ShiteDrivers.com - Bad driving on Irish roads exposed!

RSA-They talk the talk, but do they walk the streets.

Now I have often thought to myself, do the people in the corridors of power in the RSA view this web site and take note of the opinions and ideas expressed by the very many ordinary everyday people who have a real and genuine interest in road safety. Somehow or other I don’t think so, for if they really did, then why has nothing really changed? Like, despite all the good ideas, suggestions for change or the highlighting of problems that are blatantly obvious to every motorist in this state, nothing constructive appears to be done in order to realistically address and resolve issues that appear to re-emerge time after time. Like the typical old reliable that is continuously expected in a minister’s budget, speed, road tax and wasted advertising, play a dominant role when it comes to the RSA pushing forward safety issues as the Gardai are asked and obliged to enforce the rules, no matter how daft they may appear.

 Funny, if your car is three month out of road tax the Gardai can lift your vehicle, but if your insurance is out of date your name and address is taken, and you carry on your merry way home in a car that has no insurance. You see having no tax is defrauding the state of valuable revenue but having no insurance is a private issue between you and the deceased. Stopping motorists on a dual carriageway for driving 10KPH over an inappropriate speed limit that was set by a local authority so that a Garda turkey shoot could take place, is not my idea of convincing motorists the logic reasons behind adjusting their speed in response to road conditions, visibility and other factors that could lead to road fatalities. The unwillingness and inability of the RSA to publicly criticise local authorities for their blatant abuse of power and stupidity when addressing road safety and other road issues is in itself self evident of where the RSA stands when it comes to revenue over lives.This all appears to point to somebody getting their priorities the wrong way round. Firstly, local authorities (notably Dublin and county) are now reassessing the speed limits for very many of the roads in both the city and county. There are very many, no, far too many side roads, country lanes and roads with bends that could be classed as highly dangerous, but still some or all of these roads have speed limits set far in excess of those set on road that are well  lit up, dual carriageways and other’s. But let us not forget, once again, so called highly paid professional people surveyed and recommended these speed limits for all our roads,  as you and I are forced to pay fines for inappropriate speed limits we protest about, as the same professionals are given a second, third and fourth chance to get it right. The N7, Red Cow to Longmile Road junction, four lanes, speed limit 50KPH, Garda turkey shoot, then suddenly after a barrage of complaints the speed limit is raised to 60KPH. Was a wrong made right, what about all those who received penalty points and 80 Euro fines for a wrong that the local authorities knew was wrong but ignored that wrong because they were making big money from speeding fines. What does this say for the integrity and independence of the Gardai in uphold a regulation they themselves find reason to question.

But why go out of the city to get a first hand view in the lack of compliance and enforcement of the rules of the road. Every weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday the Gardai are visibly seen as being in stepped down mode when it comes to enforcing the rules of the road. The commercial life of the city takes precedence over compliance and safety, as taxis congest the city’s roads and give scant, if any regard to other road users or compliance with the rules of the road. Health and safety issues are swept to one side as the city becomes a free for all, as the use of hazard lights legitimises and legalises the need for taxis to stop and pick up passengers in the middle of busy streets. Let’s be very clear about this, firstly, road safety is about how the maximum revenue can be generated out of penalising motorists in the simplest possible way and then and only then, the saving of lives is used to enhance the revenue returns by enacting regulations that the authorities know motorists will be suckers when it come to breaking the same rules. I’m wrong you say, is that what you say. Then tell me where is the logic behind eight man Garda checkpoints on well lit open roads, stopping motorist for various reasons while at the same time the city sees every rule of the road broken and there is not a single Garda around to see what is going on.

 Take for example Dawson Street, one street and just one road, the road is reduced to a single lane because taxis clutter the road, bus stops are completely taken over, hazard lights are illuminated everywhere and not a Garda to be seen for dust. And this situation is repeated throughout the city and in other cities and towns around the country. If road safety is the utmost priority for the Road Safety Authority then why are the most basic and fundamental rules and regulations allowed to be broken, abused and ignored in the very heart of our capital city. Why has the taxi industry not been subjected to tests and continuous monitoring of road driving standards as a condition for holding a public service vehicle licence? Local authorities give this industry special concession in the use of bus lanes and designated parking facilities in the city. They take far less in road tax and ignore violations that other road users are immediately penalised for. And for this they are given an illuminated roof sign so that everybody can take notice that they are taxis and they have privileges that we as fully paid up road users are denied. And let us not forget taxis are not supposed to use the bus lanes if they are not in actual service, next time a Garda stops you behind a taxi ask him or her was the car in front clocking a fare or was it just jumping a traffic jam that you and I are obliged to sit in and patiently wait until everything begins to move.

What is the point in placing advertisements in newspapers and on television about getting into the correct lane, using your mirrors and signalling in time, when you are allowed to throw all this out the window just because you happen to be driving in the city? A car overturns, it roles out of control and hits a child playing in a garden, images intended to shock and change your attitude so you see the wisdom of your ways. It does not work, as a society we have been exposed to more horrific and gruesome images on TV, video and the internet. We pay more attention to the technical qualities of the production rather than the message it is supposed to implant in our brains. Like Las Vegas, the only rule you must conform to, is the rule that you spend. The bright lights of the city, commercial interests and profit means, by enforcing rules and regulations the commercial interests of business will be inhibited by a greater Garda presence on the streets and the law enforcement resulting out of that presence. Road safety is about money, it’s not about saving lives, it’s of such great public concern that the RSA actively discourages bad driving while at the same time the public is discretely and where conveniently possible, allowed to break the same rules that they themselves insist should be there and enforced in order to save lives.

The RSA made a complete and utter sham of the learner driver situation and in time will continue to make similar shams with the same learner driver debacle. Instead of having all the groundwork done and the various structures in place in order to allow for an orderly transition from an old and unacceptable system to a new form of driver training, testing and qualification, the RSA  with Mr Byrne as its chief of staff decided that in one foul swoop they would rid the country of the learner driver problem without giving any regard to the consequences such an action would have on the lives of very many people who in this modern era rely and depend on the use of a motor vehicle. This single incident proved that the RSA is no more than an office full of clerical officers who have the legalised power to dictate decisions irrespective of how ridiculous those decisions may be. Don’t forget successive government ministers contributed to the problems we see on our roads today. The handing out of full driving licences in order to reduce the queue for driving tests prove that even ministers at the highest levels of government are making serious mistakes and flaws in logical judgment, while later shifting the blame for all the problems onto everybody else thereby solidifying that blame by imposing fines and other penalties on those they choose to point a finger at  for blame, but do not recognise that they themselves were the designers and constructors of the problems in the first place.

The government placed Mr Byrne at the top of the RSA chain purely because they seen him as a national figure, a political pawn, a person everybody looked up too and a person that most people listened to whenever he spoke. But that was Gaybo of thirty years ago; young people could not give a toss about Gay Byrne or what he says. Most young people never even heard of him, while a considerable number of my generation have retired Gaybo to his rightful place in the history books. It’s absolutely mind boggling for me to sit in my car, in a traffic jam in the middle of the city and listen to an RSA road safety advertisement on the radio, as mayhem unfolds in front of my eyes and bears no resemblance to the messages coming over the airwaves. But Chris DeBurgh or Ronan Keating on the stand then all youth will listen and take note……..bull shit, nonsense. The only real things that will reduce the carnage on our roads are greater deterrents and a return to the basic fundamental rules and enforcement of those rules. Take for example cyclists, traffic lights and pedestrian crossings mean nothing, advanced training on how not to uphold the rules of the road before you purchase a motor vehicle. Pedestrians walking across roads with pedestrian traffic lights just moments away but still they play chicken with buses, taxis and other road users as Gardai walk casually by, completely unaware of what is going on around them. In fairness to the Gardai, what’s the point, sure a judge will throw the case out of court because the defendant cries his feet hurts or he has not got the energy to push the button to change the lights.

When you read the various articles on this web site one cannot but feel annoyed and aggrieved because the evidence is there for all to see, sound logical suggestions are put forward for consideration by very many people and that includes taxi drivers, but the powers in the RSA and government departments find no credence in these suggestions because those proposing the suggestions or answers are not “professional enough” or “qualified enough to know what they are talking about” hence good ideas from those non-professionals are placed on shelves, allowed to gather inches of dust and over time taken down and presented as new ideas thought up by ministers or other agencies of the state. Think of all those lives that would have been saved if the RSA sought opinion and input from people who experience these situations on a daily basis. It is like the RSA is there to solve all our problems and they alone are the only ones capable of solving our problems. Gaybo preaches to the audience not to drink and drive as a government minister is caught pissed drunk behind the wheel of a car on the wrong side of the road, and all the strings that can be pulled are pulled to lessen the impact of the problem.

Road safety is not about saving lives, Dublin city is a prime example in the promotion of bad driving that is ignored and discarded in the interest of commercialism. Every other city and town around the country boasts exemptions to enforcement because it suits economic interests rather than saving lives. Every time somebody dies on a lonely country road there is an outcry. The Gardai mount road checks in the cities, far away from the sources of the problem. The RSA begins a new road safety campaign and the game goes into overtime.

Nothing is changing and the deaths still rise. Hopefully another RSA campaign will deliver results but should it fail well then we can start all over again by finding something else to blame for the carnage. Probably this time it will be the noise of the car heater distracting the driver, therefore turning your car heater knob while driving will incur 2 penalty points and a small fine of 80 Euro, made payable to your local authority  overseas councillor travel junket fund.