Not really on point, but lol at Mattie getting dragged. #rtept pic.twitter.com/BNrHN459tF
— Dáiligh Shona Daoibh (@Dailigh) December 11, 2018
Starts around @.39 .
Nat writes:
[Independent TD] Mattie McGrath getting a massively-overdue dragging on telly [Prime Time last night] – there is not nearly enough of this for the blethering bag of bulldung. No idea who she is though…
Anyone?
There has been a discussion on the call by the Road Safety Authority and others about the possibility of introducing speed limiters in cars. However, this technology is very new, and it would take many years for all car manufacturers to install them as standard. There is another system that could be introduced quickly.
Every car could be monitored with a GPS device linked to a mapping database that covers all roads and speed limits in Ireland.
The insurance company AXA introduced such a scheme for young drivers in 2012, and this allowed AXA to track driver speed and behaviour. The system could be modified so that if a driver was driving over the speed limit in a certain area, the driver is alerted and given time to reduce their speed.
Continuous driving over the speed limit would then result in penalty points and a fine.
In effect, it would be as if there was a continuous speed check on all cars at all times. Such a system would save many thousands of Garda hours in speed monitoring, and with a consequent reduction in speeding, would save many lives every year.
Seamus Lennon,
Salthill,
Galway.
Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan, top, and PULSE records showing his penalty points for speeding terminated
In April 2013 Irish Independent journalist Gemma O’Doherty broke the story of how former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan had penalty points for speeding quashed. Ms O’Doherty lost her job soon after.
Further to this, Sinn Féin TD Padraig MacLochlainn addressed Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald in the Dáil last week about ‘new developments’ concerning Mr Callinan’s penalty points being quashed.
Mr MacLochlainn spoke about these developments during the second stage debate on the Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No.3) Bill 2014.
“Consider the issue of accountability concerning questions. It has been brought to my attention by journalist Gemma O’Doherty in recent days that she has reported that former Garda Commissioner Mr. Martin Callinan had penalty points for speeding terminated. He confirmed this in an article in the Irish Independent. Ms O’Doherty asserts she was fired a number of weeks after that story was published, and she is taking a number of legal cases in regard to that.”
“She has advised me she has come into possession of new information. On that basis, she submitted a number of questions to the Acting Garda Commissioner, which the latter has refused to answer, as is evident from the e-mail. The questions, which Ms O’Doherty sent to the Minister also, are as follows.”
“What was the basis for the termination of Mr. Callinan’s speeding fine? There was no indication of the reason on the PULSE printout.
Why was Mr. Callinan not using an official Garda car on the day he was caught speeding given that he was on official Garda business?
Did he drive to work on the day he incurred his speeding ticket?
What time did he start work that day?
Was the meeting he was speeding to pre-planned?
Was this meeting recorded in his diary? Was he aware of this meeting?
Was anyone with Mr. Callanan in his car when he was caught speeding?
Was a written report made of his meeting? At what time did the meeting begin and end? What was the location of the meeting? Did Mr. Callanan return to Garda headquarters after the meeting? Did he claim mileage or subsistence allowance for the day in question? Were there any other occasions on which Mr. Callanan used his private car for Garda business?”“All of these questions are now on the record of the Dáil. Since the Acting Garda Commissioner has not provided the information, I ask that the Minister provide it. It is a very serious matter and there is considerable public interest in it. I hope the Minister can obtain the answers to the questions that the Acting Garda Commissioner has refused to give.”
Ms Fitzgerald did not respond.
Previously: To Protect And Swerve
Commissioner had penalty points erased while on duty (Gemma O’Doherty, Irish Independent, April 19, 2013)
Transcript via Kildare Street
Photocall Ireland
Ah here.
Steve Kingston writes:
Sneaky sneaky, speed van in a 5 zone! Who does 5? Ever??
(Above: Luke Ming Flanagan at a press conference in Buswells Hotel where extracts from a dossier of evidence referring to tens of thousands of fixed penalty notices being cancelled were presented.)
A motorist who was caught driving at 155km in a 100km zone and had his speeding ticket quashed was later involved in a crash in which another driver died, according to data released by four TDs yesterday.
A second motorist, who was killed in a crash in 2012, had a speeding ticket quashed by an inspector a month earlier. A third motorist, who had been speeding at 135km in a 100km zone and had his ticket “terminated” by a Garda inspector, was later involved in a hit and run and killed a pedestrian.
The 20 examples released by TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, Joan Collins and Luke Ming Flanagan were from a dossier put together by two Garda whistleblowers. The TDs said they had been warned by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner not to release the full dossier, which included names, locations and specific dates.
In six of the examples, motorists who had speeding offences quashed by gardaí were later involved in fatal crashes.
Previously: Why The Points Matter
