Comments on: Bank Holiday Traffic

By: James

James — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 20:04:15 +0000

Actually that reminds me – I did get a plugin to remove that nofollow but never activated it. The speed cameras are a waste alright – aside from the problems with the footage standing up in court, they don’t seem to work half the time – I’m told that its because theres no film in them.

There was a speed camera as you come off the M4 between Leixlip and Lucan which was supposedly the most profitable speed camera in the country. Its in one of those crazy spots where the motorway ends and then suddenly the speed limit drops to 50mph – for months I passed it at speed without even knowing it was there but never got anything in the post.

By: adam

adam — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 18:29:03 +0000

I did see quite a few over the weekend James, and the aforementioned gf’s sister, based in Limerick, reckons about 300 of the tiny navy-suited fellas were just released from their cages in Templemore, accounting for the crackdown (give the n00bs something to do).

Yes, speeding as a revenue generator is a complete pain in the hole. Last time I was caught was on the way back from Shannon at 1.30 am with the old man in tow, Garda car parked under a petrol station canopy on what would be a dangerous crossroads during the day. Be honest with you, I didn’t even see the sign. Nobody in the car did.

The bicycle Gardaí are a laugh alright, but you’ll never catch me complaining about more beat cops. Adding beat cops is the only proven way to lower crime rates. CCTV, that we spend millions on? No proof whatsoever. Not a jot.

Ah well, at least it gives me a chance to link to McDohell’s site with the words authoritarian incompetent. I suppose you’ve got nofollow turned on to spoil my fun?

By: James

James — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:53:22 +0000

Its funny actually – they say each bank holiday weekend that there are hundreds of new Gardaí on the road, but I never see any evidence of the bank holiday crackdowns. I drove to Dublin and back on Saturday and only saw one kit-kat cop with a speedgun, outside Urlingford, who craned his neck and perked to attention as I drove past at 63mph. No doubt I’ll be getting points in the post

I’m all for more Gardaí on the road to improve road safety… but as you mention, a money making exercise is a different story. They focus on the few white spots, like the Dublin road near Glanmire, where people tend to exceed the speedlimit but in a generally safe capacity.

I know what you mean about the young Gardaí… whats worse are the ones in town on the bicycle – I nearly crashed my car laughing when I saw them first.

By: adam

adam — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:22:28 +0000

Apparently there was 300 new Gardaí on the roads this weekend too; the gf reckons they were on “commission” – presumably some kind of bonus scheme for pulling x number of dangerous lawbreaks going 3 miles over the limit – but surely the country would be up in arms if that sort of thing went on? Oh, hang on, this is Oireland…

I saw a couple of them dropping into O’Driscolls in Balinlough for their lunch yesterday, it was all I could do not to laugh out loud in their faces. Nothing wrong with young Gardaí I suppose, it’s just hard to respect them when you know they have little or no hands-on experience, and they look abour 12 years old.