Somebody please shoot Martin Cullen!

Big Balls

What's his latest brainwave?

A driving curfew for night time!!

Who's his target? Everyone up to 24!

Now I'm halfway to 25 and by the time anything like this would come into place, I'd be well over the limit but still!?

I'm driving 6 years now, have a full licence 5 and no claims in 6 years of driving.

On what grounds am I deemed unsafe/more likely to cause an accident at night? Simply because there's idiots the same age as me who choose to kill themselves - and mainly outside of Dublin.

I would lose earnings of €22,800 per annum if this came in tomorrow, some of the work I do involves me working unsociable hours.

Bring on the elections Martin, that's all I'll say.

AlienGav

Howeya Ballsy!

I think this new proposal is for people who have just graduated to a full licence, and under a certain age limit. I'd say if you already have your licence now, you're grand!;)

Riamfada

yeah I would be in the same both with regards age and work but this seems a bit mad tbh. If anythinglike this does happen it would have to be only restricted to provisional drivers and well under the age 24 . It seems to be that this governments desire to battle road deaths to 0 which are an inevitablility in a country with 3.5 million people is simply going to restrict drivers severly penalising young male drivers




Whilst they dont bring in second level driving lessons is beyond me. Totally beyond me

AlienGav

Would be a lot less hassle if Ireland introduced a better system of road safety training, and ongoing testing throughout a person's driving career.:o

Big Balls

Or just linked different counties with safer motorways........ like the rest of modern Europe !!

Hagar

This has to be a joke.

These night-time deaths are largely associated with drink driving. So instead of enforcing the current anti-drink driving laws which are perfectly adequate, they want to cover up their failure to do so by bringing in a new law which they won't enforce either.

maidhc

I think there was a cover of Phoenix magazine earlier in the year saying like "Cullen is 99% certain to get one good idea this year" I think they will be proven wrong, all his ideas so far are like what a 16yo on dope would think up of.

_Kaiser_

Curfews? Did this become a police state and noone told me.

As someone said, there's plenty of laws out there to cover problems on the road. The issue here is drink driving (largely in the country I'd think where public transport is non-existent after about 8/9PM), and people speeding along narrow, twisty, poorly surfaced roads (some of which bizzarely have N-road status - take the one between Navan and Athboy.. it becomes like a rollercoaster just past the Rathcairn turn. What do the council do? Rather than resurface it, they just put up a sign! :rolleyes:)

What's needed is enforcement of existing legislation rather than creating new laws. And the only way this'll happen will be to have the cops out looking for these people rather than wasting time with tax/insurance checks or cynical speed trapping. Basically it all comes down to poor utilisation of existing resources - physical and legislative.... but hey, welcome to Ireland! :mad:

Big Balls

It's not just drinking though.

It's showing off to mates and it's inexperience too.

How come I can drive fast-ish, late at night, in a high powered car and get home safely yet some fellas my age in sheds manage to wrap themselves around a tree?

The amount of jumped up little co*ks you see on the road these days with mommy's brand new €70,000 BMW 330 cabriolet for an hour or two is on the increase too.

elexes

lol what a joke . i think he should think about the laws hes trying to pass before tries to do it .

theShire

What a crock!
Typical of what is done in this country to reduce road accidents- why don't we just tell people that they can't use their vehicles when they need them most! As said by a previous poster, there is no public transport available at night.

And i'm really dissappointed every time i hear any new initiative for young drivers- they always seems to target young males not taking into account any of their experience whatsoever! It's the same when trying to get insurance- i get asked my age and the car and get refused. There's no thought as to the fact that i've got my 3yrs NCB and have had a full clean license for the past 6 years.

Experience counts for alot - except when you're a young male driver!

My gf is 21 and on L plates and is waived through every checkpoint without any hassle driving on her own. I get asked to show my license which they need to study- you know, just to see can they catch me on the wearing glasses bit or something. They always like to give the car a once over aswell!

This curfew is a waste of time- people need to be able to drive their vehicles at night. If this went ahead, all that would happen is that when they reached 24 they would have no experience of nite driving and the little things to look out for.

ninty9er

Cullen's latest brainwave is not only causing nationwide anger, but within Fianna Fáil, believe me the next Ardcomhairle meeting will have representations against this ****. Just my particular rep is a"yes" woman so I'll have to find another one to tell him where to stick his fu<kin plan

colm_mcm

I think provisional drivers should be curfewed.

Guy:Incognito

I love all the "bloody martin cullen" and "only in Ireland" knee jerk reactions. This isnt his idea, lots of other countries/american states have similar systems. This is a copy of those. It obviously works.

I'm no one for blaming deaths on young drivers (im only 25 so am/was one) but this obviousy works elswhere. Plus if most deaths happen overnight on weekends, whether drink is involved or not, if the people arent on the road they cant crash.

Britain have R plates to limit speeds.

theShire wrote:

What a crock!
Typical of what is done in this country to reduce road accidents- why don't we just tell people that they can't use their vehicles when they need them most! As said by a previous poster, there is no public transport available at night..

Yeah, how are we supposed to get home after a nights drinking....

2 words. Taxi & Nightlink (dependign on where you are)

Stark

Stekelly wrote:

Yeah, how are we supposed to get home after a nights drinking....

2 words. Taxi & Nightlink (dependign on where you are)

I think theShire means getting home at night for people who work unsociable hours.

Stekelly wrote:

if the people arent on the road they cant crash.

By that logic we should ban driving outright.

A good compromise might be to allow driving at night for people who need to drive to/from work.

Guy:Incognito

Stark wrote:

By that logic we should ban driving outright..

Limiting inexperienced drivers is nothing like banning drivers outright. Should the Uk limit the speed of every driver seeing as they limit inexperienced ones?

Avns1s

It won't really make much difference if it comes in at all. It'll be enforced something along the same lines as the current laws regarding provisional licences. Need I say more.

For what it's worth, I do think that there should be some restrictions with respect to driving on provisional licences, not necessarily as draconian as this though.

optiplexgx270

I can’t (and yet as the tayto/king add goes there’s always one) believe some people actually think such a stupid idea could work.

For one it would never be enforced properly by the guards like so many of the other road traffic acts currently in place and two driving at night it far easier/safer in rural areas when compared to during the day I find personally then in built up areas there is little difference between day/night time driving. Three I’m not in the boat that this may cover but if I were to have a curfew would i see this heavily reflected in my insurance premiums? I seriously doubt it!

_Kaiser_

Stark wrote:

I think theShire means getting home at night for people who work unsociable hours.

Or if you live outside of the major cities where there are no nitelinks and/or limited (and expensive) taxis.

Stark

Stekelly wrote:

Limiting inexperienced drivers is nothing like banning drivers outright. Should the Uk limit the speed of every driver seeing as they limit inexperienced ones?

Ah but limiting inexperienced drivers is very different to limiting young drivers. One's common sense, the other is discrimination on age grounds which is supposed to be actively discouraged in our society, but seems to be only discouraged at the upper end. Probably because young people aren't voting enough.

Also limiting a person's speed is very different from stopping them from driving. By stopping them from driving during the hours when public transport is extremely limited, you're limited people's employment choice for one thing. By limiting their speed, you're just adding an extra few minutes to their commute.

maidhc

Stekelly wrote:

2 words. Taxi & Nightlink (dependign on where you are)

A taxi home from Cork City at night would cost me about 50-60 I reckon!

Guy:Incognito

maidhc wrote:

A taxi home from Cork City at night would cost me about 50-60 I reckon!

Well you wont be going to cork city at night till your deemed not to be a young driver if it comes in.

Maybe daddy could collect you from the disco.:D

maidhc

Stekelly wrote:

Maybe daddy could collect you from the disco.:D

Meh, I'm gone past the discos at the ripe old age of 24. Gorbys, Sir Henry's and Club FX live on in the mind of an old man.

peasant

All smoke and mirrors, guys.

With todays traffic density and sheer number of cars on the road provisional licences are a thing of the past ...it simply is too dangerous for inexperienced drivers to be out there on their own.
Even the standard of driving "education" for so called licensed drivers is appalling.

There are only two ways to improve road safety in this country:
1) build roads that are actually safe and fit for use
2) educate drivers properly. (those that are learning and those have never learned properly)

On both issues consecutive governements have stalled, hemmed and hawed.

The current one can't even get driving testers to do their job.

A harebrain idea like the curfew is just to deflect attention from the real issues.

drdre

Big Balls wrote:

What's his latest brainwave?

A driving curfew for night time!!

Who's his target? Everyone up to 24!

Now I'm halfway to 25 and by the time anything like this would come into place, I'd be well over the limit but still!?

I'm driving 6 years now, have a full licence 5 and no claims in 6 years of driving.

On what grounds am I deemed unsafe/more likely to cause an accident at night? Simply because there's idiots the same age as me who choose to kill themselves - and mainly outside of Dublin.

I would lose earnings of €22,800 per annum if this came in tomorrow, some of the work I do involves me working unsociable hours.

Bring on the elections Martin, that's all I'll say.

i would help you to kill him as he is coming up with stupid methods of reducing road deaths.1st he should fix roads and increase lighting at night

ninty9er

Just because it works elsewhere is also no reason to suggest it will work here look at penalty points and sex education

HelterSkelter

This suggestion is always being made. It's just to distract from the real issues which the Government haven't the balls to tackle

seamus

It would require a change in the licensing laws to add another tier onto the licensing system. If it was implemented in the current system, the government could fall foul of the "everyone is equal in the eyes of the law" line in our constituion. That is, if someone with one year's full licence is equally as entitled to drive as someone with fifty years on a full licence, then attempting to prosecute them based on their age would be a constitutional minefield at best.

fdisk

Take the situation in Northern Ireland/UK - similar driver education/test scenario, but when you pass you test you must drive around on 'R' plates for 12 months, which means that, amongst other things, they are not allowed to overtake or exceed 45 MPH. (note that the UK has 6 daths a year per 10,000 cars, we have 11).
Every Monday we read about another batch of 'single vehicle accidents' involving a 18-24 year old and the photo is invariably of some Honda, etc with body kit etc, that has hit a wall. Simple maths - most of the road deaths year to date involve young men at high speeds late at night. The Celtic Tiger has created an economy where these young guys can now afford to buy cars that they cannot control, and the boy racer culture is exploding the issue. Anything that can be done to ensure that even a few more of these guys make it through their 20's is worth it in my view.

Big Balls

fdisk wrote:

The Celtic Tiger has created an economy where these young guys can now afford to buy cars that they cannot control

Such a stupid, generalisation. It doesn't take much to afford an old Civic with a big exhaust. The last awful picture in my mind is that of a 1989 BMW in Drogheda where two people were killed a few months back, again, no Celtic Tiger needed to buy that car.

You'll find the young lads that have forked out 30/40/50/60K + for their cars know how to drive them and more to the point, respect them!

peasant

Take the situation in Northern Ireland/UK - similar driver education/test scenario, but when you pass you test you must drive around on 'R' plates for 12 months, which means that, amongst other things, they are not allowed to overtake or exceed 45 MPH

As if there wasn't enough dawdlers on the road already, holding up the flow of traffic, frustrating other road users, more or less "forcing" others into risky overtaking.
And you want to support enforced dawdling?