here we go again..

gstonesmx5

every sat morning the white garda speed van is parked on the nass rd around the coke factory. thats nothing new, however i was going along the m50 northbound on sat morning on way to funeral and there was the van under the naas rd bridge on the m50. its a 60kph zone because of the roadworks but all seem to do 80khp including me. ok so i was breaking the limit right however who thinks these are the wrong places for the cammera on a saturday morning. with areas of higher pedestrian traffic like schools (lots of sports take place at that time), or in towns. seems like they might not be being used to realy make the difference they could.

what do you think?

im not here to bash the gardai just to get oppinions.

Wishbone Ash

gstonesmx5 wrote:

a 60kph zone because of the roadworks

I presume that is why the Gardaí are there. Roadworks, taking place on a motorway, are dangerous enough but combined with motorists ignoring the speed limit, they could be lethal.

BrianD3

The gatso van is regularly at the M50 roadworks now and I welcome it. Try sticking to the 60 km/h speed limit at non peak times and watch how you get swamped and nearly rear ended. Also merging onto the M-way without breaking the limit is now just about impossible as 90% of drivers are breaking the limit by a big margin.

gyppo

Drivers who break the speed limit on motorways (or area's where special limits are imposed) tend to break limits on other type of roads too.

Imo, the gardai were totally justified in placing a speed check there.

Drax

There are still 2 lanes all the way, and hard shoulders for practically the entire length of them. The difference is that they have made the lanes narrower (3.25m). 60km/h might be overkill for this but I guess there are some drivers who may not be comfortable driving in this situation.

There are a few places where the speed limit does need to be dropped though - such as works traffic exits. Between the Red Cow and Lucan exits, they have pushed the road left onto the hard shoulder - however the sign they use indicates that the third lane ends when in fact both lanes curve to the left. This does not affect the flow of the traffic. This is confusing I think.

I do think though that putting a speed camera there is stupid.

Kimbot

If anyone here saw the car crash on the m50 last saturday then they would know why the van is on the m50!!

I will give a quote from a few threads on other sites for the crash so people can see what happened....

Here is what I saw...
I was driving down the m50 and was taking the redcow exit, checking my mirrors and in the corner of my eye I saw a car in the air!!! It was a very very good height off the ground (there was a double decker behind it and it was higher than that) spinning in the air and then it hit the road with a bad smash!! I bleeding crapped myself!!! I got out nad it was on its roof!! A load of people gathered round so I just left!!

Anyone see the accident on the M50 yesterday in which a Honda Civic thought it could fly by using the armco as a launch ramp. The civic hit the armco just after the Mad Cow junction on the Motorway Sounth bound direction and did a few flips in the air before landing on its roof. The civic had a two tone paint job black and green and had chrome rims, a driver and a young kid in the car.

Was there at the scene clearin up and that after words. The car was a Civic hatch (before the accident). The car hit the Variogard at the termination (metal barrier on the side of the M50) the termination is at a 45 degree angle, He must have been Fairly light comin down the road. At 60Kmh (THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT) them barriers will flip the car on its roof if hit the way he hit it. But the car wont leave the ground.

This time with the speed involved the car did lift a great hight into the air and traveled over 100m before landing and sliding to a stop on its roof....

The passanger was fairly badly hurt judging from the amount of blood left on the barrier when the passing paramedic removed him from the car. The Driver was unhurt to an extent.

Its CRAZY driving faster than the posted speed limit down that road.... This isnt the first car to crash cause of the speed that they where doin thru the M50 recently....

How he didnt hit any other cars on the road when he landed i will never know... He stopped sideways straddelin the 2 lanes nose pointing towards the hard shoulder...... Right beside the onslip from the N7 to the M50 south bound.

To me now 60km is the limit for a reason, the above is only one of several crashes on that strech of road since the roadworks started so its safe to say that sticking to the 60KM is best.

johnnyrotten

Its all about easy pickings and revenue making.
Eg. The M1 northbound most saturdays theres a Gatso Van parked under the M50 bridge partially hidden behind hedging. The Speed limit on this "Motorway" is 80 KPH at this stretch.
Cars which are limited to 60 KPH along the DPT works get the chance of the road opening up to two lanes only to get Stung.
Now I am all in favour of speed limits and obeying them but this 80KPH is ridiculous and its obvious that its a money spinner.

Stark

The problem I have with the speed limits on the M50 is the long stretch of road without roadworks that has the 60kph stretch on it. They could at least up the interim stretch to 80kph or something.

I can't trust the speed limit signs going down to Cork anymore. There are 60kph and 50kph signs left over from old roadworks, whereas on a bridge between two roundabouts they've a 100kph limit, and also a 60kph limit which ends just before the roadworks (the roadworks section is 100kph, the section leading up is 60, go figure).

jmoore50

I passed the M50 at the same sot on Sun morning at about 10:30 and the van was there. Exact same scenario, everyone doing 80K or higher.
It is difficult to keep an eye on your speed when keeping up with the traffic.

jmoore50

The civic in question is for sale on Carzone...maybe it was being test driven..

smash

There was a white van yesterday on the naas rd opposite the red cow there again. B*stards

Rudolph Claus

jmoore50 wrote:

The civic in question is for sale on Carzone...maybe it was being test driven..

The state of that :eek:
The crash was an improvement.

What did he hit that launched the car, the central barrier? Why are the barriers at 45degree angles and not just straight?

fletch

Nuttzy wrote:

The state of that :eek:
The crash was an improvement.

What did he hit that launched the car, the central barrier? Why are the barriers at 45degree angles and not just straight?

Yeh I had a look at them this evenin on my way home and they seemed angled perfectly for launching cars into the air!
That civic was HIDEOUS!

Guy:Incognito

Surely the figure of it travelling 100m in the air cant be right.I mean it seems an awfull long way. Did the lads on top gear not only get over a few side by side caravans after going off a ramp around the same height as a caravan?

Injuries to people notwithstanding, that hideuos pile is better off not on the road.

I'd imagine he was breaking the 120kmph speed limit, never mind the 60k one.

Stephen

The carzone listing is still there:
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=501316

It BeeMee

Nuttzy wrote:

Why are the barriers at 45degree angles and not just straight?

It's to help deceleration of the vehicle that hits it.
A car travelling at a reasonable speed that hits the angled barrier will run up onto it and maybe roll over once.
The same car hitting a "straight" barrier will stop dead - same as hitting an ESB pole. Much less chance of survival.

The_Magoo

€15000 for that monstrosity! Wonder if the occupants were badly injured, in fairness the owner seems a bit "touched" to start with!

Kimbot

Stekelly wrote:

Surely the figure of it travelling 100m in the air cant be right.I mean it seems an awfull long way. Did the lads on top gear not only get over a few side by side caravans after going off a ramp around the same height as a caravan?

Injuries to people notwithstanding, that hideuos pile is better off not on the road.

I'd imagine he was breaking the 120kmph speed limit, never mind the 60k one.

Ste I witnessed this first hand.... there was a double decker bus travelling behind him and I was north bound and right beside it wneh it happened and he climbed higher than the bus!!! The 100m is how far along the road he was airborne for!!

drdre

Stephen wrote:

The carzone listing is still there:
http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=501316

wow,that looks like a proper scumbag car:D .I love the colour

ninty9er

Aren't road works limits unenforcable since the local council will most likely just have stuck them up without changing the legislation to change the limit from 100/120 to 60, which is a complete and utter joke!!!!!!

I never bother with roadworks signs as the roadworks don't materialise 9 times out of 10, as they were completed 6 months ago etc....

BrianD3

ninty9er wrote:

Aren't road works limits unenforcable since the local council will most likely just have stuck them up without changing the legislation to change the limit from 100/120 to 60, which is a complete and utter joke!!!!!!

I never bother with roadworks signs as the roadworks don't materialise 9 times out of 10, as they were completed 6 months ago etc....

Many roadwork speed limits are unenforcable and I agree that the situation is a shambles in many cases. However I believe the M50 temp speed limit is a "proper" one that has been approved by the council and has the correct signage etc. I doubt that the Gardai would have the GATSO van out there if they thought speeding fines wouldn't stand up to scrutiny

But you're right about many of the temp workwork speed limits on Irish roads
-speed limit signs left up months or years after the works have finished
-no signs indicating the end of the temp speed limit
-nonstandard signs thrown up by contractors, for instance I have seen signs with text "kph", "km/ph", "mph" or nothing at all instead of the correct "km/h". Also signs that were orange and black instead of the correct colours. AFAIC non standard signs mean the limit is unenforceable and also make the whole job look shoddy and haphazard
-signs blown/knocked over and not replaced
-absurdly low speed "limits" like 5 or 10 km/h
-signs which bluff eg signs saying "speed cameras ahead" when its clear there are no GATSO vans or fixed cameras in the vicinity

Turner

gstonesmx5 wrote:

every sat morning the white garda speed van is parked on the nass rd around the coke factory. thats nothing new, however i was going along the m50 northbound on sat morning on way to funeral and there was the van under the naas rd bridge on the m50. its a 60kph zone because of the roadworks but all seem to do 80khp including me. ok so i was breaking the limit right however who thinks these are the wrong places for the cammera on a saturday morning. with areas of higher pedestrian traffic like schools (lots of sports take place at that time), or in towns. seems like they might not be being used to realy make the difference they could.

what do you think?

im not here to bash the gardai just to get oppinions.

I presume the construction company management asked the Traffic Corps to place the Van there.

Traffic whizzing past its workers within a few feet at 60km/hr plus is no laughing matter.

Its quite common and anybody can request the placing of a gatso van in a particular place. Many residents associations request the van in their estates for a few days per month, same with outside schools and hospitals etc.

stipey

Its quite common and anybody can request the placing of a gatso van in a particular place.

I'd like to suggest a place our boys in blue could place their gatso van...