Flash your lights?
- Thread starter macnas
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No link but there was a case in the UK a few years ago where the police brought someone to court for just this.
He won the case on the basis that, in reality, he was not attempting to assist anyone to break the law but advising them to comply with it(i.e. slow down).
It may be frowned upon but i doubt it's an offence.
He won the case on the basis that, in reality, he was not attempting to assist anyone to break the law but advising them to comply with it(i.e. slow down).
It may be frowned upon but i doubt it's an offence.
Got stopped for this before by an undercover car. However, I did manage to get away with it on the basis that "i thought it was someone I knew" - Very handy when you live around the area! Not so much if you are away from home. The Garda ws going to fine me for it but instead got a slap on the wrist to be more careful.
macnas said:
Why would you want to warn motorists of a speed trap - after all SPEED is the main contributor to all the serious accidents we have on the road. I sometimes do it in reverse, if I think an oncoming car is speeding I'll flash to pretend a speed trap is ahead and gett hem to slow down for a few minutes.
I'll happily warn motorists of speed traps on motorways/dual carraigeways.Pee said:
Frankly i think it's makes no contribution in terms of road safety to penalise someone doing 130kph on a motorway or 110kph on a 100kph long stretch of dual carraigeway. It is of course much much easier than seriously equiping our Gardai with the resources to enforce rules that could make a difference.
All day long i see people roaring around towns and estates at double the local speed limit, an area where danger to pedestrains is very real. Similarly it seems half the country doesn't know how to use indicators at roundabouts or is aware fog lights are for use in fog or the overtaking lane on motorways is for overtaking.
Irish drivers are amongst the worst in the world but speeding certainly isn't the biggest problem on Irish roads by a long shot.
Flash away..
Eurofan said:
Hear hear.
In my opinion prevention is better than cure. It shouldn't be about catching people speeding (amongst other things that cause problems on the roads), it should be about prevention.
It's inherent in people to push the boundaries. Once they know the boundaries are immovable it's rare that they will overstep them.
But I'm sure that somewhere on a classified document in a government building there has been a study completed that shows: once the public are convinced that they are guaranteed to be penalised financially for breaking a law the amount of income from penalties exercised on that law will reduce from X to Y. Recommendation: do not put a camera on all traffic lights, do not put a camera on all roads known to be abused by speeding, do not automatically issue a penalty for not renewing your tax on time. Give the public the hope that they will not be caught and then go out and catch them!
Brouhahaha
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Eurofan said:
The problem I have with this is it's an a-la-carte approach to the rules of the road, i.e. the attitude that many drivers have that the rules and speed limits are merely guides that they can override if they so decide. That attitude tends to follow on from motorway to dual-carriageway to every other road where drivers constantly push past the speed limit by an amount they personally deem appropriate. It's as valid to penalise drivers over the limit on motorways as it's on byroads.
Whether the Gardai should be concentrating on byroads rather than motorways is a seperate issue
Brouhahaha said:
It's the central issue in my opinion.
For what it's worth i'm not advocating breaking the speed limits under any circumstances but neither do i agree with your presumption that those who do speed on motorways are likely to push the limits everywhere else.
I see plenty of people overtaking me on the motorway when i'm at 120kph. Realistically they present considerably less risk to me than those; breaking red lights (rampant in Dublin), indicating incorrectly in particular at roundabouts, overtaking dangerously, tailgating etc. etc.
Gardai and their hairdryers on the motorways are not contributing to road safety but are contributing to their required targets each month and financially to the exchequer.
Hence my 'flash away' comment.
Eurofan said:
So if the gardai decide to allow for this margin (110 in 100 zone) will it then be ok to warn speeders (doing say 120) as they are now just above the acceptabe level?
Why do the Irish love to find a way around a rule/law? Was anyone disturbed by the number of deaths on the roads this week-end? I know it's not all speed and I know most of the speed traps are on motorways/dual carriageways but if you're in the habit of speeding I think you'll do it on any road and of course if you're in the habit of adhering to the rules of the road then you'll adhere to them on every road.
IMO there needs to be a margin of error. of say 5% so 105 in a 100 for example.I always flash oncomming cars if I see a speed trap. and to be honest if I see someone flaking it I will flash them, there might be no speed trap but it slows them down because they think there is.
there needs to be a change in the results required. at the moment it is to catch people speeding this needs to change into slowing people down. there is a big difference and a big difference in the method. instead ofa squad car hiding with the hairdryer perhaps it should pull out and physically slow the trafic to the speed limit by driving at the speed limit obviously if someone passes teh squad they should be done on the double for speeding and stupidity.
there needs to be a change in the results required. at the moment it is to catch people speeding this needs to change into slowing people down. there is a big difference and a big difference in the method. instead ofa squad car hiding with the hairdryer perhaps it should pull out and physically slow the trafic to the speed limit by driving at the speed limit obviously if someone passes teh squad they should be done on the double for speeding and stupidity.
Eurofan said:
We don't have proper motorways in Ireland. We have dual carraigeways that are labelled motorways.
Anyway there was an interesting study in the UK I think on the DVLA or Dept Environ website that showed that mobile gatso cameras were ineffective compared to fixed cameras. Once people know that a road is littered with cameras they do speed down (I drive regularly in the UK and do notice much more compliance). It was referenced on the Guardian website not so long ago. As for the margin of error I read somewhere that most speedometers actually show slightly above your real speed for that reason. Maybe I am incorrect but I suspect thats why I've managed to drive past several cameras at slightly above the speed limit and didn't get stopped or fined.