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Gaybo: We must stop this menace
Road safety chiefs’ fury at example set by speeding leaders
By: MICHAEL O’FARRELL
Investigative Correspondent
AFTER a month that saw 28 people killed on Irish roads, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern will tomorrow launch the Government’s latest attempt to stop the carnage.
Identifying speed as the major culprit, Mr Ahern will unveil, a new high-tech fleet of GATSO speed-detection vans, specially equipped for nighttime use, at the Garda Training College in Templemore.
Yet an Irish Mail on Sunday investigation last week found that ministerial cars were themselves flouting the speed limits, one by travelling at almost 200kph.
Using a state-of-the-art police radar gun, certified and tested before and after the investigation, the MoS measured Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s Government Mercedes travelling at 106kph in an 80kph zone in Galway on the way to the Fianna Fáil party think-in at the Clayton Hotel.
Mr Cowen was sitting in the front seat beside his garda driver. The next day, the State car of Tánaiste Mary Coughlan was logged travelling at 180kph in a 100kph zone in Co. Offaly as it returned empty from the party’s think-in.
Also returning from the Fianna Fáil meeting, Mr Cowen’s Special Branch security escort car was recorded driving at speeds of 158kph at the same spot.
Simultaneous video footage of the incidents was also recorded. By law, the cars of senior ministers are exempt from speeding regulations to allow Cabinet members carry out urgent functions of State.
But when Mr Cowen’s car was recorded, he was travelling to a private party function – not an official Government engagement.
Nor was there any apparent justifi-cation for excessive speed when the MoS filmed garda drivers speeding back to Dublin the next day since both Minister Coughlan and Mr Cowen had returned by air.
Junior Green Party Minister Trevor Sargent’s car was recorded at over 70kph in a 50kph zone on the outskirts of Waterford on Thursday, September 4.
As a junior minister, Mr Sargent’s car is not allocated a garda driver and is not exempt from speed limits.
A former ministerial driver told the MoS: ‘Some of those cars can do 240kph. These are Government ministers. You go at what you have to go at to get them there.’
Commenting on the Tánaiste’s empty car speeding towards Dublin, he said: ‘This is not uncommon. It’s protocol. The car must be there to meet her at the airport.’
The investigation shows that ministerial cars are continuing to flout speed limits despite urgent warnings going back several years.
In letters released under the Freedom of Information Act, the head of the now defunct National Safety Council, Eddie Shaw, wrote to both the Taoiseach and the Garda Commissioner five years ago to complain that speeding ministers were ‘needlessly and recklessly putting lives at risk’.
Mr Shaw told then-taoiseach Bertie Ahern: ‘Some day, there will be a collision involving a minister using a garda driver and perhaps another road user. There will be a fatality or a serious injury or both.
‘If it is the case that ministers believe that they have a right to abuse the law by requesting their drivers to arrive at a time that clearly involves breaking the limit, they need to be disabused of this notion.’
Last night, a spokesman for Mr Cowen directed all queries to the Garda. But the Garda Press Office declined to comment, saying no one was available until Monday. Miss Coughlan’s and Mr Sargent’s spokesmen were also unavailable.
But Road Safety Authority (RSA) chairman Gay Byrne said he could see no reason why a ministerial driver should not be prosecuted for speeding.
He said: ‘We need to clamp down on this speeding menace. I’m talking about thuggish, reckless drivers who speed way over the limit ‘My comments are not directed at any of the politicians or other people specifically filmed by your reporter. I am talking about people in general.
I haven’t seen your footage but there is no reason whatsoever why a ministerial driver shouldn’t be prosecuted just like everybody else.’
RSA chief executive Noel Brett said last night: ‘I have viewed the footage and my strong advice is to provide all of the dates, times and locations to the Garda Commissioner so he can take whatever action he deems appropriate.
‘It would be inappropriate to comment further in case that might impact on any future court case.’
‘Anyone in a public position carries an extra responsibility to set a good example. The biggest contributing factor to deaths on our roads is speed.’
Susan Grey from the Public Against Road Carnage, whose husband was knocked down and killed in 2004, said: ‘There’s enough dead people in the graveyards through careless and irresponsible driving.
‘I would really like to see what their comment is about this. I know it wasn’t them driving but they have to set an example. There can’t be one rule for the people at the top and another for the ordinary people.’
Previous speeding scandals have seen ministers Micheál Martin and John O’Donoghue caught speeding in their official cars en route to GAA matches, while then-junior minister Noel Treacy’s driver was prosecuted and fined for speeding in 2003. michael.o’farrell@mailonsunday.ie
the car that was overtaken by the Taoiseach’s car at about 106kph. To overtake, the Taoiseach’s car must have been accelerating even faster.
The Taoiseach’s personal garda escort was clocked at around 158kph in a 100kph zone in Offaly at 4.20pm on Tuesday, September 16.
Following the Fianna Fáil think-in in Galway, the Taoiseach decided to fly back to Dublin to oversee the conclusion of Social Partnership talks.
The unmarked Garda BMW that had accompanied him to Galway the day before was driven back to Dublin by a driver and no other passengers. The vehicle drove down the inside lane of the new N6 dual carriageway, close to the Tullamore exit.
The speed limit along the entire dual carriageway is 100kph. As it encountered civilian cars, the garda driver – who appears from our video footage to be alone – briefly turned on his dashboard police light.
From a static position in a lay-by at the side of the road, the MoS measured the speed of the Garda car at 153kph.
MARY COUGHLAN TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan’s ministerial car was clocked at 180kph in a 100kph zone in Offaly at 4.18pm on Tuesday, September 16.
The Tánaiste also flew back to Dublin after the Fianna Fáil think-in to attend what the Fianna Fáil press office described as ‘an important meeting’ in Dublin.
Her ministerial Audi A6 was left to make the journey back to Dublin alone. Just two minutes behind the Taoiseach’s empty Garda escort car, Mary Coughlan’s car appeared in the same spot advancing down the inside lane of the N6 dual carriageway towards Dublin.
The only visible occupant was the Garda driver.
TREVOR SARGENT JUNIOR Agriculture Minister Trevor Sargent clocked up a speed of 72kph at 6.47pm on Thursday, September 4, while in a 50kph zone in Water-ford .
After a busy round of engagements at an agricultural show in Piltown, Co. Kilkenny, and an organic foods conference in Waterford Institute of Technology, Mr Sargent left for Dublin.
The Dublin-based TD was being driven in a rented silver Ford Mondeo rather than his ministerial car – a Toyota Prius bought secondhand from a fellow member of the Green Party.
Mr Sargent sat in the car’s front seat beside the driver with two unidentified passengers occupying the rear.
Traffic through the city was busy but within minutes of reaching the outskirts, Minister Sargent’s car entered a 50kph zone leading up to extensive roadworks at the edge of the city.
The MoS measured the speed at 72kph.
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Our tried and tested state-of-the-art speed gun
THE Irish Mail on Sunday carried out this investigation using a state-of-the-art digital speed radar and computer processor supplied by Decatur Electronics – the company which developed the first police speed radar system 52 years ago.
The Genesis II Select is in use by law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and in dozens of other countries worldwide.
The system is an advanced in-car radar which is capable of monitoring speeds in three settings – from a static position at the side of the road, while following behind a target vehicle, and while driving against oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the road.
For the purposes of this investigation, speed measurements were taken from either a static location or while following a target vehicle.
Video footage of each speeding car was recorded simultaneously with speed measurements.
Furthermore, the equipment was independently tested and certified for accuracy to within plus or minus 1kph by an independent electronic engineer prior to use.
The central processing unit of the system features a self-test mechanism which ensures that all components of the device are working correctly each time it is turned on.
As a further control, the unit also monitors and displays the speed of the patrol car, allowing the opera-tors to verify accuracy by ensuring that the patrol car’s speedometer is not at odds the radar equipment.
Following the investigation, the Irish Mail on Sunday brought the radar equipment for further independent testing to a British-based electronic engineer who is approved to supply, calibrate and test radar speed guns. The engineer – Rod Little of Ottery Electronics – certified that the radar and all its components were working correctly and had been used correctly.
Mr Little also viewed video footage of all of the cases featured in this article. He confirmed that the speed readings had been acquired in satisfactory circumstances.
