[skodaphile]

Anyone who denies this is a money making scheme can kiss my ar5e.

Yesterday at 7.50am on a perfect morning, I was on the way out to Howth along the coast road. Near Sutton Cross I spotted this. I was so incensed I took some pictures from the opposite direction-this was catching people mainly heading towards the city, although I dare say if you flew by towards Howth it'd get ya from behind. It's a 50kph limit; I've never heard of any serious accidents along here.

Looking 'through' Sutton Cross towards town, coming from Howth-can you see it?:

This is a Garda van, not GoSafe.

Saving lives? Bollocks. Boosting statistics and state coffers? YES!

 

[neilc]

Isn't it against the law to park on a footpath?

And drive in a cycle lane!

And at a bus stop!

 

[Simon]

this is also a garda van, outside where i live, also illegally parked

 

[Simon]

maybe a new photo thread :

Illegally parked Gatso vans

 

[ShaunieVW]

just put that up on FB thats a disgrace, coming from the organisation that should be leading the way in road safety they should be perfect citizens and motorists at all times, only exception being a car chase obviously, Maybe we should email this onto Gaybo.

 

[Oakgreen]

shower of wankers the lot of them!

 

[jackett]

They were saving lives.... There is a school across the road from that van, so they were saving the lives of all the children going to school.....on a Sunday

 

[Flano]

In fairness both sites shown above look to be in residential areas with the possibility of children playing, so if it stops people from speeding in those areas it reduces the chances of a pedestrian (child running out after a football, or adult chasing a dog onto the road) being killed in the event of an accident, the extra few kilometers you are doing over the speed limit is the difference between someone being injured and killed. There was a thread not so long ago about a car speeding and driving eratically in built up area and the driver was condemned and everyone was calling for the Gardai to be involved. So why know is everyone up in arms when they are doing something about speeding??

Simple solution is don't speed and you won't get caught.

And yes before somebody says it, I do speed from time to time, but I have been caught and taken the punishment that goes along with it and changed my driving style after it.

 

[Declan]

The diff is that above is a 50kph main road not a 30kph housing estate.

 

[conord]

QUOTE (Flano @ Apr 18 2011, 02:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>In fairness both sites shown above look to be in residential areas with the possibility of children playing, so if it stops people from speeding in those areas it reduces the chances of a pedestrian (child running out after a football, or adult chasing a dog onto the road) being killed in the event of an accident, the extra few kilometers you are doing over the speed limit is the difference between someone being injured and killed. There was a thread not so long ago about a car speeding and driving eratically in built up area and the driver was condemned and everyone was calling for the Gardai to be involved. So why know is everyone up in arms when they are doing something about speeding??

Simple solution is don't speed and you won't get caught.

And yes before somebody says it, I do speed from time to time, but I have been caught and taken the punishment that goes along with it and changed my driving style after it.

x2 i see these lads in stupid spots clearly making money but to be honest that first one looks to be justified. a long straight road like that, with no speed bumps and lined on both sides by homes seems to be exactly the places to have these.

in waterford we regularly get cops out doing speed checks on a dual carriageway with solid conrete divide and 60KMPH speed limit. As far as i'm aware noone has ever even been injured in an accident there never mind killed. complain about that.

 

[skodaphile]

QUOTE (conord @ Apr 18 2011, 02:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>x2 i see these lads in stupid spots clearly making money but to be honest that first one looks to be justified. a long straight road like that, with no speed bumps and lined on both sides by homes seems to be exactly the places to have these.

in waterford we regularly get cops out doing speed checks on a dual carriageway with solid conrete divide and 60KMPH speed limit. As far as i'm aware noone has ever even been injured in an accident there never mind killed. complain about that.

Right.

In fairness, going by your location you can't be expected to know the area, but every house along that road would have front gardens about 100ft long and 90% have electric gates: it is an affluent area and there are very few young kids living there-the average house price is probably well over €1m. Just beyond the van, there are no houses on one side, just a wide path by the sea, seperated from the road by a wall and about 2-3 feet higher than the road. Pretty difficult for a child to accidentally run out in front of a vehicle. Anyway, this is a road, where vehicles have right of way, not a bloody footpath-people seem to think that if a child runs out in front of a car, the car shouldn't have been there?

Besides that, there is a major traffic light controlled cross roads between the first picture and the van location, meaning you are not likely to be screaming down there at all.

Fact is, speed alone does not kill-inappropriate speed for the weather/road conditions or speed with drink/drugs taken, speed with defective vehicle/road surface, speed with mobile phone use DO! What does a van do to help eliminate these? Feck all!

Oh....and it was 10 to 8 on a Sunday morning....loads of kids about....

 

[mikerd4]

I dont have an issue with the road they are on, more so the random parking thats taken place.
Maybe the lads on here in the know can clarify the exact law regarding Garda vehicles and where they park and the observation of road traffic laws etc?

As said its the Garda van not the goswafe brigade. They parked across a driveway local to me a few weeks back, i know if it was my house Id be onto the super to get it shifted pronto

 

[syncropaddy]

I was driving ot of Gorey today, heading north on the old N11 to Arklow. I was travelling at 99 kmh according to my SatNav and I was overtaken by a camera van - a Renault Traffic.

So it seems that they can speed, park on footpaths and junctions ...........

 

[SapphoDUB]

They've often been seen on top of the roundabout looking up at the new bridge in galway city early in the morning. Also outside a school in roscahill. the lads outside the school are unmarked and would be burned out by this stage if they weren't on school cameras.

 

[skodaphile]

From todays Independent:

THE number of motorists caught speeding almost tripled in a year after privately operated speed cameras were deployed nationwide.

In March 2010, just over 9,500 motorists were caught breaking the speed limits by gardai.

But this soared to 26,000 in March this year, after the arrival of the private GoSafe cameras.

The private cameras, located at known speed crash zones, are operating in addition to the speed checks carried out by gardai.

Drivers who are caught by the GoSafe cameras get two penalty points on their licences, and are fined €80.

Four points are applied if a motorist takes the case to court and loses.

Gardai said yesterday the company was paid by the hour rather than by the number of catches.

A total of 61 people have died on the roads since the start of the year, five more than the corresponding period in 2010.

So let's get this straight:

THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE CAUGHT SPEEDING HAS ALMOST TRIPLED, BUT ROAD DEATHS HAVE ACTUALLY RISEN!!!

Still think they help?

 

[neilc]

Would people be interested in lobbying TD's over the illegal parking of these vans?

Post up pics of the vans parked illegeally and a location and time and i'll send it all onto the minister for transport.

Neil

 

[americanpaddy]

A lot of energy goes into these (and predecessor) threads. Personally I can't get so incensed about them - such activity is pretty well the norm in most Western countries. It's not like Ireland is alone in this. And do they make people drive safer - debatable - do they save lives - arguable - do they enrich the state coffers - probably not. I've been known to speed and have paid the price for being caught. Everyone is entitled an opinion but some folks really need to 'man-up' and get on with life, IMHO you're mis-spending a lot of otherwise good energy.

 

[Mark'sGotDubs]

I've been overtaken by a camera van too. I was doing 100 in a 100 zone, they were doing 120 odd. Some quality irony there

 

[neilc]

QUOTE (americanpaddy @ Apr 19 2011, 11:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A lot of energy goes into these (and predecessor) threads. Personally I can't get so incensed about them - such activity is pretty well the norm in most Western countries. It's not like Ireland is alone in this. And do they make people drive safer - debatable - do they save lives - arguable - do they enrich the state coffers - probably not. I've been known to speed and have paid the price for being caught. Everyone is entitled an opinion but some folks really need to 'man-up' and get on with life, IMHO you're mis-spending a lot of otherwise good energy.

I'm not questioning the fact the thay are there doing what they are, but that, the "safty vans" break the law to make things safe!

I'm sure if you got caught by the first van and went to court it would be thrown out.

I was Caught speeding on the M50, i didn't stop on the M50 for the bike Gard but on the first slip road i found, he lost the plot with me but when i questioned him about him being stopped on the motorway to catch speeders, he let me off with a "warning".

I was speeding but he was not stopped due to an emergency.

 

[t25gary]

gatso vans
they have put up signs
they have posted locations on garda web site
if your still getting caught speeding its your own fault
so slow down or pay the price

would you rather go home and tell mother/wife/girlfriend
i got 2 points and a fine
or i killed a child today

now i'm not gonna argue the pros and cons with you all
fact is if they slow us down then they do good