers had a rep to be some of the more decent types on the roads?

Kermitt

In fairness most of the time if Im driving with the trailer (below 80kph) I'll refuse to pull over into hard shoulders. You wouldn't believe some of the crap you encounter even a few feet over the yellow lines - tyre shreds, bottles, pieces of rope - I've hit one or two and won't risk it anymore. I don't blame truckers for not pulling in. What I see many do is Indicate left for a second to tell you it's safe to overtake - Which I reckon is fair enough

_Kaiser_

Kermitt wrote:

In fairness most of the time if Im driving with the trailer (below 80kph) I'll refuse to pull over into hard shoulders. You wouldn't believe some of the crap you encounter even a few feet over the yellow lines - tyre shreds, bottles, pieces of rope - I've hit one or two and won't risk it anymore. I don't blame truckers for not pulling in. What I see many do is Indicate left for a second to tell you it's safe to overtake - Which I reckon is fair enough

No I agree with your point about the hard shoulders and their general condition (I made the same one in one of the other threads here an hour ago ) but some of them will sit as far out as they can both blocking your view and making it as hard as possible to get by.

Of course then there's the lads who'll move over as soon as they can and I always give them a flash of the indicators as thanks but in general I think the lack of courtesy on the roads is becoming more prevalent.

Cmar-Ireland

It's against the law to pull into the motorway hard shoulder to allow traffic past.

Our man in Havana

Cmar-Ireland wrote:

It's against the law to pull into the motorway hard shoulder to allow traffic past.

Yes it is, but not so on other classes of roads. Note the broken yellow line on non motorway roads.