M50 Speed Camera - Good or Bad

Drax

Sorry to add to the plethora of threads on this but there seems to be a real mix of opinion on the new speed camera's on the M50. Some people with heavy feet even claiming it is impossible to drive at 60km on this stretch.

I personally think they are good although was puzzled today as to why the one at Tallaght northbound did not seem to flash the blue Transit that overtook me at a lot more than 60km/h as I passed it. He did jam the brakes but it looked to late ... I wouldn't fancy a car coming over the railing at high speed if I was working in the middle of a road like this.

So a general poll just to get an idea.

The tax man

WTF,no Atari Jaguar option?

Pherekydes

I've been observing the limit there since it was installed so the cameras won't affect me.

Guy:Incognito

I reckon there will be a lot of people saying it's bad, but if there was one high profile accident where a worker was killed while workign by someone speeding, the same poll the day after would be almost totally in favour of it.

So why do we have to wait for that accident before people decide they dont really have to go 120kmph for that couple of miles while work is going on?

Oh and the poll? the first one should be in two parts, just because the limit is good doesnt mean people will slow down.

Seth Brundle

The tax man wrote:

WTF,no Atari Jaguar option?

its there now

kikel

I think it's a great idea. I've being obeying that 60kph limit for the last two months. I realized how important it was when myself and a number of other drivers suddenly came upon workers one evening a 11pm. Luckily non of us crashed or hit the workers.
I've noticed a considerable change in other drivers speeds since it's being installed.

is_that_so

When did they kick in? I will say I do my best to stay around 60 kph- probably end up around 70 kph. Good and bad idea, so I'm not covered in the poll . Bad idea for the right reasons - i.e. to get people to observe speed limits but really it's money making of the highest order - will not save lives or IMO change habits.
Classic Gatso carry on. Find a road where you are almost guaranteed 75%+ of people not observing a "temporary special limit" and away you go.

IMO you can achieve the same effect with a Traffic Corps car sitting on the side of the road with lights flashing. In other words proper enforcement by Gardai.

Guy:Incognito

is_that_so wrote:

IMO you can achieve the same effect with a Traffic Corps car sitting on the side of the road with lights flashing. In other words proper enforcement by Gardai.

So instead of making money off the back of law breakers and reducing speedign all in one, they should pay to have gards sitting in a car all day watching the worlld go by?

is_that_so

Stekelly wrote:

So instead of making money off the back of law breakers and reducing speedign all in one, they should pay to have gards sitting in a car all day watching the worlld go by?

Enforcement is the way , it is part of their job. In the 8 months or so that the drink driving testing has been in place I have yet to see a roadblock. I rarely see any type of Garda presence on the roads so you'll forgive my cynicism on this.

My problem with this kind of thing is that you never see a Gatso in an area to verify if people are not following the standard speed limits and there are many many places where 50kph or 60kph limits need to be properly enforced. It is invariably employed where there are roadworks and the van can be tucked away to take pictures. If that's not money making I don't know what is .

Guy:Incognito

id say a pretty high percentage of the people on the m50 iin the mornign and night are the same people each day. they know the camera is there and what the speed limit is. If they choose to go above it, thats their choice. the camera might not slow them down at first but i bet the first time a fine and points drops through teh door it will.

is_that_so wrote:

It is invariably employed where there are roadworks and the van can be tucked away to take pictures. If that's not money making I don't know what is .

The van on the m50 was parked at the side of the road, in plain view.

Drax

kbannon wrote:

its there now

FFS kbannon - I am sick to the teeth of this ****e on boards. :mad:
A reasonably serious thread once again ruined by nerdy muppetry.
Please remove that option.

I.S.T.

I think it is a good idea IF, and it is a big IF, the cameras are made visible as they are in the UK, i.e. by painting them a bright yellow colour and having signposts advising motorists in advance. Motorists should be made well aware that there are cameras being used to enforce the temporary speed limit in operation. There is a lot of construction going on and a lower limit is needed for the safety of the workers as well as motorists using the M50.

is_that_so

Is this actually a camera? I haven't been on it in a week or so, so wasn't aware of it. Thought it was just a Gatso. Not fan of Gatsos at all as I've stated.

Even if it's a camera I still stand by that. Good idea for wrong reasons.

As time goes by I am less and less convinced by what fixed cameras can do. I have heard of some parts in the UK where they have reduced the number of cameras and replaced it by physical presence. The argument is that you know where the camera is, but not where you might find the police.

Still it may be different once the new mobile system kicks in and they start targetting roads where there are genuinely serious problems with speed.

LundiMardi

Where is this camera?

I've been on the m50 quite a bit late at night the last couple of weeks and it's hard to stay under 60 when there isn't a car on the road, and the ones that show up and going even faster than you are.

Although i did come across a truck parked in the left lane while workers, erm, worked. Took me by suprise to say the least, but it wasn't at all lit up enough to warn drivers in advance!!!!

That, and last night, i was going around 80-90km and as i was driving i noticed a car driving down the slip road to my left and all of a sudden realised it was a garda car. The car was ahead of me at the time so i did step on the breaks but i was going way over 60 when i passed them, and even at that i didn't slow myself down as i didn't want my break lights to alert them behind me, so i let the gears take over and slow me down to 60, this took a short while, all the time the gards were behind me. They didn't stop me though.

Seth Brundle

Drax wrote:

FFS kbannon - I am sick to the teeth of this ****e on boards. :mad:
A reasonably serious thread once again ruined by nerdy muppetry.
Please remove that option.

I gave people an alternative choice in the poll.
How has it ruined the poll? Not everyone agreed with the original options.

is_that_so wrote:

Is this actually a camera? I haven't been on it in a week or so, so wasn't aware of it. Thought it was just a Gatso. Not fan of Gatsos at all as I've stated.

Even if it's a camera I still stand by that. Good idea for wrong reasons.

As time goes by I am less and less convinced by what fixed cameras can do. I have heard of some parts in the UK where they have reduced the number of cameras and replaced it by physical presence. The argument is that you know where the camera is, but not where you might find the police.

Still it may be different once the new mobile system kicks in and they start targetting roads where there are genuinely serious problems with speed.

There are two new Gatsos in place along the roadworks.
There is quite a large garda presence on the M50 both covert and marked units.

LundiMardi wrote:

Where is this camera?

There are a number of threads running on the M50 cameras.

The tax man

Drax wrote:

FFS kbannon - I am sick to the teeth of this ****e on boards. :mad:
A reasonably serious thread once again ruined by nerdy muppetry.
Please remove that option.

Christ clam down. Why are you having a go at kbannon I'm the one that asked where the Atari option was. Lets just say it's an option for people that don't agree with any of the other options.
Have all the other polls on Boards been ruined because it's there........NO.
It's just part of Boards,get over it. BTW I'm not a nerd nor a muppet.

@kbannon Had a giggle this morning to see the camera at Ballymun gone.

On a serious note, I'm interested to see how many rear end shunts the Tallaght camera location could cause. There's been far too many of these along the M50 between Firhouse and Tallaght. Traffic slowing down approaching start of works at Tallaght slip with people still going 120kph along Firhouse stretch and you get one person not paying attention and you know what's next.
That's before the camera was even there. Traffic would slow down but not to a 60km limit,now they have to. Not everyone knows it's there yet so it's going to cause some hairy moments for a week or two.
Also people coming onto the M50 from the Tallaght slip are getting up to speed(or should already be) with the main traffic and their main attention is aimed at what's alongside and what's approaching from behind. Again anyone that doesn't know of the camera location will soon find the flow of traffic in front crawling and before they know it they're up someone's rear end.
The reason I mention this is that the nice people in a red Pug 106 may as well been back seat passengers in my car on sunday. I was doing 60 on the inner lane,good space to the car behind me but the Pug put the foot down to get into the space between me and the other car. I was keeping an eye in the rear view mirror just to see the car behind me,even before the Pug entered the picture, cause it was closing the gap quite quickly and I was getting a bit worried but when the Pug came onto the main road they soon saw the rear end of me doing 60 and would've had to break fairly sharpish.
It's just stupid things like this that worry me about it's location and may add to an already accident prone stretch of the M50.



4 votes and counting.:p

antodeco

kbannon wrote:

There are two new Gatsos in place along the roadworks.

i havent seen this (hope thats what i think anyway!). Where are they? I know theyre not allowed park on the roadworks part, so i havent seen any along the side. where are the ones u saw!?

The tax man

Also if they seriously want to reduce the speed along the works they need to install cameras within the 60km zone,like they did on the M1 during the port tunnel works. Nearly every car I've seen has increased in speed once past the camera location,so IMO at the moment that camera is going to pump out points and fines rather then keep cars within the speed limit for the entire length of the road works.

Seth Brundle

antodeco wrote:

i havent seen this (hope thats what i think anyway!). Where are they? I know theyre not allowed park on the roadworks part, so i havent seen any along the side. where are the ones u saw!?

these two are fixed gatsos not talivans.

The tax man wrote:

Also if they seriously want to reduce the speed along the works they need to install cameras within the 60km zone,like they did on the M1 during the port tunnel works. Nearly every car I've seen has increased in speed once past the camera location,so IMO at the moment that camera is going to pump out points and fines rather then keep cars within the speed limit for the entire length of the road works.

The two new Gatsos are along the 60km/h roadworks zone.

antodeco

kbannon wrote:

these two are fixed gatsos not talivans.

Apologies, thought u meant the vans!

Guy:Incognito

antodeco wrote:

Apologies, thought u meant the vans!

The van was in the 60km zone as well, it was under the Ballymount bridge iirc.

Drax

The tax man wrote:

Christ clam down. Why are you having a go at kbannon I'm the one that asked where the Atari option was. Lets just say it's an option for people that don't agree with any of the other options.

I am calm. I just dont appreciate mods adding stupid options to a poll. If it was in the least bit humorous I'd have no problem, but Atari Jaguar for f*ck sake? Did I miss out on some important event in the history of human evolution where the Jaguar played some important part or something but if more options were needed, then at least make them slightly more relevant. Sure I cant even edit the poll if I wanted to once it is posted can I?

The tax man wrote:

On a serious note, I'm interested to see how many rear end shunts the Tallaght camera location could cause.. . . . . . . . . . . . . t's just stupid things like this that worry me about it's location and may add to an already accident prone stretch of the M50.

I agree with you here. Those cameras should (as someone pointed out) be made highly visible and not camoflage grey as they always are. I'd say there will be some heavy braking on that stretch over the next few weeks. Watch your rear view mirrors!

The tax man wrote:

4 votes and counting.:p

Fecking Nerds

MrPudding

The tax man wrote:

Also if they seriously want to reduce the speed along the works they need to install cameras within the 60km zone,like they did on the M1 during the port tunnel works. Nearly every car I've seen has increased in speed once past the camera location,so IMO at the moment that camera is going to pump out points and fines rather then keep cars within the speed limit for the entire length of the road works.

No, if they seriously want to reduce the speed along the entire length they would do what they do in the UK for roadwords and install Average Speed Check Cameras. These are particulary good at enforcing a limit along an extended stretch.

MrP