Trucks (HGV) and coaches are restricted by law to a maximum speed of 80 kph ( 50 mph). The Government states that 85% of all such vehicles exceed that limit and a considerable amount exceed the general limit of 100 kph (60 mph).
In order to do this any such vehicle manufactured after 1997 must DELIBERATELY, and with forward planning to break the law, DISABLE the speed governor incorporated into these vehicles which limits the general speed to under 90 kph ( 55 mph). This is done by removing the relevant fuse.
Any such vehicle travelling over 80 kph thus commits two breaches of the law. Firstly the exceeding of the specific speed limit and secondly the disabling of the governor which is a separate offence.
So who is enforcing the law?
Every motorist knows, as does the Government, that these vehicles deliberately flout the law and travel at speeds in excess of 100 kph or >25% of their specific limit.
Yet how many times have you seen a truck or a coach stopped for speeding or stopped at all?
Every day there are press reports of fatal and non-fatal accidents involving trucks.
Why is the Government not enforcing the law and when they do spot checks why do they announce this two days in advance?
Is there collusion between the enforcing authorities and the trucking industry?
Why does CIE, a semi-state entity, not ensure that Bus Eireann coaches obey the 80 kph limit? When have you ever seen a Bus Eireann coach travelling at less than 100kph? With newly installed GPS devices Bus Eireann can determine which (all) coaches are exceeeding these limits and punish the drivers.
Comments please.
20 Comments
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which you are welcome to visit and to complain about problems other than driving!
You can bet that if cars were fitted with a similar device, that you would also get people removing the fuse to disable the limiter.
How many times have you seen cars driving over the posted speed limit?
::Renniks::
The Government’s own figures are:
Speeding trucks – 85% of all trucks exceeding the limit
Cars – 25% of all cars exceeding the limit.
Is that clear enough?
It not just CIE coaches, i was passed (doing 65kph) in a decker by an yellow/blue single bus in the Glen of the downs absolutley flying.
Ive seen a private coach pulled over on the Arklow by pass. Also dump trucks pulled over.
85% of trucks is still less than 25% of cars when it comes to numbers of vehicles speeding.
When I’m on the dual carriageway about 85%(if not higher) of cars are exceeding the 100 kph speed limit.
::Al:: True. But so are 100% or the trucks. Except – if you look carefully – Tesco trucks. What areTesco doingright here??
::Renniks:: What sort of mad logic is that!! We’re not talking numbers here – were talking about the collective disregard for rules and the lives of others.
Collectively HGV and bus drivers are over 3 times more likely to kill you speeding. That’s just a fact.
You need to study statistics.
A friend of mine drives a truck for a well known cement company (well known for their speeding trucks as well as their cement), & he told me that he gets paid €20 per load delivered. He busts his chops to deliver 6 loads per day, giving him a weekly wage of €600 based on a five day week. Each trip he makes is a 2 hour return trip, meaning he works a minimum 12 hours a day, 5 days a week just to earn €600 ! It’s a crazy situation & he accepts he’s putting his own & other lives at risk, but feels there’s nothing he can do about it because if he complains his boss tells him ‘there are plenty of foreigners out there who’d be glad of the job’ !
Hey hey hey calm down Ceanna wots your problem? More cars are involved in fatal accicidents than trucks and thats a fact. So disable car drivers. Tell me now, how many trucks have been involved in fatal accidents in the last month and now tell me how many cars have been involved in accidents in the last week? Ceanna, pleeeese see the light!!!
::mr.g::
Rant when you have the facts. Look up the FACTS and see howmany trucks – as a percentage of those on the road are involved in fatal accidents. You will be surprised.
After that, andafter the spelling lessons – read the article carefully. It’s ILLEGAL to speed. It’s ILLEGAL to tamper with the required speed restrictors.
Is it your position that trucks should be allowed to speed and disable the speed restrictors?
If it is then:
1 Just come out and say “trucks can speed if they wish”
2 have the courage to give your name instead of hiding behind “mr g.” I can just imagine what the “g”stands for.
If you won’t do this then go moan on another subject.
ray.
That’s the entire problem. The bosses force the drivers into a position where speed = money.
So why don’t you report the firm to Gaybo and friends. This is their baby now. Name and shame – it’s the ONLY answer.
It’s disgusting that this driver is gettingjust Euro 10 per hour from this bunch of cowboys.
I believe in France if you go over 25 km/h over the speed limit you loose your license on the spot!! Sounds good to me!! We could eliminate thousands of speeding drivers throughout Ireland over a few years
Also, I think ‘traffic school’ would be good for those who get 4 or more penalty points, in order to hold on to their license, where they could be reeducated about driving and attitudes – a course similar to roadcraft would be ideal!
the langer is correct.
I was speaking to a Garda this very morning on the subject.. He says a major issue with enforecement is the attitude of the judges. It is all but impossible to persuade judges to uphold the law by issuing appropriate sentences.
Some weasel lawyer will crawl out the dung heap and persuade ‘mlord that there was some mind boggling excuse why poor Paddy was driving his truck through Kilmeaden at 70mph in the dusk with no lights on.
Paddy will be sorry all his life for killing Jane the mother of three.
That’s okay then Paddy – let that be a lesson to you. Fined 100Euro and a suspended sentence of 6 monhts provided you don’t drive over 100 mph in the truck in the next week. And give my regards to your dad down at the FF Cumann. Cheerio then lad.
Ceanna Claar, the poor girl is stuck in the past with her Paddy.
And she was talking to a garda, and he told her all the insides of law.
and then she knows all the Lawers and how bad they are, so she finisher with a remark about FF, now all that has been a great help to the Bullshite drivers.
she should tell us all where she ives and we all can go around and hear all she has to say, after all she spoke to a garda, but i forgot they will talk to anone.
Ah James Hayes.
Surely you’re one of those thugs who “drive” trucks. For a trucker your command of the language does you credit.
If your not a trucker then you surely should be one. Your contribution to the discussion is as valuable as the contribution of truckers to road safety. Zero.
By the way- I live in Galway. Spot the 07 Bentley and you will have found me.
poor girl, or is it old maid?
Neither – young and rich.
Just the kind you and your likes cannot abide.
Consume yourself with jealousy.
And gorgeous too – and an IQ twice yours.
So stop wasting your time trying to best me.
There’s just no way.
And learn to stick to the topic. It’s trucks in case you have forgotten.
A 20-year-old student’s car was wrecked by a train after she followed her sat nav system onto a railway track.
Paula Ceely, was driving her Renault Clio from Redditch, Worcestershire, to see her boyfriend at his parents’ home in Carmarthenshire for the first time.
She was trying to cross the line in the dark when she heard a train horn, realised she was on the track, and the train smashed into the car.
Transport police said drivers must take care with satellite navigation.
The car was carried about half a mile (800m) down the line by the Pembroke Dock to Swansea train, although Ms Ceely escaped injury in the incident near Whitland.
A second-year student at Birmingham University, she had borrowed the sat nav from her boyfriend, Tom Finucane, 21.
“I put my complete trust in the sat nav and it led me right into the path of a speeding train,” she said.
“The crossing wasn’t shown on the sat nav, there were no signs at all and it wasn’t lit up to warn of an oncoming train.
“Obviously I had never done the journey before so I was using the sat nav – completely dependent on it,” she said.
“I came to this crossing at Ffynongain and there was like a metal gate, which looked like just a normal farmers’ gate with a red circle on it
“I thought it was a dead end at first and then there was a little sign saying, if the light is green, open the gates and drive through.
The car was hit up the railway line in the collision
“So I opened the gate, drove forward, closed the gate behind me and then went to go and open the gate in front of me.
“Then I heard this train and I noticed train tracks. It was only then that I did realise I was on a train crossing.
“I just stood back and I just watched this train come in front of me.
“I could feel the air just pass me and then my car just did a 360 degree turn on the tracks and was knocked to the other side.”
She said her initial thought when she heard the horn had been to get into her car and move it.
“It was so quick that if I had done that, I would have been in the car when it was hit,” she said.
‘Really lucky’
Ms Ceely said she had been “really lucky”.
“I can’t completely blame the sat nav because up until there, it did get me where I needed to go,” she added.
We would advise people to use sat navs with due caution
Chief Inspector Paul Richards, British Transport Police
“If maybe I had been more aware of the situation, I wouldn’t have had the accident.
“But I would be a bit more wary of the sat nav next time because they try to take you the shortest route, and not always the most accessible route and not always the safest route.”
She has returned to Wales since, but took the train rather than drive.
“I’ll never use a sat nav again. You rely on them and if it all goes wrong, you’re horribly stuck.
“People should be more careful with them – you never know where they might lead you.”
Chief Inspector Paul Richards of British Transport Police said they were investigating the incident.
“We would advise people to stop look and be careful and if you are in the middle of a field, you must know something is wrong, he added.
Would she have seen it, if it was a truck, or the sat nav wanted her to go into the sea.