Speed trapping at night

vorbis

Arghh, think i got caught at the entrance to Gort last night. Was going about 65KM in the 60KM straight piece on the entrance to Gort. This was at midnight and there was two cops with a speed gun set up at the side of the road.

What is the point of checks like this other than pure money grabbing exercises? The piece of road was completely deserted except for the guards. The spot they picked was purely to catch people who hadn't slowed down enough in time (i.e. the majority of motorists on the road). This kind of sneakiness does nothing to actually prevent road accidents.

Eoin

vorbis wrote:

What is the point of checks like this other than pure money grabbing exercises? The piece of road was completely deserted except for the guards. The spot they picked was purely to catch people who hadn't slowed down enough in time (i.e. the majority of motorists on the road). This kind of sneakiness does nothing to actually prevent road accidents.

There is no other point - it seems quite clear that it is a revenue generating exercise.

bp_me

Unless it's one of the fixed guns that takes your picture (unlikely at night unless you saw a flash surely......) they have to pull you in. You might have gotten away with it. Maybe.........

Alun

If you were doing an indicated 65 km/h then in reality you were probably only doing 60 km/h in reality anyway (most speedos overindicate by approx. 10%), so don't worry.

Eoin

bp_me wrote:

Unless it's one of the fixed guns that takes your picture (unlikely at night unless you saw a flash surely......) they have to pull you in. You might have gotten away with it. Maybe.........

Yeah, AFAIK most of the times there are two cops means that one is there to pull you in, and one there to give you the ticket. If you see a cop on his/her own with a tripod mounted camera, then they don't need to pull you in. You probably got away with it. Depending on the cops' mood, they may not have pulled you in even if you were doing 65 in a 60 zone.

vorbis

there was two of them there, one operating a mounted tripod. Didn't see any flash, does that mean that they would have to pull me in to give me a ticket. Was thinking that a camera would need a flash for that time of night.

Jumpy

vorbis wrote:

there was two of them there, one operating a mounted tripod. Didn't see any flash, does that mean that they would have to pull me in to give me a ticket. Was thinking that a camera would need a flash for that time of night.

I dont think so...the technology that is infra-red.

vorbis

do you mean the speed gun is infra red or that they can take an infra red photo of the number plates??

Pataman

Its a laser beam which is bounced off your car to determine the speed, doppler effect. They need to pull you in to caution you. You are grand. only the gatso van and the fixed pole cameras will get you on the way past.

Seth Brundle

Pataman wrote:

Its a laser beam which is bounced off your car to determine the speed, doppler effect. They need to pull you in to caution you. You are grand. only the gatso van and the fixed pole cameras will get you on the way past.

There are hairdriers which take photos. Although in limited use this system does not require the garda to pull you over. There usually look like the normal hairdriers but are connected to a suitcase near the foot of the tripod

stratos

everything except fixed cameras gets you from the front.
There are only three fixed cameras. I know there are many boxes but most of them are empty.
They rotate the removable cameras around them.
I doubt you will be done for 5 kph over your speedo wouldn't be accurate enough.
The gatso van takes a photo of your car, and indeed you as well.
I am not so sure about this, but I think the tripoders have to stop you.

Macy

stratos wrote:

I am not so sure about this, but I think the tripoders have to stop you.

That can't be right - since what would be the point of the fookers on the motorway bridges? Hope you're right though

DubTony

Macy wrote:

That can't be right - since what would be the point of the fookers on the motorway bridges? Hope you're right though

Exiting the M50 at Ballymount one day and saw a "speed trap operation" taking place. There was a 4WD, 2 bikes and a car. The car and the 4WD were hidden from motorway traffic and both bikes were on the access ramp. It looked like the guys on the overpass would catch a speeder and one of the bikes or the car would go and get him.

This has been discussed on the boards before and Garda here has stated that unless it's a camera car/van or a Gatso speed camera, the Gardai have to stop you to issue a ticket.

Pataman

kbannon wrote:

There are hairdriers which take photos. Although in limited use this system does not require the garda to pull you over. There usually look like the normal hairdriers but are connected to a suitcase near the foot of the tripod

I didnt think they were using them in this country yet, I know they use them across the water.

John R

They had one of the tripod cameras in one of the speeding/penalty points adds.

Chalk

so technically you could just go fast enough not to get caught?
by the time thy caught up to you theyed have no proof.

they say "you were speeding at 120kph 5 minutes ago."
you say " i drove by there at 60kph 10 mins ago"
your word against theres,
no evidence to link your car to the reading thy took.
sounds highly unlikely.
they must have a camera somewhere.

and if its front only can bikes get away with whatever speed they want aswell?

Eoin

Chalk wrote:

so technically you could just go fast enough not to get caught?
by the time thy caught up to you theyed have no proof.

they say "you were speeding at 120kph 5 minutes ago."
you say " i drove by there at 60kph 10 mins ago"
your word against theres,
no evidence to link your car to the reading thy took.
sounds highly unlikely.
they must have a camera somewhere.

It does sound unlikely, but do bear in mind that the hairdryer thingies provide very little in the line of evidence as well - no picture, or even a print out (though, this may have changed recently?)

ando

relax you wont get a speeding ticket for 5km over the limit. Your generally ok if your within 10MPH of the limit

Eoin

ando wrote:

relax you wont get a speeding ticket for 5km over the limit. Your generally ok if your within 10MPH of the limit

This is a total wild ass guess, but that depends on whether the cop has to pull you in or not. Presumably if the speed trap is automated (i.e. doesn't require a cop to pull you in), then it will record that the OP was over the speed limit. The camera won't care if it was 5K or 50K, all it knows was that OP was over the limit.

vorbis

just wondering though, this was midnight and I didn't notice a flash. Surely a camera would need a flash in order to get a picture in such conditions.

Seth Brundle

John R wrote:

They had one of the tripod cameras in one of the speeding/penalty points adds.

A tripod is just a stand to avoid vibrations. Some lasers positioned on tripods take photos. Most don't and require a garda to pull you over!

eoin_s wrote:

It does sound unlikely, but do bear in mind that the hairdryer thingies provide very little in the line of evidence as well - no picture, or even a print out (though, this may have changed recently?)

Jan 20th IIRC - now evidence of a crime in not necessary

ando wrote:

relax you wont get a speeding ticket for 5km over the limit. Your generally ok if your within 10MPH of the limit

source?
By and large if a garda catches you, his threshold limit will depend on his mood.

vorbis wrote:

just wondering though, this was midnight and I didn't notice a flash. Surely a camera would need a flash in order to get a picture in such conditions.

no flash necessary!
Just presume that you didn't exceed the threshold they had set and that is why they didn't pull you over!

secret_squirrel

Try going past them again tonight if you arent sure whether you have been caught.

preilly79

sorry if this is hi-jacking the thread, but a previous poster said something about only fixed pole cameras being able to get you from behind.

a year ago i was caught speeding on the N7 dublin to cork road, just before the main roundabout before the lee tunnel. the garda who caught me was sitting in his car on the ON ramp to the dual carriagway and so was not visible until i went past.

now, i was speeding mightily over the limit, so as far as im concerned i got my points and a lesson was learned, but it's got me thinking whether or not the garda was even allowed to do me that way.

any ideas?

Seth Brundle

preilly79 wrote:

now, i was speeding mightily over the limit, so as far as im concerned i got my points and a lesson was learned, but it's got me thinking whether or not the garda was even allowed to do me that way.

why on earth wouldn't they be allowed to do you for speeding? The fact that they were where they were is irrelevant.

Victor

vorbis wrote:

just wondering though, this was midnight and I didn't notice a flash. Surely a camera would need a flash in order to get a picture in such conditions.

Can you see in infrared?

a year ago i was caught speeding on the N7 dublin to cork road, just before the main roundabout before the lee tunnel.

So you would have preferred the dangerous driving conviction?

ciarsd

preilly79 wrote:

the garda who caught me was sitting in his car on the ON ramp to the dual carriagway and so was not visible until i went past.

there is mobile speed detection out there (uk police have it) that can detect your speed from behind you.

have you seen the little ramps on most of our motorways that say "Garda only"? they are forward facing in flow with the traffic.

well, the police in the uk use these Police lay-by's to position themselves and their onboard camera's onto fixed points on the roads - the markings i seen were similar to the fixed white lines on our roads where a fixed speed camera is installed.

the police setup their onboard cameras and measuring equipment in the squad car from this lay-by and get a measurement of speed in a similar manner (time over set distance = speed) - however Im not sure if they had an image capture facility with this type of setup, so the only other way to hand out the penalty was to go after the offender and pull them in.

ciarsd

and back to speed trapping at night!

the garda were out in force last nite (10pm ish) along the north quays. Nice tidy sum made at the old barracks/museum just down from heuston, if the queue of cars pulled in was anything to go by. I tipped along at 55KMH ish and was left on my way.

2 Garda, 1 Jeep and a handheld detector - one was catching, the other was lecturing/handing out the penalty's

cee_jay

By law there are 2 types of speeding offences:

intercept Offence:
offence is an offence where there is interaction between a member of An Garda Síochána and a member of the public at the time of the offence.

A non-intercept offence:
is an offence that is detected by a Fixed Camera or by Gatso Video.

Therefore does that not suggest if it isn't a fixed camera/gatso video it means they have to pull you over????

Seth Brundle

cAr0l wrote:

By law there are 2 types of speeding offences:

intercept Offence:
offence is an offence where there is interaction between a member of An Garda Síochána and a member of the public at the time of the offence.

A non-intercept offence:
is an offence that is detected by a Fixed Camera or by Gatso Video.

Therefore does that not suggest if it isn't a fixed camera/gatso video it means they have to pull you over????

How many times does something have to be said???
There are two types of detection device out there as you say. However, under non-intercept offences you omitted radar*. There are some radar hairdriers which take a photo and do not require the garda to pull the offender over as the photo is enough and is dealt with in the same manner as gatso and talivan photos. They are not common but they are out there!

edit:-
* I can't remember whether it is radar or laser but you get my point hopefully

preilly79

as i stated, another poster said that only fixed pole cameras can get you from behind. all other cameras are used in situations where the vehicles are moving towards the camera. im not debating whether or not i should have been done, i think thats obvious, but whether or not this was done the right way.

faolteam

I was coming home from naas the other night about 10 pm and just before airmotive they are doing major road works and suddenly before i knew it i was diverted away from the other traffic, until we met up again at the airmotive area anyway it was 60 km area and suddenly i seen a Garda Van facing front way round on the side of the road and directly behind it was a sign saying your mileage as u came to the sign,

what i was wondering was is the Garda van been used for speed cameras? i didnt see any flash but thinking about it now it was unusual that the van was parked to the front facing me as i passed, now i know about infra red radar,
any ideas i was doing 66km according to the sign but at the time a lorry passed me very fast do the catch the people on the other side of the two lane traffic ? :cool: