Shooting Fish in a Barrel

smarty

I was driving off the M1 yesterday, just past the port Tunnel entrance and I saw two Gardai with a hand held speed camera. They were taking turns with the speed gun. One would stop a driver and give him a ticket, and then the other would take the gun and stop the next car and give him a ticket. They had the timing very finely tuned.

I do not condone speeding, but does stopping people on a three lane road with a 50kmph speed limit and issuing penalty points, really reduce the number of accidents on our roads?



I drove past the speed check and pulled in around the corner. I walked back to speed check to ask the Garda who decides the location of these speed checks. In my ignorance, I thought speed checks were strategically positioned in dangerous areas to reduce the carnage on our roads. Well I was wrong. The Garda informed me that he and his colleague just set them up wherever they like.

Shouldn’t this be part of the overall road safety plan?

Vegeta

I agree with what you're saying but shouldn't you block out that guys reg plate

still its better than nothing i suppose at least there is a visible presence

smarty

Vegeta wrote:

I agree with what you're saying but shouldn't you block out that guys reg plate

Done!

Vegeta

smarty wrote:

Done!

Nicely done, i like the blur effect

I do agree with what you're saying but i think what we need is an attitude change. To get this attitude change we will need a cocktail of changes.

Education and not just "that is a stop sign" "This is a hand brake" . We need people to understand and fear the consequences of dangerour or careless driving.

enforcement, more cops on the roads to enfore the law

and infastructure, people say there are less accidents on the motorway cos the driver has less decisions to make. So more motorways are needed

Dr Pepper

I agree. This type of thing is more than just an annoyance when 2 points adds about €100 per year to my insurance premium.

80 fine + 300 insurance rise
Total penalty - €380 :mad:

smarty

Vegeta wrote:

still its better than nothing i suppose at least there is a visible presence

I am not sure about this. As far as I can see, this is purely a revenue generator.

The garda told me that he decides when and where to use the speed camera. I would have thought that there would have been some instruction from above, with defined metrics. Not sure what these should be, but I hope it would not be a "number of fines".

Vegeta

smarty wrote:

I am not sure about this. As far as I can see, this is purely a revenue generator.

The garda told me that he decides when and where to use the speed camera. I would have thought that there would have been some instruction from above, with defined metrics. Not sure what these should be, but I hope it would not be a "number of fines".

If garda stay in the same dangerous spots which fit the defined metrics all the time then why not just replace them with gatzos.

Stationary cameras/policing wont work as people will just speed up in the areas where they know there are no cameras. That's what happens in England anyway.

To really get people to follow speed limits there has to be a decent percent risk of getting caught every time. No matter what speed limit zone

lazygit

i know that spot well.. you see the Dublin bus in the background, the one coming towards the camera, see the lamp post just to the right, before all the road works in the area there was i believe a wooden pole there, i was driving that way about a year ago and seen a motorbike driver wrap himself around it, he died... so as far as im concerned .. fair play guards!

Bluehair

The whole thing annoys the fu<k out of me to be honest. I'm completely in favour of the points system but the implimentation is a joke.

Rather than actually doing some real work this policy of setting up where-ever is easy is making a mockery of the system. Watch out for laser dedectors/jammers getting ever more popular in the years ahead.

Personally I reckon they should dramatically reduce policing of areas like the above and motorways and shift to b-roads, small towns where there are plenty of muppets driving dangerously to pick off. But of course you'd never be 'shooting fish in a barrel' like the above.. :mad:

smarty

lazygit wrote:

i know that spot well.. you see the Dublin bus in the background, the one coming towards the camera, see the lamp post just to the right, before all the road works in the area there was i believe a wooden pole there, i was driving that way about a year ago and seen a motorbike driver wrap himself around it, he died... so as far as im concerned .. fair play guards!

What was the cause of that accident?

ifah

i drive that road every day both in and out on a motorbike and I say fair play to the guards for picking that spot. The spot the guards are at is a (heavily used) pedestrian crossing. I say heavily used because it is directly opposite the entrance to the church and is the way all the older folk from santry head down to mass. Also remember it's in the middle of the port tunnel works - still loads of slow moving machinery etc around there.

omega man

Motorbikes are a different story. I never see them been done and i also rarely see them staying anywhere near the limits. Doing a car on that road
at speeds slightly over the limit has to be a revenue exercise. I lived in meath
for 3 years and no matter how many serious accidents there were i only
saw 1 speed check in meath (secondary roads etc). I had an 80 mile round trip to work in Dublin so i did a lot of driving. They were always on the bloody n3 dual carraige mind you!!

Seanie M

I think 3 lanes at 50kph is down right idiotic. What's the point, really? To bottleneck everyone further? Some councils... :mad:

Bluetonic

Seanie M wrote:

I think 3 lanes at 50kph is down right idiotic. What's the point, really? To bottleneck everyone further? Some councils... :mad:

But it's only two lanes where the speed checking is going on, the third lane is only a slip road off the Shantalla bridge.

Since the two lanes opened a few weeks ago there seems to be some sort of racing mentality from the top of the port tunnel portal to Whitehall Church. Cars are vying with each other for positon as if they are going to get past/onto Collins avenue a little bit quicker. I was breaking the limit doing around 90kph down there this morning and I was overtaken.

The two lanes in question are also extremely tight.

Hopefully this spot being known as a 'speed checkpoint' may keep the driving undercontrol. Everyone is going to be stopped at the lights at Collins Avenue anyhow so whay the need for speed?

Henry Ford III

I was driving near Adare Co. Limerick earlier today, in a line of traffic and saw a motorbike cop hidden under a bridge with a gun or camera - not sure which.

I thought I was pretty much on the limit (100kph) but glanced down and was horrified to see I was actually doing an indicated 108-109 kph.

I wasn't pulled over/stopped by the cop.

Will I get 2 points do you reckon, or will possible speedo error and/or the alleged 10% grace given save my licence?

irishthump

Pack of bleedin' whingers.....

If you're over the limit you're over the limit, full stop. Pay the fine and stop moaning.

Like Bluetonic says, why bother going so fast when you're gonna stop at Collins' Avenue lights.
All that tearing around the city like a blue arsed fly does'nt get you there any fu*king faster.

smarty

irishthump wrote:

Pack of bleedin' whingers.....

If you're over the limit you're over the limit, full stop. Pay the fine and stop moaning.

I wasn't speeding. The main point of my original post was that these speed checks are setup independently and are not part of the any overall road safety plan.

MrPudding

smarty wrote:

I wasn't speeding. The main point of my original post was that these speed checks are setup independently and are not part of the any overall road safety plan.

This is the case at the moment. Apparently, once the privatisation happens, there will be an overall strategy where the gardai & NSC will dictate where and when the private operators stage thier checks.

Supposedly it wll be based on areas and times that incidents occur. So, if 80% of incidents happen on country roads at 3AM that is where 80% of the checks will be. If .5% happen on the N11 at 4 in the afternoon then no more than .5% of speed checks will be allowed there.

The private operators will be paid for checks carried out NOT people caught speeding. Further, they will only be paid for checks carried out as per their instructions. So, if they do 10% on the N11 instead of .5 they will only get paid for the .5.

That is how is is supposed to work. I think it woul dbe a great system, unfortunately I doubt they will implement it as planned.

MrP

ballooba

IMO that's a perfect place to have a speed check.

I cruise up the M1 at a speed slightly above the speed limit. I reduce speed slightly when I come to the port tunnel works, but even when I come off the M1 I am still inclined to speed a little because I am just after driving at motorway speeds for an hour.

That speed check is a reasonable distance from the motorway that you would have expected people to have calmed down their speed after the motorway. If they haven't slowed down by that point they will probably continue through the city at 40-45 mph+.

Lord Nikon

Somewhat off topic, but you know them temprary speed limits ie. Naas Road.
Do the builders just put up these speed signs, or the council or who? Surely there has to be rules and stuff of where they are put, and what limits they shoud show.