Lazy Cops

Drax

A quick one. Yesterday coming out of Drogheda the traffic was moving along slowly. I was behind a Garda car. Up ahead, about 10 cars in front was a car moving along at the speed limit (probably coz he had seen the garda car in his mirrors), and hence the queue. I watched in awe as 2 cars overtook him on a hatched island (past the Europa hotel) followed by a third who overtook him on a continuous white line. In my head I was waiting for those blue lights to start flashing and some swift manouvering from the garda car. Yet they just sat back and watched this happen. I was fuming! Talk about a lax attitude... I was nearly tempted to overtake the garda car just to get their attention. If they had better things to be doing they would have shown a bit more urgency. Arrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhh. :mad: :mad:

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

they must of been on their way to lunch...

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

sorry i take that back.... if they were on their way to lunch they would have the blue light flashing and driving 150kh down the center of the road.

delly

I know the section your talking about and drive it every day. Tbh it would be unusual for someone to OT on the hatched markings unless they are going well slow, even the speed limit wouldn’t be that slow.

Is it possible that the car had a flat and was going slow, or had indicated left so cars could OT? Did you actually see the car up close or just know that it was going slow because of the presence of the Garda car?

Villain

I have a radio scanner and listen to the Gardai quite a bit, its hilarious sometimes. Recently I was home and heard this:

"Charlie to 89"
"Yea go ahead"
"Are you anywhere Dublin Street"
"Yea just coming onto it now, whats up"
"Can you call into the Golden Grill and get 2 Quater Pounder and Chips"
"Yea no bother"

delly

irish1 wrote:

I have a radio scanner and listen to the Gardai quite a bit, its hilarious sometimes. Recently I was home and heard this:

"Charlie to 89"
"Yea go ahead"
"Are you anywhere Dublin Street"
"Yea just coming onto it now, whats up"
"Can you call into the Golden Grill and get 2 Quater Pounder and Chips"
"Yea no bother"

Coppers are allowed to eat during the working day :eek:, now that is hilarious :rolleyes:.

Villain

It was the way the conversatin took place, it was like they wanted them to attend to a crime then just said go to the chipper and get 2 quarter pounders. Kinda had to hear kind of thing.

Drax

delly wrote:

Is it possible that the car had a flat and was going slow, or had indicated left so cars could OT? Did you actually see the car up close or just know that it was going slow because of the presence of the Garda car?

The car didnt have a flat, delly. It was going slow. Whether or not the presence of the cop car was the reason they were obeying the speed limit, I'm not sure. It just gets my goat the way this kind of stuff is so high profile at the moment and yet, those gardai could easily have had a word with one or two of those ejits.

Did anyone hear Ray Darcy on the Last Word last night? He wasnt afraid to use the F word on air and you could hear his frustration. He hit the nail on the head when he said no one has the balls to take the responsibility of road-safety in this country. The buck is passed all the time. They also had some spokesman on from the Gardai saying how their traffic corps are out in force. Me arse. I drove the length of the country last weekend and not one checkpoint/patrol was seen!

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

last time i saw a cop out on the road was about 12 months ago

ballooba

This has occurred to me before that the real problems are actually never tackled by the Gardai.

Garda time would be a lot better served driving around pulling people over than setting up checkpoints.

I think it's disgraceful the amount of people driving around in cars with bulbs blown, number plates hanging off, non-regulation number plates, wing mirrors missing, cracked windscreens, trailers with no signals/number plate, dangerous & unsecured loads etc.

Driving a car around with any of the above shows a lack of respect for the law and a lack of respect for road safety. People who don't care about stuff like this are more likely in my opinion to drive with little care for other road users.

Also, I think people should be pulled over for failing to signal, blocking off a lane while setting down, inappropriate use of hazard lights (taxi drivers), blocking yellow boxes, blocking pedestrian crossings, dangerous parking and just bad driving in general.

Stopping people on the go would be a lot more effective than setting up a checkpoint at a fixed point for speeding or tax/insurance/NCT/DUI.

Anan1

\m/_(>_<)_\m/ wrote:

last time i saw a cop out on the road was about 12 months ago

Where are you driving? I see them a few times a day in Dublin, and I don't drive that much.

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

Anan1 wrote:

Where are you driving? I see them a few times a day in Dublin, and I don't drive that much.

Cork... and about 40k to and from work and every weekend down to Schull on the main west cork road. Never but never see them out stopping of speed checking. I do see them driving around the city but never around the suburbs.

WizZard

I drove across the country (> 200 miles: Dublin -> West -> Dublin) last weekend and saw none either. It's actually saddening when you think about it. A lot of accidents/deaths could be prevented just by Gardai being visible on the roads which, in my experience, makes people slow down and become more aware of their surroundings.

jozi

Anyone know phibsboro well?

The road coming allong tesco that makes a T-junction, 2 lanes. Traffic light goes red for right and left turn, the jeep infront of me slows down but decides to keep going anyway. He could have stoped fine as he wasnt traveling to fast. Anyway on the other lane (for turning right) a unmarked garda car with 4 uniformed garda in it sitting there watching this jeep do a red light turning left and the just sit there and point at the jeep
This was around 1 oclock, maybe they where on lunch but the jeep still shouldnt have been let get away with it should he?

Wishbone Ash

irish1 wrote:

I have a radio scanner and listen to the Gardai quite a bit, its hilarious sometimes. Recently I was home and heard this:

"Charlie to 89"
"Yea go ahead"
"Are you anywhere Dublin Street"
"Yea just coming onto it now, whats up"
"Can you call into the Golden Grill and get 2 Quater Pounder and Chips"
"Yea no bother"

From my years of listening experience , requests for food sent via radio are usually for a person/persons under arrest and detained in the station.

Wishbone Ash

Anan1 wrote:

I see them a few times a day in Dublin, and I don't drive that much.

Yes - virtually ever time I get into the car, they are in front of me or behind me. In my 15 minute commute to work this morning, I met four seperate patrol cars and, although living in Dublin, I'm outside the DMA.

Anan1

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Yes - virtually ever time I get into the car, they are in front of me or behind me. In my 15 minute commute to work this morning, I met four seperate patrol cars and, although living in Dublin, I'm outside the DMA.

You should sell the car and just get lifts off them.

Guy:Incognito

Drax wrote:

Did anyone hear Ray Darcy on the Last Word last night? He wasnt afraid to use the F word on air and you could hear his frustration. He hit the nail on the head when he said no one has the balls to take the responsibility of road-safety in this country. The buck is passed all the time. They also had some spokesman on from the Gardai saying how their traffic corps are out in force. Me arse. I drove the length of the country last weekend and not one checkpoint/patrol was seen!

God forbid drivers should take responsibilty for their safety on the road. Cos they seem to be the ones determined to drive up the death toll.

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

irish1 wrote:

I have a radio scanner and listen to the Gardai quite a bit, its hilarious sometimes. Recently I was home and heard this:

"Charlie to 89"
"Yea go ahead"
"Are you anywhere Dublin Street"
"Yea just coming onto it now, whats up"
"Can you call into the Golden Grill and get 2 Quater Pounder and Chips"
"Yea no bother"

Wishbone Ash wrote:

From my years of listening experience , requests for food sent via radio are usually for a person/persons under arrest and detained in the station.

but not this time me thinks... "2 quarter ponders and chips"

\m/_(>_<)_\m/

Stekelly wrote:

God forbid drivers should take responsibilty for their safety on the road. Cos they seem to be the ones determined to drive up the death toll.

sure if it was that simple their would be no need for the guards...at all.
we should all take responsibility for everything. ...sigh...

Wing Walker

Drax wrote:

The car didnt have a flat... It was going slow... they were obeying the speed limit

As much as I don't agree with the overtaking on hatched areas and continuous white lines, I don't agree with what you're saying here. How can "going slow" while obeying the speed limit be a bad thing? I know that speed limits in certain areas are ridiculously unrealistic but sometimes they're not. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with this area in Drogheda to comment further, with the following exception. The cops, I'm sure, could have taken their registrations and could take action against them, for either careless or indeed dangerous driving, at a later stage. There's nothing to say this cannot happen as far as I know.

But I do agree with you on the cops. When it suits them, they'll enforce the law. I regularly see stupid driving on my travels and in some instances there are cops (both static and on the move) around when it happens and they do nothing about it. I think I'd prefer to have a zero tolerance policy in force for the majority of road traffic offences. I know that would mean that I would probably gets some points too, but if that's the price of having a safer driving environment overall then I'm for it.

Henry Ford III

Wing Walker wrote:

...I think I'd prefer to have a zero tolerance policy in force for the majority of road traffic offences. I know that would mean that I would probably gets some points too, but if that's the price of having a safer driving environment overall then I'm for it.

Agreed. It's the only way to change peoples ingrained bad driving habits.

omega man

Drivers must take responsibility of course but the enforcement must come from the law and the law makers. Those who brake it must be seen to be punished accordingly. Too many times i have seen drink drivers get away with killing people on our roads, Successive governments have failed miserabley and have almost been afraid to tackle drink driving while innocent
people still die by their actions or lack of. I lived in the country for a few years and never once saw garda check points despite the full pub car parks
on weekends! In the town i lived in there was a problem "boy racer" who on a regular basis drove like a maniac in and around the town. The gardai were
very aware of him yet took no action, his parents got numerous compaints
and a couple of days before he wrapped himself around a tree my wife had
called the gardai warning them he was going to kill himself or worse someone else. He was only about 20. How do we change peoples attitudes if the those at the top cant be seen to care enough to make a difference.