Traffic Corps Program on RTE

WillieCocker

This program makes me cringe.
I support the Gardai but think this show actually will lose them some respect.

Hooch

WillieCocker wrote: »

This program makes me cringe.
I support the Gardai but think this show actually will lose them some respect.

Lost respect would be more accurate

WillieCocker

nice guy always wrote: »

Lost respect would be more accurate

So "it will lost them some respect" ?:p

eringobragh

WillieCocker wrote: »

So "it will lost them some respect" ?:p

Thats what I was thinking as well

Voodoomelon

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Quit letting these people off. The only good thing this show displays is the zero tolerance for drink driving which we already know. anything else.

This is true for the traffic core but around the country I know that some(not all) local gardai in small towns and villages will give at least one warning* to locals they know if they stop them drink driving. Its quite common, when you hear someone was caught drink driving, to hear the words " Sure they were warned 2 or 3 times about it before".

* I am not speaking from personal experience before anybody decides to lose it.

slimjimmc

eringobragh wrote: »

Fair enough I'm sure it was all for the camera and all, in fairness they have their priorities all wrong in the show chasing down northern 'speeder' (I'd hardly consider 141 lifting it on the M1) on the M1 and letting 17 year old (and other provisional) drivers go along without a full licence driver..beggars belief..Abit of a D'unbelievanles aire to it!

As for the advanced driving course bit he is only human after all and prone to the same flaws we all are, no matter how many courses he does!

Oops looks like you've forgotten the little conversation between yourself and TheNog in posts #140-143.

It's the law that beggars belief so a more constructive approach would be to canvas your local TD or Senator to have the laws changed.

Berty

I was watching Traffics Cops on Watch TV last night and the traffic guy was the complete opposite to the Irish cops.

He stopped a car for driving with writing on the windscreen. It was a car from a dealership being test driven. He pulled them over, took the driver(customer) in to the back of his volvo and whilst sitting in the drivers seat decided to start bollocking the guy using the rear view mirror. He did not once look at him and gave him a £30 fine for dangerous driving.

He then gave the salesman a bollocking. Apparently the salesman gave the £30 back to the customer but still.

If you have no license, insurance, nct, seatbelts etc here you will get away.

Sids Not

I know we've heard it said before but sometimes its not the Gardai who are to blame..reading in the local paper today a woman was brought to court and fined for doing 130 in a 100 zone...fair enough ,but the judge "struck-out" two charges of , not having insurance and not displaying an insurance disc..which to me seems a more serious offence...:rolleyes:

SV

Sids Not wrote: »

but the judge "struck-out" two charges of , not having insurance and not displaying an insurance disc..which to me seems a more serious offence...:rolleyes:

Maybe she proved to the judge she did have insurance..just maybe :rolleyes:

Guy:Incognito

slimjimmc wrote: »

Oops looks like you've forgotten the little conversation between yourself and TheNog in posts #140-143.

It's the law that beggars belief so a more constructive approach would be to canvas your local TD or Senator to have the laws changed.

Theres no excuse for letting them go without the appropriate fines and points. The only conclusion is that the Gards dont care, otherwise they woudl use what powers they do have to discourage people from breaking the law

fischer

nice guy always wrote: »

And for the 3ltr Traffic cars you must have the advanced driving course as apposed to the standard course, which whether people here like it or not, does make you a better driver. Observation and reaction time is taken into account and you dont zoom past every car. You are constantly doing a rapid risk assessment of every car your passing and giving extra care to vehicles travelling behind another incase of an overtake.

In your opinion, does this advanced training lessen the risk of a serious accicent, at least one caused or largely caused by the speeding vehicle?

I'm thinking specifically of the case of Pc Mark Milton.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1490306/Judge-clears-159mph-Pc-of-speeding.html

It seems to me that, if this kind of rigorious training enables a driver to exceed the posted speed limit at a lower risk to themselves and others, it ought to be at least a partial defence for any civilian caught in a similar situation.

For what its worth, I understand that Guards must have the power to disregard many road traffic laws in the course of their work. I'm just particularly interested in your suggestion that advanced training might make a speeding motorist less of a risk than someone without training.

Fischer.

Voodoomelon

Jasmine Black Driver wrote: »

This is true for the traffic core but around the country I know that some(not all) local gardai in small towns and villages will give at least one warning* to locals they know if they stop them drink driving. Its quite common, when you hear someone was caught drink driving, to hear the words " Sure they were warned 2 or 3 times about it before".

* I am not speaking from personal experience before anybody decides to lose it.

This is true.

Holsten

Just watched the most recent one there...

First guy, faked tax and NCT discs... surely that is some form of fraud that he should be charged with? Let off...

Woman on the phone, with a provo licence and no L plates up - Let off again....

Next two phone users get tickets, good stuff.

They really need to start actually enforcing the laws.

TheNog

eringobragh wrote: »

Fair enough I'm sure it was all for the camera and all, in fairness they have their priorities all wrong in the show chasing down northern 'speeder' (I'd hardly consider 141 lifting it on the M1) on the M1

141kph on any motorway is far too fast. Not for the road surface but for other road users who could be travelling at a far lesser speed.

and letting 17 year old (and other provisional) drivers go along without a full licence driver..beggars belief..Abit of a D'unbelievanles aire to it!

Good God how many times do I have to tell you before it eventually sinks in?

Gardai have absolutely no power to prevent a Learner driver from travelling any further after they have been stopped without a full licenced driver beside them.

TheNog

Holsten wrote: »

They really need to start actually enforcing the laws.

+1 to that

After three episodes now it is knd of going beyond the joke. I dont know whether this show is purely to demonstrate the bad driving that is out there or to show that Gardai are more than fair (or too easy on drivers) or both.

While I believe that each incident should be judged on its own merits this programme is shows us as an easy touch and puts across the wrong message. A very wrong message.

stealthyspeeder

TheNog wrote: »

141kph on any motorway is far too fast. Not for the road surface but for other road users who could be travelling at a far lesser speed.

Maybe if more effort was made enforcing lane hogging, this would be safer! plus IMO, 140 Km/ph is not too fast for a motorway - think of the Autobahn!! Even if you are going at 140 kmph, you are approaching cars at 20-40kmph speed with a clear line of sight, hardly unsafe!!

McSpud

TheNog wrote: »

While I believe that each incident should be judged on its own merits this programme is shows us as an easy touch and puts across the wrong message. A very wrong message.

From watching it would seem the guards are more likely to write you up for offenses where they can give a fine or penalty points (e.g. speeding, using phone...) but more likely to give a second chance on offenses which require court time (e.g. no tax, insurance..). Is this just a fault of the system? Do the guards realise that for all the time spent in court judges will just give small fine anyway?

Paulw

McSpud wrote: »

From watching it would seem the guards are more likely to write you up for offenses where they can give a fine or penalty points (e.g. speeding, using phone...) but more likely to give a second chance on offenses which require court time (e.g. no tax, insurance..). Is this just a fault of the system? Do the guards realise that for all the time spent in court judges will just give small fine anyway?

That does seem to be the case. I think they should be a bit more strict, and enforce things better.

You don't mind them letting someone away with a once off, or something relatively minor, but for things that can cause issues they should really clamp down.

Maybe the Gardai (or show producers) could take on board what is being said here on boards about the show/issues.

WillieCocker

Paulw wrote: »

Maybe the Gardai (or show producers) could take on board what is being said here on boards about the show/issues.

What!....a bunch of amateurs!!! as if they would even be interested in feedback!!!













And as for the shows producers, sure they think we all hate them anyway.:)

Paulw

WillieCocker wrote: »

What!....a bunch of amateurs!!! as if they would even be interested in feedback!!!

More like a bunch of road users (of all ages, races and genders).

TheNog

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

Maybe if more effort was made enforcing lane hogging, this would be safer! plus IMO, 140 Km/ph is not too fast for a motorway - think of the Autobahn!! Even if you are going at 140 kmph, you are approaching cars at 20-40kmph speed with a clear line of sight, hardly unsafe!!

If you reread my post I said disregarding the road conditions so my point is this. We all know there are crap drivers out there who are not being weeded off the road from their early stages of driving at the driving test. Couple that with peoples inability to keep their attention on the road ahead, their inability to use lanes correctly, to use their mirrors properly etc etc and we have some people who are a menace on the roads. Now if those people are doing 90kph on a motorway and pull onto the overtaking lane without using indication or mirrors into the path of someone doing 140kph, what chance is there of avoiding a collision.

If you do think of the Autobahn then think of the German system of driving and how they gain there full licences. It doesnt even compare to our crappy one.

McSpud wrote: »

From watching it would seem the guards are more likely to write you up for offenses where they can give a fine or penalty points (e.g. speeding, using phone...) but more likely to give a second chance on offenses which require court time (e.g. no tax, insurance..). Is this just a fault of the system? Do the guards realise that for all the time spent in court judges will just give small fine anyway?

In the three episiodes I didnt see anyone get away for not having insurance. I did see people who may not have had insurance (we dont really know cos drivers are not legally obliged to carry their insurance certs nor do Gardai have the tools to check at the roadside) so the demand was made to produce. If they didnt produce then they would have went to court.

McSpud

More leniency this week. Never thought I would be suggesting the Gardai should be tougher.

Motorcyclist cautioned for speeding & weaving between traffic on the M1. Guards felt strongly enough that they drove up the hard shoulder to catch his attention.

Eastern European rightly done for false licence.

Old man done for drink driving, good to see judge did not let him off because of age.

Even thought he was the guard that let off the motorcyclist that Dublin guard seems to be the most knowledgable of the ones used in the show.

Padraig Mor

More Keystone Cops. Surely undertaking traffic on a motorway at speed using the hard shoulder is incredibly dangerous? All while they were they were explaining that the motorcyclist didn't notice them in his mirror - guess what, those you are undertaking might not see you either. And as for a bunch of Gardai taking 2.5 hours to take care of one elderly drink driver. FFS.....

Tragedy

TheNog wrote: »

141kph on any motorway is far too fast. Not for the road surface but for other road users who could be travelling at a far lesser speed.

On what planet is going 15% over the speedlimit "far too fast" on a motorway?

Someone not checking mirrors or indicating and pulling out into traffic is going to cause accidents at any speed, there driving is unsafe, not other drivers.

I've done 130-140 on the M7 a few times coming back up to Dublin at 4am in the morning, and usually drive just a hair under 130 on it.

Johnboy Mac

This TV show has turned into a public relations excerise by the Gardai and at no cost to them.

Johnboy Mac

TheNog wrote: »

141kph on any motorway is far too fast. Not for the road surface but for other road users who could be travelling at a far lesser speed.

I understand the point your making but totally disagree. One of the problems is as you stated 'other road users who could be travelling at a far lesser speed' - like 60/70/80kph which defeats the object of using motorways imo and those very same people are usually poor or bad drivers.
It's time for prosecutions for driving too slow just like the rest of Europe. Also prosecutions for Tractors etc using motorways.

McSpud

Johnboy Mac wrote: »

This TV show has turned into a public relations excerise by the Gardai and at no cost to them.

IMO not good PR.

If only I could see them pulling someone in for driving in the outside lane

Loveless

Mario on 'Gift Grub' got a whole sketch out of the program this morning on the radio.

Stephen

Johnboy Mac wrote: »

It's time for prosecutions for driving too slow just like the rest of Europe. Also prosecutions for Tractors etc using motorways.

Absolutely. I was on the M7 southbound a couple of weeks ago and there was a tractor trundling along with a trailer in the hard shoulder outside Kildare.

Another one that drives me insane is trucks in the overtaking lane creating a rolling roadblock as they inch past each other.

Tragedy

Stephen wrote: »

Absolutely. I was on the M7 southbound a couple of weeks ago and there was a tractor trundling along with a trailer in the hard shoulder outside Kildare.

Another one that drives me insane is trucks in the overtaking lane creating a rolling roadblock as they inch past each other.

Truckers are in general quite hit and miss. You get really good ones who pull into the H/S as soon as they can, and ones who'll ignore 20cars behind them despite a wide perfectly good H/S beside them.