Safety/Speed Cameras

statto25

Well Folks,

Anyone spotted one of the new Safety Vans around the county today?

oscarBravo

Not yet, but then I haven't been out and about today.

I notice the N5 between Castlebar and Westport is flagged for attention. They'll be bored out of their tree most of the time, it's nigh impossible to get over 70km/h on that road except in the middle of the night.

irishgeo

oscarBravo wrote: »

Not yet, but then I haven't been out and about today.

I notice the N5 between Castlebar and Westport is flagged for attention. They'll be bored out of their tree most of the time, it's nigh impossible to get over 70km/h on that road except in the middle of the night.

its the stretch around the speed limits signs that they are interested in. leaving/entering the lower 80kph and 50kph limits for castlebar and westport

only a few of the vans are about yet the whole 750 fleet of them wont be ready till Feb 2011.

Cosmo Kramer

irishgeo wrote: »

only a few of the vans are about yet the whole 750 fleet of them wont be ready till Feb 2011.

There are only going to be 45 in total, not 750 - there'd be nobody left with a licence if there was that many!

They'll probably do good business in the N84 between Castlebar and Ballintubber, a good chunk of that road is on their hit list.

Only 16 of the 750 sites are in Mayo, which means there might just be one van out of the 45 for the county to move around between the 16 sites.

Each camera will only do about 8 hours of surveying per week on average, so it doesn't look like we'll be overly affected by this in Mayo.

yop

Well the aren't around Cloonkeen to Kilbree which is the worst stretch for crashes, quelle suprise!

I will be up and down to Dublin weekly so I will have plenty of time to view them!!

Cosmo Kramer

Looking at the Garda map, I can't even find 16 in Mayo (that was the figure quoted by the Indo today). These are the ones that are shown:

R334 - south of The Neale to south of Cross
N84 - Mountdaisy to Coolodge (about 1.5 miles either side of Ballyheane)
N5 - Westport Rd Roundabout, Castlebar to Cloonkeen
N5 - Kilbree to Knockranny, Westport
R313 & R314 - Barnatra to Belmullet (2 sites - can't see them venturing up there too often)
R314 - Killala Road, Ballina as far as Culleens
N59 - Howley St, Ballina to Ballymoghany (2 sites)
R320 and R321 through Kiltimagh

and around the Mayo - Ros border:

R325 and an unclassified road between Kilmovee and Loughlynn
N5 - Ballaghadereen to Kilkeeran (first mile west of Ballagh town centre)

threebeards

I drove from Castlebar to Limerick today through 8 of the new speed zones and back to Castlebar again but didn't come across any vans/cameras. It was like the first day the penalty points were introduced because everyone bar 1 gobsh1te I came across were obeying speed limits to the dot. I found myself looking at my own speedometer every few seconds though

irishgeo

will the gardai unmarked vans still be out?

That van is always in the unfinished estate on the left as leave castlebar,before the shop (westpord rd stores it was last called) that opens and closes every month or so.

i may have got my numbers mixed up its 750 sites not 750 vans. thank god.

statto25

irishgeo wrote: »

will the gardai unmarked vans still be out?

That van is always in the unfinished estate on the left as leave castlebar,before the shop (westpord rd stores it was last called) that opens and closes every month or so.

i may have got my numbers mixed up its 750 sites not 750 vans. thank god.

There will still be Garda operated speed traps along with the new private vans.

That van is always parked on the way into Ballinrobe. I know a person who was caught four times by the same van in the space of half an hour!!!
Passed it on the way in and didnt pay attention, back out on the way home, forgot something and went back into the town and then home again!!!

Bob the Builder

oscarBravo wrote: »

Not yet, but then I haven't been out and about today.

I notice the N5 between Castlebar and Westport is flagged for attention. They'll be bored out of their tree most of the time, it's nigh impossible to get over 70km/h on that road except in the middle of the night.

But at nighttime, the speeds on that road are dam fast.

And I am currently updating Trapster.com with the locations around Mayo so for anyone with a Smart Phone can be notified of upcomning hazards and safety checkpoints.

yop

I downloaded the POI onto my Garmin but nothing appeared for Mayo on it, I might have to do them myself yet

oscarBravo

Bob the Builder wrote: »

But at nighttime, the speeds on that road are dam fast.

Meh. At night, I drive that road at the speed limit, and I've never had anyone approach me at high speed from behind.

Maybe speeding is a problem into the wee hours of the morning or something, but I still maintain that some of the most hazardous situations I see on the roads are cause by people trying in frustration to overtake slow drivers.

bandit197

oscarBravo wrote: »

I still maintain that some of the most hazardous situations I see on the roads are cause by people trying in frustration to overtake slow drivers.

I have to agree here with OB. The roads would be far safer if we had more:

Competency
A driving test refresher or advanced driving course every 10 years for licence holders. The results of this test should be directly linked to insurance premium rates.

Consistency
This is linked to the above. How many times do we come across drivers who are unwilling or unaware of how to use declaration lanes, slow lanes, roundabouts, traffic lights etc etc. Drivers should be able to match the flow of traffic on a safe road and not be holding up traffic or pulling out prematurely into traffic and then dictating the flow by crawling along. I find most of these drivers are not on long journeys but they fail to realize that some of the drivers in the line of cars behind them may have hours of driving yet to complete.

Courtesy
Again linked to the above. Some common courtesy wouldn't go amiss. If more of the slower drivers would be aware of the traffic behind them and let the traffic pass when it is safe to do so, it would make driving less frustrating.

/rant

back on topic:
I have marked the area under the flyover where the N17 crosses the Charlestown bypass on trapster. There are regular speedchecks in place in that location and there has been a suspicious looking van parked there regularly in the last while.

Bob the Builder

oscarBravo wrote: »

Meh. At night, I drive that road at the speed limit, and I've never had anyone approach me at high speed from behind.

Maybe speeding is a problem into the wee hours of the morning or something, but I still maintain that some of the most hazardous situations I see on the roads are cause by people trying in frustration to overtake slow drivers.

Yeah, you're right. Genuinely, there is only one corner on the whole road between Westport and Castlebar that offers potential danger and yet at least a third of the road has a big red line going through it. And no matter what, you can still zip through that corner at 60mph and nobody can bust you for breaking the speed limit = pointless.

bandit197 wrote: »

I have to agree here with OB. The roads would be far safer if we had more:

Competency
*snip*
Consistency
*snip*
Courtesy
*snip*

/rant

back on topic:
I have marked the area under the flyover where the N17 crosses the Charlestown bypass on trapster. There are regular speedchecks in place in that location and there has been a suspicious looking van parked there regularly in the last while.

Fair play! I'm slowly getting around to getting all the blank spaces filled in...

As for the whole speed vs. competency issue, speed is only part of the problem if you ask me. And there are far bigger blackspots and more dangerous stretches of road than the ones listed.

Also, the AA and the RSA have been telling people that the cameras are going to be located in areas where there are accident blackspots. BUT they failed to mention that they would also be placed in areas where there are high numbers of people speeding (>85%). Surely if 17 out of 20 drivers are exceeding the speed limit, and there aren't any accidents, well then putting a speed camera there is unnecessarily slowing down and frustrating drivers.

Mayo Miss

Has anybody spotted one of the new vans in Mayo yet since they came into operation?

I haven't met anyone yet that has seen one.

Bob the Builder

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

There are only going to be 45 in total, not 750 - there'd be nobody left with a licence if there was that many!.

Except people who drive slow. :P

oscarBravo

My sister passed one the other day, I think she said between Frenchpark and Ballaghadereen, so not quite in Mayo. Haven't seen one yet.

irishgeo

oscarBravo wrote: »

My sister passed one the other day, I think she said between Frenchpark and Ballaghadereen, so not quite in Mayo. Haven't seen one yet.

met one just outside tulsk on sunday evening.

Faunglass

Probably , like England , they ll realise it s far too expensive to run.When I lived over there and they intraduced the cameras ,people eventually realised which ones worked and which didn t.Word spreads.Having said that, Westport /Castlebar has given me 2/3 scares with lunatic drivers overtaking on CORNERS.NOOO way could they see ahead.

statto25

"Safety" Van spotted on the Ballinrobe to Castlebar Rd one mile before Ballyheane on the Ballinrobe side

RMDrive

statto25 wrote: »

"Safety" Van spotted on the Ballinrobe to Castlebar Rd one mile before Ballyheane on the Ballinrobe side

Yeah, spotted that all right - at about 6.45pm or so.

finisklin

Passed one on the good run before Tarmonbarry.....on the opposite side of the road and that stretch lends itself to being a speed trap. That was Tuesday of last week......

No letter yet.......:cool:

PogMoThoin

Hope You didn't use the same password elsewhere when u signed up.
http://www.androidcentral.com/trapster-user-emails-and-passwords-might-have-been-compromised

Ilovelucy

Saw one on Sligo Road outside Ballina just passed Carrabines this evening.

neiphin

on charlestown bypass this after, parked facing swinford, white unmarked

oscarBravo

If it was unmarked, it wasn't one of the new vans. They're pretty clearly marked.

neiphin

thats what i thought, havent seen the new ones, but this one had camera looking out the back ,, like the ones that used to be at liffey valley

Tigger

oscarBravo wrote: »

If it was unmarked, it wasn't one of the new vans. They're pretty clearly marked.

i live beside that one and it is a new van and it is unmarked (i looked into it)

they arent all marked but the unmarked ones don't "do" you they just survey

http://www.garda.ie/Documents/User/Safety%20Cameras%20FAQ.doc


What will the safety cameras look like?

On a phased basis, GoSafe will provide 6,000 enforcement hours and 1,475 survey hours per month across the country. For the 6,000 enforcement hours, the cameras will operate from vans which will be marked with high visibility reflective material and will display a safety camera symbol. Images of the vans are available on the Garda website – www.garda.ie.

The survey hours will be conducted from unmarked vans, in order to accurately observe and record the speeds at which vehicles are currently travelling, for survey purposes only.

ei.sdraob

They aren't white either as per picture it seems either, seen red one and only red few times now

rostalof

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Looking at the Garda map, I can't even find 16 in Mayo (that was the figure quoted by the Indo today). These are the ones that are shown:

R334 - south of The Neale to south of Cross
N84 - Mountdaisy to Coolodge (about 1.5 miles either side of Ballyheane)
N5 - Westport Rd Roundabout, Castlebar to Cloonkeen
N5 - Kilbree to Knockranny, Westport
R313 & R314 - Barnatra to Belmullet (2 sites - can't see them venturing up there too often)
R314 - Killala Road, Ballina as far as Culleens
N59 - Howley St, Ballina to Ballymoghany (2 sites)
R320 and R321 through Kiltimagh

and around the Mayo - Ros border:

R325 and an unclassified road between Kilmovee and Loughlynn
N5 - Ballaghadereen to Kilkeeran (first mile west of Ballagh town centre)

They've been there every 2nd or 3rd day for the last 2 weeks. Again this morning. I've been doing 82-85 in an 80km zone twice now. Don't know whether I'll get a ticket or not, just have to wait and see. Anybody know how long it takes?

statto25

Van back between Ballintubber and Ballyheane. Same spot as last time. Seems to be their location of choice on that Rd.