Safe Speed Forums

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexami ... qqqx=1.asp
Speed camera fiasco: 46% of photos taken are useless

By Shaun Connolly, Political Correspondent
IRELAND’S speed camera system was exposed as a shambles last night as it emerged almost half the photos taken are useless.

Even if an offence is captured on film, there is only a one-in-seven chance of motorists who refuse to pay fines being punished, a damning probe by the Dáil’s all-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found.

In a further damaging blow to the Government’s road safety policy it found penalty points were no longer a deterrent and drivers consistently exploited every loophole.





PAC chairman Michael Noonan warned plans to greatly expand the number of penalty point offences in the Road Traffic Bill currently before the Dáil could drive the “creaking” system to breakdown.

The probe blamed bad planning and administrative error for the problems and found the situation is getting worse, with the number of spoiled photos increasing to 50,000, or 46%, in 2005, up from 43% the previous year.

“There is a seven-to-one chance of walking away scott free and that means that people know they can ignore the law,” former Fine Gael leader Mr Noonan said.

Mobile and fixed cameras operated by private companies will be rolled out from the end of this year and used in up to 800 locations around the country, under the proposed new traffic laws.

Mr Noonan warned that with garda resources stretched so thinly, extending fixed penalty fines could backfire.

“I’m not sure that a system that is creaking under the strain already will be able to carry the burden of all the additional offences and the administrative difficulties that will run from these,” he said.

The PAC study found that while half of offenders paid their fines, thousands of motorists avoided enforcement by claiming a driver living outside the State was at the wheel at the time of the offence.

The report noted that up to the end of 2003, there was a high rate of non-payment of fines, 44% of 87,004 notices issued, low subsequent enforcement at 18%, and many cases were statute-barred due to delays in administrative processing.

The report praised the fixed penalty system for saving an estimated 100-150 lives since 2002.

However, once the “fear factor” wore off and drivers realised it was possible to get away with offences, motoring habits worsened.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s spokesperson admitted the introduction of the fixed charge penalty points system was “less than ideal” but said a new computer system had improved matters since April.

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

I take it that when they say motoring habits worsened, it meant more people where caught speeding, but have road accidents started to rise as a result?

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

Jeeess are they still saying this
Regards

Andrew

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It's a scam........or possibly a scamola


Homer Simpson

thats what you get in Ireland an upside down camera

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now retired

--- or a back to front operator ???

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

In Liverpool, they set fire to the car instead of the camera!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I just got back from a few days' holiday in the west of Ireland (Shannon area).

I didn't see any speed cameras but did observe the following...

- Many speed limits (now metricated, so in km/h) are IMHO unrealistically low
- Most drivers observe the speed limit
- The overall standard of open-road driving is not high. Lane discipline is poor and overtaking a lost art.

There's one particular behaviour that I never quite got used to... on main roads there is often a "hard shoulder" marked by a dotted yellow line. It is common for artics, tractors and other slow vehicles to use this as a driving lane to allow other traffic to pass! Quite what happens when 42 tonnes of artic meets a stationary broken down car, I'm not sure...