Gov Plans to reduce speed limits

Average speed cameras all over the place, where suitable, would be a good start. All the N and M roads and plenty of the R roads.Fixed cameras on roads identifiable as being dangerous where speed detection vans themselves would be a danger to drivers.

Regarding fixed cameras, surely at this stage you can have semi fixed cameras? What I mean a camera that be installed somewhere (on a road where a speed detection van would be a danger due to narrowness of a road), be left there for a few weeks and can be then be moved to another location but still be secure from vandals.

Also, end the silly requirement to only be permitted to have speed detection vans in certain places and on certain stretches of road. It should be that if you are driving above the speed limit on an public road, then you are liable to be caught and fined for it no matter where that road may be.

Finally, no signs on poles to inform you that speed cameras may be up ahead and speed detection vans should be far more discreet, ideally you should not even know you have passed one or at worst, you can only notice when it's too late.

Do all or most of the above and you will find that there will be a MASSIVE change in driving habits for the vast majority of drivers.

Great. Making ridiculous low speed limits means they will just be ignored anyway.

Yup, not keeping up with traffic or making adequate progress. Driving 90 on a 100 road is a silly thing to do. If you do it in your driving test you will likely get a negative score for that action.

I presume you're being facetious.. Driving 90 on a 100 road is perfectly reasonable in many circumstances. Any tester/ instructor querying that should be fired on the spot and/or removed from register of instructors.

Impatient and dangerous drivers are causing a lot of problems on the roads. Also people looking at their phones.

Im on the road a lot and see some crazy driving.

how Do we do it? With technology. Speed cameras all over the place in France.

You’ll see a lot more impatient drivers if these new rules are brought in. Suspect road rage instances will go through the roof.

And yet our roads are statistically safer and have been for years. While also being much worse. So how's that a solution?

"Hiding the vans and taking down sight posts would completely defeat the purpose and honestly it’s a very dangerous thing to look for in its own way."

How does making the speed detection vans hidden defeat the purpose of reducing the amount of speeding drivers and how does a hidden van make it very dangerous? If a driver is completely unaware that he/she has driven past a speed detection van, then I see it as being much safer than eejits who are often already not driving above the speed limiting deciding to jam their foot on the brake pedal when they see a very visible speed detection van. On more than one occasion on the N4 near Mullingar, I had a car in front driving bang on 100 km/h in front of me. Very steady speed, most likely on cruise control. Driver sees the speed detection and drops anchor with a very rapid reduction in speed, sometime by 30 or 40 km/h.....now that's dangerous especially as the line of sight ahead is very clear so a driver braking heavily would certainly not to be expected along that road. I've got used to this being a fairly regular thing so when such a scenario occurs and if it is safe to do so, I will just swerve and pass them to the right and try keep my speed as steady as I can. Braking on a clear motorway/dual carriageway should rarely be required, never mind very heavy braking.

"Do you seriously advocate for the Gardai and in this case a separate company working on behalf thereof, to have powers that allow them to camouflage themselves and catch you out secretly?"

I absolutely do advocate that, yes, seriously. I can't be caught out for anything if I don't do anything wrong. I've never slowed down for a speed detection van, except when forced due to horrific driving standards in front. I stop at stop lines. I drive around a roundabout when going straight on (second exit on a standard layout 4 exit roundabout) rather than try drive in a straight line through it. If the public fear that they can be caught "secretly", as you describe it, for road traffic offences that they may be committing and can be caught anywhere, driving behaviour will change for the better.

If a driver observes the rules of the road and does not contravene any road traffic acts, I can't figure out how any driver can be "caught out" for anything. On a 100 km/h road, I drive at an indicated speed of 105 km/h, using the cruise control when conditions allow. This speed equates to a real speed of 100/101 km/h. On a 120 km/h, I drive at an indicated 127 km/h which in real life is 120/121 km/h. So by no means am I slow driver as I drive literally as fast as I possibly can without having any fear that I'll be "caught out".

"Would you appreciate going about your day and having a garda leap from a shrub to arrest you or question you about what you’re doing? Like think about what you’re saying for a second."

Yes, I would appreciate that however as someone who obeys the rules of the road, it would need to be a case of mistaken identity if I were to arrested by a Garda leaping out from a hedge or shrub and flagging me down. A quick chat with said Garda would likely quickly result in it being discovered that the wrong person has accidentally been stopped. I can't imagine that your suggested scenario would ever actually happen in real life for me bar the aforementioned mistaken identity situation.

"You basically want secret police on the road. High visibility policing is and always has been a far more effective deterrent."

I disagree with you on this point, moreso the wording. I would like a mix of hidden and visible policing. When it comes to road traffic rules enforcement, I don't think that high visible policing is more effective. From anecdotal conversations with people that I know, the people who have the same/similar opinion as yourself are the same people who say openly that they habitually drive over the speed limit and are fully aware of it and they only slow down in areas where speed cameras "may" be present and they also will do other things against the rules like driving in bus lanes when they are in operation and that sort of thing.

So that's the crux of the issue, habitual speeders speed a lot where they know that it's unlikely that they will be caught for doing so but they have a bee in their bonnet about being caught by the so-called "hidden police". And habitual speeders are generally more likely to break other rules too. I'm not sure if they think they are better or more important than other people or are just selfish or are just a bit stupid. Or perhaps a mix of some or all three!

For the record, I'm not suggesting that you speed or break the rules of the road however comparing your opinions here with people of similar opinions through my own experiences would suggest that it is plausible to suggest that it may be not untrue.

"People break road traffic laws in ireland because the garda are no where to be seen."

That is true and lack of enforcement is the issue. I think everyone on this forum agrees on that. However, as I already said, a mix of visible and non-visible policing combined with high levels of enforcement that is continuous and not in little spurts here and there such "National Slow Down Day", which are just plain silly.......that's basically telling the population that there's going be extra speed detection vans between time x and time y and there's therefore a higher chance of being caught for speeding then so slow down for that day and get back to your speeding the day after.

There's often a speed detection in one of two locations between Trim and Summerhill in County Meath and one thing I sometimes do (for my own amusement) is that after I pass the location of where one of the speed detection vans is often located, if I then see a car heading towards me that looks to be driving a noticeable amount over the limit, I will give them a flash of my headlights but ONLY if the speed detection van is NOT present. If the speed detection van is present, I will never flash my headlights, hoping that the driver is caught.

In the past, many people drove around for years on provisionallicenses wuthout any intention of doing a test.

As you cant do this anymore, a large % of this cohort now drive without any license. Penalty points dont matter to someone with no license.