Michael McAleer answers your queries.
From Niall Gilligan,
Co Donegal:
The announcement of the TrafficWatch scheme seems to be a licence for every crackpot and moaning Sunday driver to phone the police. It's like we're adopting Soviet-style neighbourhood watches with local party commissars at every junction ready to grab the wheel.
Clearly it's the duty of every responsible motorist to welcome any move that will improve Irish driving habits, or at least dissuade errant motorists from errors that in many instances put lives at risk. In that context the extension of the TrafficWatch scheme is to be welcomed.
However, more cynical voices may suggest the scheme is little more than a media ploy, a distraction by a Government that previously promised a full-time traffic corps. While we await the long delayed introduction of dedicated traffic policing, it now seems that not only is this unlikely to come to pass in the foreseeable future, but ownership of the litany of transport and motoring problems is now slowly being passed on to the general public.
Certainly driver behaviour has to be dramatically improved, but it should be put in the context of unsafe roads, ineffective traffic management, badly timed traffic lights and ramps and poor driver training. All this is accompanied by insufficient public transport in our swelling suburban areas.
The scheme does offer the opportunity for motorists to complain about serious offences, such as dangerous overtaking and suspected drink driving, and more should do so.
But the problem has not been that motorists were unaware of how to contact the Garda. Yet another phone number is not what's needed, even if the person at the other end of the line is dedicated to the task of recording traffic complaints. What is required is a dedication by those on duty on the roads.
Surely it would be better if we had a proper Garda presence on our roads, enforcing traffic rules in a properly trained context. In the end, any complaint is just that - a complaint - unless the witness is willing to take the matter further.
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From John Godden,
Co Wicklow:
Ms Chipperfield (January 7th edition) has raised again the question of visibility. I would like to give you my observations on the very common use of front foglights in daytime. For good reasons the rear foglights are required to be switched off when the fog has passed.
We all know how dazzling they can be; but I would maintain that the similar legal requirement to turn off front fogs is a mistake. These lamps are of course the lowest of the suite, and are shining almost parallel with the road. In my experience I am seldom dazzled by these night or day unless they are most grossly set, which seldom happens. While the law stands as it is for both front and rear of course it should be observed, but the usefulness of the front ones for visibility in daytime would be better recognised and their use encouraged. Alter the rules? Any comments?
While I might agree with your argument on the lack of serious danger from front foglights, the fact that a significant number of Irish motorists drive with both sets on, or just the rear, suggests to me they simply don't know the difference between the symbols on the dash display, and don't really care. It would seem to be a policy of "foglights on...foglights off", with no distinction between front and back.
At least that's the only reasoning I can come up with for the large number with the rear foglights on. Either they are determined to cause an accident or are ignorant of the lighting systems in their car. My belief in the goodness of folk makes me think it's the latter. In which case differentiating between legal at the front and illegal at the back may only serve to seriously confuse these folk. Better to err on the side of caution.
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From David Nisbet:
I read with interest the query from Betty O'Brien last week. Memory tells me that I read many years ago that a speedometer was required to be accurate to +/- 10 per cent. Is this still the case and, if not, when was it changed?
We've trawled through our own records and we've had the Garda Press Office trawling through its files, and those of the legal section in the Garda College, and there seems to be no record of such a rule.
Older speedometers could never be trusted to be calibrated 100 per cent as they only really showed figures for each 10 miles difference.
According to a Garda spokesperson, the requirement on motorists is to stick to the speed limit and there is nothing on the statutes that will punish you further if your speedometer is inaccurate. It is up to you to ensure it is properly calibrated, and if not your punishment will undoubtedly come in the form of a speeding ticket and points.
Send your queries to: Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, Fleet Street, Dublin 2 - or e-mail them to motorshelp@irish-times.ie