Garda 'Traffic Corps'

dcGT

I remember a few years back when then was uproar over Ireland having no dedicated 'traffic corps' on our streets. Then I gradually began to see more and more Garda bikes and a few cars with 'Traffic Corps' stickers on them. Now, in Dublin at least, it seems that most if not every every marked Garda vehicle I see belongs to the 'Traffic Corps'. Has anyone else noticed this or am I missing something here? Is this just an image or is there a proper 'Traffic Corps' system now in place?

DC.

NBar

They have got a few new cars and the markings now are different than the regular cars. Alot more people are getting stopped as well, as can be seen by soem of the posts here.

Wishbone Ash

I think the OP means that every Garda car, whether it's engaged in traffic related matters or not, seems to have Traffic Corps livery.

mick.fr

That's because they ordered too many stickers initially, they need to use them, that's all.

ballooba

It does seem like every car has a traffic corp sticker. I witnessed a public order incident in the early hours on Leeson Street a few weeks back. A dozen or so Garda cars were scrambled and a good few of them had Traffic Corp markings. The traffic corp are not needed at that hour because there is no traffic. I suppose they can't just leave the cars idle.

godtabh

ballooba wrote: »

It does seem like every car has a traffic corp sticker. I witnessed a public order incident in the early hours on Leeson Street a few weeks back. A dozen or so Garda cars were scrambled and a good few of them had Traffic Corp markings. The traffic corp are not needed at that hour because there is no traffic. I suppose they can't just leave the cars idle.

Why arent they needed then? I would have thought this would be an ideal time for the traffic corps when the vast majority of serious and fatal accidents happen in the early hours

NBar

The Traffic Corp are now working at night as well and will respond to a call if nearby. As for the comment that they have to many stickers, the cars are only marked in Traffic markings when requested other than that all cars are marked in the standard markings.

ballooba

kearnsr wrote: »

Why arent they needed then? I would have thought this would be an ideal time for the traffic corps when the vast majority of serious and fatal accidents happen in the early hours

Not in Dublin City Centre.

Spit62500

Traffic Corps cars can often be seen escorting prisoners to and from the Four Courts (they can hardly claim to be responding to an unforeseen event). It seems to me that the traffic corps is not dedicated only to traffic matters - the political spin at the time implied that that they would be a dedicated unit.

NBar

There are diferent sections within the Traffic Corp, teeh ones escorting are assigned that duty when required it does not mean that all the bikes are gone, next time you are in Dublin go into Dublin Castle and see all the Bikes they have etc

Victor

ballooba wrote: »

It does seem like every car has a traffic corp sticker. I witnessed a public order incident in the early hours on Leeson Street a few weeks back. A dozen or so Garda cars were scrambled and a good few of them had Traffic Corp markings. The traffic corp are not needed at that hour because there is no traffic. I suppose they can't just leave the cars idle.

Do you think they stop and say to each other "Oh we can't take that one - its Traffic Corps - we'll walk instead."?

kearnsr wrote: »

Why arent they needed then? I would have thought this would be an ideal time for the traffic corps when the vast majority of serious and fatal accidents happen in the early hours

You statement is misleading. A grossly disproportionate number occur at those hours, but the most lethal time of day is the evening rush hour.

Spit62500 wrote: »

Traffic Corps cars can often be seen escorting prisoners to and from the Four Courts (they can hardly claim to be responding to an unforeseen event). It seems to me that the traffic corps is not dedicated only to traffic matters - the political spin at the time implied that that they would be a dedicated unit.

I imagine many escorts are done by the Traffic Corps, simply because that is one of their strengths - what unit do you think most of the motorbike cops belong to?

Spit62500

Victor wrote: »

I imagine many escorts are done by the Traffic Corps, simply because that is one of their strengths - what unit do you think most of the motorbike cops belong to?

As the Gardai say:

"The Garda Traffic Corps is dedicated to the enforcement of road traffic legislation and also to aid the free flow of traffic generally."

I would have thought that providing an escort would fall outside that remit.

The hype around the Traffic Corps and its very name implies that it should not be distracted by other duties. Its supposed to be based on the same setup in other countries, eg the UK where there is no crossover. If it was properly set up and resourced as its claimed to be then there wouldn't be a need for car sharing. In any event garda responses to non traffic related public order incidents shouldn't be from the Traffics Corps base in Dublin Castle unless something along the lines of a major riot occurs. Unless the Traffic Corps isn't really a dedicated unit, that is.....

The Real B-man

Traffic Corps are Normal Gardai and do respond to non traffic emergencys i suppose its down to resources i wouldnt be worrying about decalling on the cars :rolleyes:

Victor

Spit62500 wrote: »

I would have thought that providing an escort would fall outside that remit.

If you have a serious criminal that you need moved quickly and there are no major traffic issues, what would you do?

In any event garda responses to non traffic related public order incidents shouldn't be from the Traffics Corps base in Dublin Castle unless something along the lines of a major riot occurs. Unless the Traffic Corps isn't really a dedicated unit, that is.....

Traffics Corps units are based in many stations.

Spit62500

Victor wrote: »

If you have a serious criminal that you need moved quickly and there are no major traffic issues, what would you do?

I originally referred to Traffic Corps cars on prisoner escort duties. I would have assumed, hoped even, that such movements would involve a little forward planning by the Gardai. It should be a matter of planning and resourcing for the relevant divisions, not firefighting.

Victor wrote: »

Traffics Corps units are based in many stations.

Obviously they are or should be - how else would they work? In the example above, a public order disturbance in Leeson Street would be most effectively responded to from Harcourt Terrace. If there are Traffic Corps resources idle then there's soething wrong with planning and resourcing - God knows they're scarce enough on the commuter routes in peak commute times which as you correctly pointed out is the time that we'd like to see more of them.

The basic issue is that they are not dedicated as they say (and their name says) that they are. That's the bottom line.

dcGT

Spit62500 wrote: »

It seems to me that the traffic corps is not dedicated only to traffic matters - the political spin at the time implied that that they would be a dedicated unit.

I'm inclined to agree. From what I remember at the time, the Traffic Corps was thought to be the ultimate solution to high number of road deaths.

DC.

TheNog

Spit62500 wrote: »

I originally referred to Traffic Corps cars on prisoner escort duties. I would have assumed, hoped even, that such movements would involve a little forward planning by the Gardai. It should be a matter of planning and resourcing for the relevant divisions, not firefighting.

Escorts are usually only provided for prisoners who are deemed extremely dangerous and likely to break out or to be broken out of custody. The weak point would be when they are travelling to and from court. These prisoners would be terrorists (IRA, Real IRA, INLA) or serious villains (with serious connections). The idea is to get them to court and back to prison without stopping for traffic. Most escorted prisoners come from Portlaoise prison, our only maximum security prison in Ireland. The guards providing the escort would be travelling well above the speed limit, sometimes in heavy traffic and therefore must have had the driving course done.

Spit62500 wrote: »

Obviously they are or should be - how else would they work? In the example above, a public order disturbance in Leeson Street would be most effectively responded to from Harcourt Terrace. If there are Traffic Corps resources idle then there's soething wrong with planning and resourcing - God knows they're scarce enough on the commuter routes in peak commute times which as you correctly pointed out is the time that we'd like to see more of them.

The basic issue is that they are not dedicated as they say (and their name says) that they are. That's the bottom line.

The bottom line is if a garda requests urgent assistance even at a public order incident all gardai respond to the scene. It is safety in numbers. Unfortunately this situation is becoming more and more prevalent throughout the country. No garda wants to see another garda seriously injured just because of departmental politics.

bbam

The interesting thing is that when I started driving 19 years ago we had a dedicated Traffic Corps, they drove the white squad cars when the regular Garda drove the blue cars...
There was uproar to get a dedicated force a few years ago but no word of who had done away with them... I'd guess there was only an 8-10 year period where they weren't present..
I'm glad to see more and more of them on the roads now.... I just wish they would go out more at night and in the early hours when the majority of bad accidnets happen...