Lack of Gardai on Roads are they to blame ?

bazzachazza

For the completely ridiculous behaviour of people on Irish roads ?

DICSUSS

I have come to the conclusion that there is not enough Gardai on the roads who actually will stop people for doing the stuff that really annoys us all like:

1)Speeding
2)Driving around roundabouts in wrong lane
3)Not using indicators
4)Dangerous overtaking
5)Sitting up other cars arses
6)Driving in bus lanes cause there special
7)Sitting in the wrong lane(hogging).

The list is huge.

Watching programs like Roadwars and Traffic cops where the Bobbies actually give a F**k about how people drive, pull them over for a lecture or fine them. It would actually go along way to scaring the pants off people and getting them out of the bad behaviour they have developed over the years over here.

Before i am flamed i do realise there are some good Gardai out there but not enough.

I do understand they are under funded and understaffed and resourced. I drove to the Airport for work on Monday and drove at the speed limit as its doing wonders for my fuel consumption and was amazed at the number of death defing overtaking maneouvers people did to get passed me on bends and over single and double white lines. Again i was driving at the max legal limit and where allowed i did move to the side to allow overtaking but what i saw enlightened me as to why there are so many deaths on the road over here.

I know not just having more Gardai will solve the problem but it would actually go along way to helping.

Let the Flaming sorry discussion begin.

RobAMerc

No - sh*t drivers are to blame and the complete lack of proper driver training and testing.

Gardai should be on the roads to stop people who should know better from doing stupid things - not to teach people to drive.

Martron

if gardai stop people for doing dangerous driving people will be less likely to do it!!! its not there job to teach drivers but it is there job to enforce the rules if something is done wrong.

Danbo!

RobAMerc wrote: »

No - sh*t drivers are to blame and the complete lack of proper driver training and testing.

Yeah, lets ban all L drivers from the roads unaccompanied, that'll solve the problem.[/sarcasm] Forcing them to take drving lessons from whatever unregualted idiot is willing to give them. When i was learning to drive I had 3 different instructors and of course, for particular rules/manouvres etc.. each told me that the others were talking non-sense "THIS is the way to do it, dont mind what others told you". Its very frustrating.

RobAMerc

Martron wrote: »

if gardai stop people for doing dangerous driving people will be less likely to do it!!!

I think your giving people too much credit - a large majority of the dangerous maneuvers are carried out by people who are oblivious to the fact they did anything wrong - thats because they are sh*t drivers and often haven't been taught any different

chris85

noblestee wrote: »

Yeah, lets ban all L drivers from the roads unaccompanied, that'll solve the problem.[/sarcasm] Forcing them to take drving lessons from whatever unregualted idiot is willing to give them. When i was learning to drive I had 3 different instructors and of course, for particular rules/manouvres etc.. each told me that the others were talking non-sense "THIS is the way to do it, dont mind what others told you". Its very frustrating.

Sorry, driving instructors now need to pass exam to be one. Times are changing. Also come on, people need a little common sense on the road.

I drive around a bit mainly in Dublin. Everyday i am almost bumped off the road by some drivers not checking blindspots when changing lanes, breaking yield signs or just dangerous driving. Most of the time it is a learner driver I am sorry to say.

No sarcasm here, get the learners off the road till they can prove they are good enough to be on the road by doing the test (dont get me started on how we need a better test but its all we got at the moment) and force them to take lessons with instructors who are regulated.

mikemac

Are the lack of gardai to blame to for the completely ridiculous behaviour of people on Irish roads ?
Makes no sense tbh.
The people to blame are the people who are committing the driving offence.

Your title is a bit like saying the lack of garda patrols in an area are to blame for an increase in burglaries. But I’d say it’s the thieves who are to blame.

Scottie99

The years of people jumping into their car after receiving the provisional and free license has certainly reduced to standards on Irish roads today. I'm just amazed at some at the manoeuvres I see, from poor overtaking, undertaking, wrong lanes at roundabout and just general poor judgement.
The Gardai, Government and drivers to blame!

KTRIC

The odd day when the weather is nice I drive to work on my bike. The route I take brings be straight through Munich city. I always see the cops here pulling people randomly for spot checks, driving offences etc.

In Ireland you don't see it on this level. Also people do not respect the law therefore are not afraid to break it.

source

The problem is not the gardai, it's the large number of full licensed drivers out there who got handed their licence in the 70's by the government without having to sit tests, in order to reduce the numbers waiting for tests.

it's these drivers, coupled with flawed training and and untrained drivers that cause the problem along with drivers who show no consideration for others.

There are less than 14,000 gardai in the country working on a 3 cycle shift system, There are i believe something like a couple of million cars on the road, if you consider that in a country station there may be only 4 gardai on duty in the district which could cover over 40 or 50 sq miles, maybe more depending on the district. it's not feasible for gardai to pull over every person committing one of these minor road offences offences.

Also, there is a dedicated phone line for people to call if they see something like this : 1 890 205 805 (Garda Traffic watch) and they will pass it on to the local gardai. If the Gardai don't see it and aren't told about it then there is no possible way that the can do anything about it.

Danbo!

Im not saying the instructors, or dodgy instructors rather, are 100% to blame, its just in my opinion that they're more to blame than the gardaí.

chris85 wrote: »

Sorry, driving instructors now need to pass exam to be one. Times are changing. Also come on, people need a little common sense on the road.

AFAIK, thats coming into force in January. So, unfortunately, there has been years of learning with unregulated instruction on our roads. Many drivers have past the test because, as you also say, we need a better test.

chris85 wrote: »

No sarcasm here, get the learners off the road till they can prove they are good enough to be on the road by doing the test (dont get me started on how we need a better test but its all we got at the moment) and force them to take lessons with instructors who are regulated.

Completely agree

KTRIC

foinse wrote: »

There are less than 14,000 gardai in the country working on a 3 cycle shift system, There are i believe something like a couple of million cars on the road, if you consider that in a country station there may be only 4 gardai on duty in the district which could cover over 40 or 50 sq miles, maybe more depending on the district. it's not feasible for gardai to pull over every person committing one of these minor road offences offences.

Ok, Ireland has 14k Gardai policing 4 million people and not doing a very good job. Germany has 30 Bundespolizei (uniformed) officers policing 82 million people. They don't seem to have a problem with crime here and the area I'm living in has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe.

Complete disrespect for the Gardai is Irelands biggest problem. Why would anyone adhere to the road traffic laws when they are not enforced.

When I lived in Ireland I drove like a lunatic, never obeyed the speed limits and more or less did what I like. Much like everyone else. I got a real shock when I had to drive here and respect the rules of the road.

chris85

noblestee wrote: »

Im not saying the instructors, or dodgy instructors rather, are 100% to blame, its just in my opinion that they're more to blame than the gardaí.


AFAIK, thats coming into force in January. So, unfortunately, there has been years of learning with unregulated instruction on our roads. Many drivers have past the test because, as you also say, we need a better test.



Completely agree

Ok well at least in january that will help, fair enough. I agree the test isnt great by any means but most people will be better drivers for the test than before as they will be forced to focus on te basics of driving although I would like some part of the test to involve motorway driving as its much higher speeds. The goverment says that speed is the biggest killer although noone is tested on these higher speeds on motorways. the higher speeds mean more observation and reading the road and other drivers a lot more.

Also please could all drivers learn more about courtesy on the road.

source

KTRIC wrote: »

Ok, Ireland has 14k Gardai policing 4 million people and not doing a very good job. Germany has 30 Bundespolizei (uniformed) officers policing 82 million people. They don't seem to have a problem with crime here and the area I'm living in has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe.

Complete disrespect for the Gardai is Irelands biggest problem. Why would anyone adhere to the road traffic laws when they are not enforced.

When I lived in Ireland I drove like a lunatic, never obeyed the speed limits and more or less did what I like. Much like everyone else. I got a real shock when I had to drive here and respect the rules of the road.

That figure of 30,000 is the German federal police, there is more than one police force in Germany, for example:

Baden-Württemberg Police numbers approx. 25,000 police officers and 7,000 civilian employees.
The Bavarian State Police has approximately 32,000 officers and roughly 5,600 civilian employees
Hesse State Police numbers approx. 17,000 police officers and 2,000 civilian employees.
he North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Police Force Roughly 50,000 officers
Rheinland-Pfalz State Police numbers approx. 9,000 police officers
The Saarland Police is a small German Landespolizei force with approx. 2,700 police officers.

So that's approx 135700 trained police officers and that's not all the state police forces. plus the 30,000 federal police on top of that. plus the other forces that i couldn't find figures for, you can be sure it's probably double this figure in total, to police the 82 million people in Germany.

Me thinks that there may be a few more police officers in Germany than you're letting on and maybe this plus the law abiding nature of the German people, may have done something to contribute to the fact that you don't see as much bad driving in Germany.

KTRIC

foinse wrote: »

That figure of 30,000 is the German federal police, there is more than one police force in Germany, for example:

Baden-Württemberg Police numbers approx. 25,000 police officers and 7,000 civilian employees.
The Bavarian State Police has approximately 32,000 officers and roughly 5,600 civilian employees
Hesse State Police numbers approx. 17,000 police officers and 2,000 civilian employees.
he North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Police Force Roughly 50,000 officers
Rheinland-Pfalz State Police numbers approx. 9,000 police officers
The Saarland Police is a small German Landespolizei force with approx. 2,700 police officers.

So that's approx 135700 trained police officers and that's not all the state police forces. plus the 30,000 federal police on top of that. plus the other forces that i couldn't find figures for, you can be sure it's probably double this figure in total, to police the 82 million people in Germany.

Me thinks that there may be a few more police officers in Germany than you're letting on and maybe this plus the law abiding nature of the German people, may have done something to contribute to the fact that you don't see as much bad driving in Germany.

I stand corrected

And I've seen just as much bad driving here as I did in Ireland.

astraboy

Its not really the cop in the mondeo's fault. Its their surperious and the politicans demanding increases in detections of speeders, leading to shooting fish in a barrel, not the detection offenses that are actually dangerous. I would love to see more cops cruising up and down the roads, pulling over dangerous drivers, those hogging the overtaking lane etc. Also, as seen in the UK, a good talking to may be as good as some points.

Some more cops using their discretion and common sense on the roads, not hiding behind a bridge on a dual carriage way pulling people 5kph over the speed limit.

source

astraboy wrote: »

Its not really the cop in the mondeo's fault. Its their surperious and the politicans demanding increases in detections of speeders, leading to shooting fish in a barrel, not the detection offenses that are actually dangerous. I would love to see more cops cruising up and down the roads, pulling over dangerous drivers, those hogging the overtaking lane etc. Also, as seen in the UK, a good talking to may be as good as some points.

Some more cops using their discretion and common sense on the roads, not hiding behind a bridge on a dual carriage way pulling people 5kph over the speed limit.

You would be very hard pushed to find a garda who will pull you over for 5kph over the speed limit, The only time it would happen is if you were also driving dangerously at the time, Also if you're passing a school at "home time" there's a zero tollerance approach to speeding and rightly so.

The problem is not with the gardai, it's with the inconsiderate road users, and the road users who openly disregard the road laws.