[Guest]

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Left the Islands this morning on the first boat at 0830hrs. :waving:Travelled about 350 miles on main roads the weather was very wet put still nice for a spin. :grinner:I came across three different road accidents that had happened over night. :crying:The one thing that stood out about them all was that they were single vehicle accidents, no one else involved :crying:and occured on good straight roads. There would appear to be drink involved in one of the accidents.I dont know if anyone was injured or killed in either accident but this still frightens me when I see it. :X If some innocent victim happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time it was lights out.:crying: This is not a great post to celebrate my 300. Please be extra careful on the roads and if you take a drink, let someone who does'nt do the driving. :clapper:

:santahat: :18red: :santahat:

 

[07Silver]

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A lot of these accidents are just down to speed. Where are all the gardai with the speed cameras and road blocks? It seems to me that they are needed on the rural roads where many people drive too fast, rather than in 30mph zones in Dublin where they might catch someone doing 32. I mean, can a guy in Dublin do more carnage to himself or others at 32 than another guy on a country road doing perhaps 80 in a 60 zone?
I went by car to Wexford on Friday and most of the car drivers were plodding along at the proper speed on the main road, slowing down to 30 in the 30 zones and all that. All vry nice, but I seen more than a few truck drivers flying along at way over the legal limit and passing all the car drivers who were trying to keep a clean licence. Are truck drivers immune from fines & points, or is there a loophole that allows them to dodge the law. After all they are supposed to be professional drivers, and I would imagine they should value their professional licences.

[align=center]Oh I almost forgot, congratulations on your 300th post Redwing. Doesn't seem so long since your 200th! When the "ranked by number of posts" thing replaces the mana, you will be the King poster here!
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[Goldwinger]

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I don't know how things work on your side of the big pool, but in Canada most of the truck drivers are paid by either the KM driven or by the load. So if you are a truck driver who sticks to the posted limits and try to do things the right way, you don't make much money.

 

[wexy]

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I read in the newspapers last week here in Ireland ,that a district court judge is going to jail drunk drivers for at least 7 days ,I think they should be jailed for 7 months,they has no regard for life or limb ,Recently on my way back from Birr in County offaly ,I came around a bend to almost collide with a stationary car stopped in the middle of the road at 11 pm on a wet night ,I stopped the bike without falling off and went back to the car fuming with temper ,The guy was so drunk that he was asleep across the steering wheel ,with the engine running and lights full on ,I pulled him out of the car and got in myself ,I drove the car up on to the ditch at the side of the road ,I was so proud of my parking ,I managed to get all four wheels stuck in the mud ,,and then I threw the keys so far away that you would need a metal dectector to find them ,I then managed to lift the plonker back into his car and called the police and left ....I got back on my bike and went home ,happy at the thought that maybe I had saved some poor unfortunate person serious injury or death ..

Every weekend in Ireland we hear of single car crashes and death ,not all drink related ,but most are ..So I say Jail them for 7 months and the word will get out and I also think the publican should be held partlly responsible ,because most of these people drink in their local pub and the publican knows there are drunk and are driving a car ,,,,I am going to sign off now before I really get wound up ...cheers Ciaran

 

[Littlejohn]

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Cairan just to wind you up a little more I found thisa very interesting story but if you come upon a similar incident I suggest you do one of two things:- Either stay with the guy until the Garda arrive to make sure he does, or most importantly make sure you leave the keys tucked inside his pocket as without them he will not be prosecuted and you are unwittingly doing him a great favour.

There are two quite distinct seperate drink driving whilst unfit offences. 1. Driving a m/vehicle. 2. Being in charge of a m/vehicle whilst unfit.

As your motorist was stationary asleep in his vehicle he is deemed in law to be 'in charge' of the vehicle unless the Garda has conclusive visual proof that he drove there? A statutory defence to the offence of being 'In Charge' is the inability to drive the vehicle any further. Once you threw the keys away you gave the motorist his defence. Without the keys he would not have been prosecuted. Daft I know but that's the law as it stands. Another odd thing is that if I park my car and walk away from it I am deemed in law to remain incharge of it all the time I retain possession of the ignition key. No keys and I have relinguished all charge off the vehicle whether mine or not. For 29yrs catching drink drivers was my speciality and I held the record for the highest detection rate in the North by a single officer of nine arrests in 2 days in 1995 over the NW200 weekend when I was on a bike. Unless you can prove he was driving, a motorist found drunk in a stationary car without keys will get off.Example:- I go out tonight and get totally pissed in a bar. I drive the car until it runs out of fuel and stops. Unless someone comes to court and proves I was actually driving I will get off when the police come along. This is because there is now no likelyhood of me driving the vehiclewhen the garda come along because it is out of gas.The law sometimes is an ass and I always felt the cards where firmly stacked in the favour of the drunk.When I found a drunk lying in a car I had to prove conclusive in court that he had the keys on him and they started the vehicle which was capable of being driven.

 

[wexy]

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Hi John ,

thanks for that info .I will stay there the next time ,I was just soooo mad that night ,I could of been killed and that plonker would have probably walked away ,,Maybe you should do an article on the site about the law and drunk drivers so we are all aware ,,although you have covered it well in your reply ,I dont mind people drinking and having a great time ,but I draw the line when they take charge of a people killer ,which is what a car is while been driven by drunk,,talk to you soon ,,btw are you going to the French treffen this year ?there is a wing ding on in brittany the week before the treffen ,so it will be a 10 day trip ..cheers Ciaran

 

[Guest]

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I did'nt think this post would get such a response.:clapper:Well done wexman for getting that fool off the road, you should have stuck his head in the mud rather than the wheels of his car,:gunhead: youmore than likely saved the life of some poor innocent person.:clapper:As littlejohn stated you did that bast*** a favour by throwing away his keys, he must be in possession of the keys for a successful prosecution in that situation where his vehicleis stationary. :XIn regard to the District Court Judge, he stated that he would remand drunken drivers who appeared in front of him for seven (7) days pending his judgement. As you know the minister for justice was not happy about this and made a statement to the papers. :XLegally speaking one cannot be detained for drunking driving while a judge makes up his/her mind. :stumped: If the person is found guilty then there is a sentence ofsix (6) months in jail which can be applied, :clapper: and should be applied in all drink driving offences. :whip:Now this particular judge has refused to hear drunken driving cases for six (6) months. :crying:Have you ever heard of anyone being jailed in Ireland for drunken driving, Nahh. ! !:X It's very disturbing when you hear of some cowboy being fined 200euro and disqualified from driving for one (1) year for drunken driving. Oh I wish I was a judge. :grinner:03 Silver, In regard to the truck drivers and their standard of driving, speeding etc. A new law will come into force on 1st Jan '05, which states that all new goods vehicles registered from this date, from 3500kg upwards must be fitted with speed restrictors to limit their speed to 57mph, :clapper: and to all registered vehicles fromthis category from 1st Jan '07. :clapper: The legal speed limit for these vehicles is currently50MPH and it has been proven that almost 90% oftruck driversexceed the speed limit. :whip: I dont know why it's taken two (2) yrs for all vehicles to be included. :baffled: Thank you 03 Silver for your congrats. If I did'nt have this nest to meet you guys I think I might go on the drink myself. :whip:Finally I dont have anything against drink or anyone who takes it, :leprechaun: but it's important to remember, everything in moderation.

:santahat: :18red: :santahat:

 

[Budegan]

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Well done wexman. Even though the fool didn't get done for being drunk in charge, Im sure the loss of his keys must have cost him quite a few quid to sort out. Also he didn't get a chance to kill or injure anyone while his car was laid up at the shop.

 

[Littlejohn]

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Redwing if I am not mistaken you are either very knowledgable or we both hail from a similar profession.

 

[Guest]

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Hey littlejohn, :waving:Nah im only a poor working farmer out here on the Islands and i dont know much about anything, :crying:it's just when i turn on the olde radio and hear the news about all the things that happen on the mainland. :baffled:I have to go to a neighbours house to post these olde messages. This place is better than any radio because i get all the news here. :clapper:

:santahat: :18red: :santahat: