See Any Checkpoints Around At The Weekend???

abcxyz123

Did alot of driving at the weekendy, down to the 7's, Douglas for a night.....and i was driving like i normally do, not very fast but over the limit none the less and i only realised it was the bank holiday weekend and remembered that there is supposed to be a large garda presence this weekend!! but didnt see any! except the lads on the horses in Kinsale! Any1 see any on the link, from Ballincollig to Douglas??

invincibleirish

Yes, At the Viaduct on Friday night, Belgooly on Sunday, heard of a few around they city also.

No i havent been drinking Garda

Presence on the link would be the usual Traffic Corps & unmarked cars. (blue/navy Vectra methinks)

AFC_1903

Yeah, next to St Finnbarrs Cathedral on Sun night - the only time I was in the city this weekend... Saw tonnes o guardai out, passed 10 between Gillabbey St (city end) and Oliver Plunkett St

Judes

ABC you were lucky you weren't caught, lucky you weren't in an accident and lucky you didn't injure or kill anyone else. Please remember others whilst driving -we all like to enjoy ourselves but if you insist on drinking more than you are legally entitled too - then please do not drive. How could you be so irresponsible. I feel that your thread was almost a "brag" that there were no gardai out there. I won't apologise for sounding harsh, I am angry there were no gardai on the road to catch you out, it may have taught you a valuable lesson.

DannyBuoy

Didn't see much in the way of checkpoints, did over 400 miles over weekend, but what I did see was an unmarked navy mondeo, with blacked out windows and no aerials. Generally the aerials are a dead giveaway but not this one, it had the strobe on the dash as normal. Was being driven by 2 uniformed lads, looks like the days for checking for aerials are over...

gramlab

Pulled in between Carrigtohill and Little Island yesterday. Guard just leaned on passenger window and showed me me the gun reading 130. Never thought I was doing that but I wasn't going to argue it. After a bit of a chat he let me off - the relief. No idea why.

Coming into Tivoli there were 2 guards with a gun each at the usual spot. I was on a go slow after the stop and the traffic was backed up to the 60 sign so you knew they were up there but still people came flying up the outside and were pulled.

Cue smug expression on my face;)

deRanged

gramlab you were lucky out. that stretch of road is a real favourite for speed traps, usually on the down ramps so you can't see them.

I only saw the one speed trap, on the road out of Cobh sunday morning.

OrangeDaisy

Didn't come across any checkpoints at all which was really unusual as I live near tivoli and there's usually loads of guards there

abcxyz123

Judes wrote: »

ABC you were lucky you weren't caught, lucky you weren't in an accident and lucky you didn't injure or kill anyone else. Please remember others whilst driving -we all like to enjoy ourselves but if you insist on drinking more than you are legally entitled too - then please do not drive. How could you be so irresponsible. I feel that your thread was almost a "brag" that there were no gardai out there. I won't apologise for sounding harsh, I am angry there were no gardai on the road to catch you out, it may have taught you a valuable lesson.

what the hell are you on about??? i never said anything about drink driving and i would never do it. When i mentioned over the limit, I ment doing 110km/hr on the link instead of 100km/hr. Hence why i said 'Not Very Fast.....but over the limit'.......i thought it would be quite obvious i was talking about the SPEED limit.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Gauge

Didn't come across any, unusual as normally the gardaí love setting up checkpoints outside my house.

Judes

ABC - I apologise profusely. Yes, I did read it as over-the limit drink vs over-the limit driving. I was so wrong and in this case am very happy to admit I was at fault.

But on another note - SPEED kills too, even 10km over the speed limit could make a difference, if something ran out infront of you whilst driving, a branch falls - well, think about it. Over the speed limit, is still over the speed limit and can lose you points.

Again my apologies for misreading your thread.

shnaek

Judes wrote: »

But on another note - SPEED kills too, even 10km over the speed limit could make a difference, if something ran out infront of you whilst driving, a branch falls - well, think about it. Over the speed limit, is still over the speed limit and can lose you points.

Do you think the speed limit is set for safety though? When you see the Fermoy bypass opened, and the speed limit on a stretch of fantastic road which used to be the main Cork Fermoy road being dropped by 10mph (this sort of thing is happening anywhere there's a toll motorway being opened) then it looks more to me like tax collecting is the aim of the limit, rather than safety.

I only mention this because you mention 10km over the speed limit, rather than driving at a safe speed. Personally I think there is a difference between the two. Sometimes the limit is too high, and we should drive slower regardless. But sometimes, as in the case I outlined above, the speed limit is set in order to force people to pay higher taxes.

Delphi91

shnaek wrote: »

...But sometimes, as in the case I outlined above, the speed limit is set in order to force people to pay higher taxes.

ok, maybe I'm missing something here, but how can setting a speed limit force people to pay higher taxes???

DannyBuoy

Delphi91 wrote: »

ok, maybe I'm missing something here, but how can setting a speed limit force people to pay higher taxes???

I think he means indirectly, ie, lower the speed limit below what it used to be on the old Fermoy road and haunt the place with speed traps or semi-bully them into using the bypass and catch them for money there.

craichoe

Judes wrote: »

ABC - I apologise profusely. Yes, I did read it as over-the limit drink vs over-the limit driving. I was so wrong and in this case am very happy to admit I was at fault.

But on another note - SPEED kills too, even 10km over the speed limit could make a difference, if something ran out infront of you whilst driving, a branch falls - well, think about it. Over the speed limit, is still over the speed limit and can lose you points.

Again my apologies for misreading your thread.

If you were doing 100 kp/h and someone ran out in front of you .. or a branch fell you'd still hit it. (actually if his speedo was reading 110kp/h he was probably only doing 100 kp/h as speedos overread by 10%.

The unexpected happens, the speed limit is there as a form of tax collection and for muppets.

Speed doesn't kill, sure last thursday i was doing 180kp/h most of the way to Dusseldorf and alot of the Autobahn was of lesser quality than the ballincollig bypass.

Dimitri

Over the bank holiday weekend i saw a checkpoint set up for all of 15 minutes in cobh and another on the way out of cobh. Saw one the following day on the crosshaven road and i was told there was one in ballygarven.

**RANT**
Speed traps and speed limits are a revenue building exercises that have absolutely no bearing on road safety. Carrigaline crosshaven road is a prime exampl, after they resurfaced the road initially outside carrigaline they extended the 50km zone and put in a 60km zone further out again. Recently they extended the 50 km out to wher the 60 is and brought the 60 the best part of a mile further out, right out to where the good road surface ends. Bearing in mind that only a short portion of the 50 covers a built up area or an area that will soon be built up in the future, the rest of the 50 and all the 60km are on open road, newly resurfaced clearly lined and only two junctions 1 is a very open junction with an industrial estate and one is into a small carpark for the walkway along the river. Road safety my arse.
**End Rant**
Apologies for that.

Judes

craichoe wrote: »

If you were doing 100 kp/h and someone ran out in front of you .. or a branch fell you'd still hit it. (actually if his speedo was reading 110kp/h he was probably only doing 100 kp/h as speedos overread by 10%.

The unexpected happens, the speed limit is there as a form of tax collection and for muppets.

Speed doesn't kill, sure last thursday i was doing 180kp/h most of the way to Dusseldorf and alot of the Autobahn was of lesser quality than the ballincollig bypass.

Well I'm happy to be a "muppet" if it saves my life and others - this tax collection lark is getting beyond a joke! May I suggest you enter any A&E ward any night of the week and view exactly what speed can do - seeing as though you quote "it doesn't kill" . I just can't believe how stupid some people are when it comes to flaunting the law. Judes

Delphi91

craichoe wrote: »

...The unexpected happens, the speed limit is there as a form of tax collection and for muppets...

So, that would suggest that anyone who drives at or under the relevant speed limit is a muppet??? Interesting insult to those of us who follow the rules.

I agree that some of the speed limits are silly and placed in totally inappropriate places. But that doesn't mean that they should be broken.

Speed doesn't kill, sure last thursday i was doing 180kp/h most of the way to Dusseldorf and alot of the Autobahn was of lesser quality than the ballincollig bypass.

Did you notice anything about the stretch of Autobahn that you drove on??? They're DESIGNED for that speed. That's the reason why there isn't a speed limit on chunks of the autobahn. The road surface may not be great (mostly concrete if I remember correctly) but the curves on it are long and smooth and can be taken at high speed.

TO be honest, I'm getting sick and tired of this whole "tax" thing. If you don't want to pay the tax, just follow the speed limit. If you do want to break the speed limit, remember that you're not the only one on the road.

MCMLXXXIII

Delphi91 wrote: »

...
Did you notice anything about the stretch of Autobahn that you drove on??? They're DESIGNED for that speed. That's the reason why there isn't a speed limit on chunks of the autobahn. The road surface may not be great (mostly concrete if I remember correctly) but the curves on it are long and smooth and can be taken at high speed.

I disagree. They might have been made for it 60+ years ago when they were built, but cars did not go as fast as they do now. The road surfaces are not great. I found some curves quite sharp and dangerous (through the mountains), and the rest of the road is too straight. Straight roads have proved to mesmerise the driver and straightaways also make it much easier to fall asleep while driving.

The emergency services are great, but I would much rather not get into a wreck, instead of getting one with a helecopter standing by to take me to emergency.

Point: since there was no speed in mind when the autobahn was built, there is technically no safe speed that can be claimed by the builder (German government).

Delphi91 wrote: »

TO be honest, I'm getting sick and tired of this whole "tax" thing. If you don't want to pay the tax, just follow the speed limit. If you do want to break the speed limit, remember that you're not the only one on the road.

Uh, if I speed, I will pay a fine. A tax? No way. I think a tax is for everyone to pay to the government in return for services. A fine is to be paid when you do something wrong. If I pay extra taxes, I expect extra services. I don't think the government should try to make income from fines. They can't depend on it. If this is going to be a tax that the government depends on for money, and everyone did as the government said and stopped speeding, the government would lose income and have an even larger problem on their hands - financing the nation.

Judes wrote: »

Well I'm happy to be a "muppet" if it saves my life and others - this tax collection lark is getting beyond a joke! May I suggest you enter any A&E ward any night of the week and view exactly what speed can do - seeing as though you quote "it doesn't kill" . I just can't believe how stupid some people are when it comes to flaunting the law. Judes

Speed doesn't kill, bad drivers do. And by bad, I don't mean people that speed - I mean people that don't pay attention to the road or surroundings. I know that many governments put out promotions that say speed kills, but it's just easier to slow people down rather than to educate them for road driving. Also, if people only had to pay for accidents, there wouldn't be too much money coming in. Instead, we pay for going faster, which is much more lucritave and easy to catch. If I hit a brick wall going 60mph, I'm probably dead...so don't limit me (especially on motorways). If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well get to my destination faster.

Regarding others on the road? I'm not stupid. I can slow down when I see heavier traffic. I know that putting others in danger also puts me in danger, and I don't want either.

Delphi91

MCMLXXXIII wrote: »

...Uh, if I speed, I will pay a fine. A tax? No way...

I wasn't the one who mentioned paying a tax. If you read the other posts you will see that. I don't agree that it's a tax - it's a fine.

...If I hit a brick wall going 60mph, I'm probably dead...so don't limit me (especially on motorways). If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well get to my destination faster...

But if you're going to die anyway, then the chances are that your destination is going to be the great autobahn in the sky! Do you want to get there faster?

MCMLXXXIII

Delphi91 wrote: »

I wasn't the one who mentioned paying a tax. If you read the other posts you will see that. I don't agree that it's a tax - it's a fine.

I knew what I wanted to say, and once I looked back it wasn't clear.

I agree with you (for the first point) that it is a fine, and should be called a fine. I just think that for some reason they called it a tax because they want to scare more people into thinking it was something much more permenant...and it's irritating knowing it came from the government.

Delphi91 wrote: »

But if you're going to die anyway, then the chances are that your destination is going to be the great autobahn in the sky! Do you want to get there faster?

I know, but I don't plan on dying. I don't go as fast if there are more cars, and I don't switch lanes every five seconds when traffic is backed up. It's a different story when the road is open though. I hope to stay alive, but that doesn't mean that others will hit me...or even that a meteor will come down and strike me anyway. Sometimes you just need to roll with it.

shnaek

I think all this cracking down on drivers is going to backfire. The bringing in of privately operated speed cameras will make criminals out of a lot of decent people. It lowers respect and admiration for the Gardai.

Cynical exercises like dropping the speed limit from 100 to 80 on the Fermoy road only help to frustrate the public. If the government were really serious about speed, then why not abandon the fine altogether? Are the points not enough of a deterrent?

The reality is that we have a hell of a lot of drivers out there who have never passed a test - be they older people who got the 'exemption' back in the 70's, or younger people on L-plates. Sorting out this real problem costs money. Surfacing our roads (is there a town in Ireland with a decent road surface, or has every town in this country got to have trenches and potholes etc all over the bloody place) costs money. Look at the state of our main routes - the stretch of road near Ballinasloe on the Galway-Dublin road, and between Abbeylix and Portloaise on the Cork-Dublin road to name but two - they are a bloody embarrassment. And then the government turn around and blame the people? Yes there is such a thing as personal responsibility. But there is also government responsibility which is drowned out by people talking from the pulpit of the high moral ground.

Dimitri

Cynical exercises like dropping the speed limit from 100 to 80 on the Fermoy road only help to frustrate the public. If the government were really serious about speed, then why not abandon the fine altogether? Are the points not enough of a deterrent?

There comes a point when a punishment becomes over the top, resulting in people just accepting it and largely ignoring it. I feel this has already happened with speed, whenever someone mentions they were caught speeding it is usually met with sympathy/empathy rather than being socially unacceptable. Certainly from my own experiences when anyone i've ever known has been caught drink driving they have been ashamed to say it, knowing that others would think less of them. This is not the case for speed most peoples response is "those bast*rds where were they hiding this time?"

Delphi91

Dimitri wrote: »

...This is not the case for speed most peoples response is "those bast*rds where were they hiding this time?"

Gotta say, I agree with this one.

Ok, I know and accept that there are silly speed limits on various sections of roads in this country - there's a 100KPH sign about 100 meters before a roundabout on the way out of Shannon Airport, there's a stretch of road (VERY twisty) between Buttevant and Newtwopothouse which also has a speed limit of 100KPH on it - you'd be lucky to manage 80kph on that stretch.

But the fact is, until those speed limits are adjusted, they are the speed limits for those stretches of road. It always amazes me when drivers complain that they were driving over the limit (and they'll always admit it), got caught and ended up with a fine or points or both. What do you expect to happen when you break the law??????

I live on a country road where there's a 60 KPH limit for around 2 km - my home is included in this section. I'd estimate that an average of 50-75% of driver don't obey it. And I betcha each one would complain if they were caught speeding on that stretch.

shnaek

Delphi91 wrote: »

I live on a country road where there's a 60 KPH limit for around 2 km - my home is included in this section. I'd estimate that an average of 50-75% of driver don't obey it. And I betcha each one would complain if they were caught speeding on that stretch.

And I would complain if I was done for 85 on the 80 section between Cork and Fermoy, and I would have a legitimate complaint to make! It's a wide 3 lane road, that was 100 until a new Toll road opened. It makes a mockery of the law, and that sort of carry on only serves to lessen ones respect for the law.

craichoe

Delphi91 wrote: »

So, that would suggest that anyone who drives at or under the relevant speed limit is a muppet??? Interesting insult to those of us who follow the rules.

I agree that some of the speed limits are silly and placed in totally inappropriate places. But that doesn't mean that they should be broken.



Did you notice anything about the stretch of Autobahn that you drove on??? They're DESIGNED for that speed. That's the reason why there isn't a speed limit on chunks of the autobahn. The road surface may not be great (mostly concrete if I remember correctly) but the curves on it are long and smooth and can be taken at high speed.

TO be honest, I'm getting sick and tired of this whole "tax" thing. If you don't want to pay the tax, just follow the speed limit. If you do want to break the speed limit, remember that you're not the only one on the road.

The Autobahn was orginally designed for landing planes on in the event that the airports were bombed during WWII.

As said previously, if his clock said 110kp/h then he was more than likely doing the legal limit. Come on .. 80 kp/h on a crap backroad..

Give me a break, speed doesnt kill, the idiot behind the steering wheel does.

Oh .. and @ Judes

I've seen the wards, especially the motorcycle accident victims... bloody horrific, but either happened by freak accident or from car drivers not looking where they were going.

Delphi91

craichoe wrote: »

...Give me a break, speed doesnt kill, the idiot behind the steering wheel does...

The problem here is that the idiot behind the wheel is invariably speeding.

I had it happen to me coming up from Cork only this morning. On the Limerick side of Buttevant, there's a twisty section of road that has a solid white line. I was in a line of traffic, all travelling along at the relevant speed. In her rush to get past us all, a female driver in a D reg large Audi pulled right up behind me and then with about 250m to go before a blind bend, she took off and passed 2-3 cars. If she'd left it for another 3-4 seconds before making her move, the car which was coming around the bend (which she couldn't see) would have run in her and caused a major accident probably involving all the rest of us also.

Yes, the IS stupidity on the road, loads of it, and nine times out of ten it manifests itself as drivers speeding and taking risks that put other road users in danger.

As for the toll road speed limit, well, unfortunately until it's changed thats the speed limit for that section.

I'm also interested in the comment about speedometers not being accurate. Is this an urban myth or its there factual eveidence for it????

shnaek

Delphi91 wrote: »

As for the toll road speed limit, well, unfortunately until it's changed thats the speed limit for that section.

Indeed, so we must obey it but we cannot respect it. And we should be able to respect all our laws.

Delphi91 wrote: »

I'm also interested in the comment about speedometers not being accurate. Is this an urban myth or its there factual eveidence for it????

I believe there's a 10% margin alright with speedometers. I have heard this from Gardai, but I have seen no written evidence of it.

Dimitri

Yes, the IS stupidity on the road, loads of it, and nine times out of ten it manifests itself as drivers speeding and taking risks that put other road users in danger.

from what you are saying this driver who i agree took a stupid risk, but how fast were you going? for example if you were going 80km/ph and she accelerated to 110 to overtake than ya thats pretty stupid and deserves punishment, but if i drive a car and accelerate to 140 on the south ring than i'm far less of a risk than she was. Yes i'm aware that a crash at that speed would almost mean certain death however the crash is far less likely to happen than the people who do their legal 80kmph outside my house(its a country lane with lots of very slow moving farm machinery but that doesn't seem to bother my neighbours in a hurry) it is that inconsistency that makes people say its not speed it is stupidity and they are quite correct. To blame speed is nothing more than a blatent attempt by the authorities to not be held responsible for offering proper education and testing to drivers and to justify revenue building exercises which have absolutely nothing to do with road safety. If speed was a such a bad killer there is a very simple solution, place highly visible patrol cars on the relevant section and have them drive up and down it at a sfe speed. Alternatively when setting speed traps make them visible, nothing slows traffis down faster than the sight of one or two patrol cars parked up on a visible stretch of road with lights flashing and a big sign saying speed checking! However instead they hide in bushes issueing fines months months later so the effet of being caught, which is only a short term concern for most, is never achieved and instead is met with disdain, who is slowed down by these measures?
I also firmly believe "speed" is attributed to many accidents when in reality the driver was to blame. Speed is blamed if the accident could've been avoided if the driver was going slower, however that would count for almost all accidents that didn't occur in a stop go situation as the driver wouldn't have been at that point at the time it was a risk. What is never assesed is if the driver was replaced by someone else driving at the same speed would the crash have occured?

Delphi91

Dimitri wrote: »

from what you are saying this driver who i agree took a stupid risk, but how fast were you going? for example if you were going 80km/ph and she accelerated to 110 to overtake than ya thats pretty stupid and deserves punishment, but if i drive a car and accelerate to 140 on the south ring than i'm far less of a risk than she was....

Far less of a risk to who???? If you accelerate to 140kph to pass someone out and end up running into someone else who did the same, your speed relative to theirs at the time of collision is 280kph - not sure that is entirely "risk free"! And the same is true for the other driver - you'd hit them at a relative speed of 280kph.

Chances are this morning that I was doing around 80kph, so given the speed at which she passed, she was doing at least 90kph and probably 100kph given that she vanished into the distance fairly quickly. Totally stupid driving and entirely selfish - no consideration for anyone else on the road.