Speed camera on Navan Road, Cabra this morning

daymobrew

I was cycling along Navan Road towards Phibsborough and I saw the unmarked Gatso (speed camera) van between Nephin Road and Skreen Road. See red mark on attached image for location.

It's an unmarked, dark grey Ford Transit van with its back doors facing traffic. I was able to see the camera in one of the back windows.

I am posting this information because I believe that this location is a lazy and revenue generating one. It doesn't tackle the more dangerous red light running activities (I've seen and reported a lot of it at the junction of Navan Road and Ratoath Road, just a few hundred metres away).

Also, I was caught doing 37mph at this location one Sunday afternoon last year.

jlang

They were on the Arklow bypass southbound on Sunday morning. Yes the N11 is one of the worst main roads for road deaths and rightly deserves more than its share of speedchecks, but stick the cop near Jack Whites or Toss Byrnes, not on one of the safest sections. More dangerous to legally do 100 there than it is to do 120 on the bypass, IMHO.

Jip

Was is not the dark green one ? Anyway, colour doesn't matter but there's nearly always a van there early on Saturday mornings. I think most people who use that road regularly at that time are aware of it and everyone seems to crawl along. I take great joy when someone gets fed-up doing this speed and darts by everyone down the bus lane only to be caught by the camera.

stag39

The end of speeding is nigh as 100% hidden cameras will be dotted around the country soon!!!!

murphaph

stag39 wrote:

The end of speeding is nigh as 100% hidden cameras will be dotted around the country soon!!!!

and the end of speeding is a bad thing because? (ok-don't all reply ith the silly speed limits we all know abound and need to be upped, in general speeding is done by a$$holes who kill people because of their wreckless driving). Hopefully these private hidden cameras will be on the roads we all know are the dangerous ones, not stuck on every motorway bridge in the land.

RicardoSmith

Love the way they can't catch the people habitually doing 70+ through our estate at night, or people doing 100+ on main roads, like the M1 or M50, or driving at 50mph in the fast line and not letting faster traffic past. But they can catch people going slightly over the limit on parts of the road where the speed limit is questionable.

Its only a matter of time before it becomes like the UK. Its terrible over there. You spend more time looking out for unexpected speed signs and cameras than watching the road. They are usually placed in bizarre places aswell, in places where you should really be watching out for other things.

Proper road markings, junctions, lights, and driver education is whats needed. The number of woeful drivers on the road is shocking. But no. Lets catch people who do 7mph over the limit.

daymobrew

RicardoSmith wrote:

You spend more time looking out for unexpected speed signs and cameras than watching the road.

I totally agree with this statement. Driving within the 50 km/h limit is often difficult, especially when all the cars behind you want to go faster. You end up spending an inordinate amount of time watching your speedometer and the cars behind you, instead of what is in front.

A few weeks ago I spotted a Garda car, with the speed camera sticking out the window, on the southbound side of the M7 just beyond Kildare!!


RicardoSmith - A bunch of road signs near you have been knocked down by speeding motorists. And of course there was the death of the motorcyclist last week. Although the reason for him losing control of the motorcycle are not yet known, a bike is highly unlikely to continue on and crash into pedestrians if it was travelling withing the speed limit.

The proposed solution is to punish us all - speed ramps - not enforcement of the Road Traffic Act.

ando

Time to get a speed detector, I'm not getting bonus points for going a few mph over a stupid limit

landser

ando wrote:

Time to get a speed detector, I'm not getting bonus points for going a few mph over a stupid limit

What, we can get bonus points for speeding now...??? Right, where's me keys

Seth Brundle

murphaph wrote:

in general speeding is done by a$$holes who kill people because of their wreckless driving).

very bizarre and flawed statement. Most people speed or at least have done so in the past. Did they all kill someone?
Secondly, speeding soes not kill. Inappropriate speed does. The two terms are quite different. One is used by the government to distance themselves from the farcical motoring situation within this country where 1/3 of drivers are not qualified to drive, where the majority of the road network is basically donkey tracks slightly upgraded. Inappropriate speed is driving in a manner unsuitable to the current situation. this may be driving too slow or too fast but could still be within the speed limits.
Thirdly, drink/drug driving (IIRC) is a bigger killer than 'speeding'. According to the NSC 'excessive or inappropriate speed' is a cause of 25% of fatal incidents. However, drink driving is the cause of 33%. When was the last time you saw a drink driving checkpoint?
Driver fatigue (according to UK research - the Irish govt are uninterested in providing adequate research!) is responsible for 40% of fatal country crashes and 1/6 of urban crashes.

There is a problem with inappropriate speed in this country. However, driving at 150kmph on a motorway, whilst punishable, is not likely to kill someone. With the new system in place, there will be many more covert checks, presumably operating a punishment 'anti-speeding' policy rather than a preventative one. Also, have you read any articles/heard any interviews about the new system that did not refer to the amount of revenue being brought in. Did these articles/interviews refer to the amount of lives that will be saved?

Seth Brundle

ando wrote:

Time to get a speed detector, I'm not getting bonus points for going a few mph over a stupid limit

It is an offence for anyone to use a speed meter detector in any vehicle in Ireland under the Road Traffic (Speed Meter Detectors) Regulations, 1991. Under this legislation, it is also an offence to import, fit and supply speed meter detectors and jammers.

The Gardai are empowered to seize this equipment if it is found in your vehicle or in your possession under the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876.

cotillion

kbannon wrote:

It is an offence for anyone to use a speed meter detector in any vehicle in Ireland under the Road Traffic (Speed Meter Detectors) Regulations, 1991. Under this legislation, it is also an offence to import, fit and supply speed meter detectors and jammers.

The Gardai are empowered to seize this equipment if it is found in your vehicle or in your possession under the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876.

That will no doubt be changing people's mind on buying one of them!

Ann Elk

This can now be gotten around by incorporating speed camera detectors in with a gps device for warning of accident blackspots, roadworks etc - like the road angel. It's a cat & mouse game, the'll ban those and something new will be out the next week.

Alun

Ann Elk wrote:

This can now be gotten around by incorporating speed camera detectors in with a gps device for warning of accident blackspots, roadworks etc - like the road angel. It's a cat & mouse game, the'll ban those and something new will be out the next week.

There are devices which are GPS only, which are of limited use at the moment here in Ireland because of the lack of a database of camera locations. They can't really make these illegal, after all they're effectively nothing more than a glorified road map. If you have a PDA based GPS satnav system, you can also download lists of camera locations as POI's (points of interest) and download these to your PDA. It will also warn you when you get near to them.

The devices that combine actual detectors (radar or laser) with GPS devices will, I assume, continue to be illegal.

Ann Elk

The devices that combine actual detectors (radar or laser) with GPS devices will, I assume, continue to be illegal.[/QUOTE]

Think you could be right there - the company that markets the road angel device, afaik runs a subscription service, constantly updating camera location info so it doesn't actually utilise detection technology.

Strangely enough there's an anomaly in this area of the law in that it is not an offence to possess a detector, but it is to use it - i wonder how that will fit with the combined gps units which, you could argue, is only on in the interests of recieving traffic updates, and the camera info is merely 'incidental' ??

Seth Brundle

Ann Elk wrote:

Strangely enough there's an anomaly in this area of the law in that it is not an offence to possess a detector, but it is to use it - i wonder how that will fit with the combined gps units which, you could argue, is only on in the interests of recieving traffic updates, and the camera info is merely 'incidental' ??

See Section 4 of the regs link I posted:-

4. A person shall not use in a public place a mechanically propelled vehicle to which is fitted, or in or on which is carried, a speed meter detector whether or not such device is actually in use.

Ann Elk

Cheers for that, i have been mis-informed, still though, I wonder where it leaves the new devices?

Our man in Havana

kbannon wrote:

It is an offence for anyone to use a speed meter detector in any vehicle in Ireland under the Road Traffic (Speed Meter Detectors) Regulations, 1991. Under this legislation, it is also an offence to import, fit and supply speed meter detectors and jammers.

The Gardai are empowered to seize this equipment if it is found in your vehicle or in your possession under the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876.

How the hell are they going to catch you?

Pataman

They are not, unless its sitting on your dash as you drive by.

Seth Brundle

Pataman wrote:

They are not, unless its sitting on your dash as you drive by.

If you do a lot of urban miles (esp in Dublin) there is an increased risk of it being seen by a passing motorcycle cop or even just a garda on walkabout.
I know of one person who has one but does not get any grief for it - he's a sarge in the force!

However, these cannot be relied totally upon. They become less effective if the windscreen is dirty etc. Im happy enough just using my two eyes to spot them. So far, despite a few scares, I haven't recieved anything!

Pataman

Get the built in type, cant be seen.