'Boy racer' gathering broken up by Garda

A MASS concentration of “boy racers” has been disrupted by the Garda and more than 100 arrests have been made.

Gardaí targeted the concentration at the Western Industrial Estate, Clondalkin, Dublin, earlier this month after a surveillance operation which lasted weeks.

More than 250 people, most of them young men in modified cars, turned up to watch motorists speed, do handbrake turns and other dangerous manoeuvres. Drivers also mounted the pavement in the estate on that Saturday night.

Acting on a tip-off from local residents, officers blocked the estate and questioned every driver involved.

Insp Barry Moore from the traffic unit at Blanchardstown station said those involved had come from as far away as Dundalk, Naas and all parts of Dublin city to watch. “We were conscious that there were public order issues and . . . complaints from the owners of the estate about security there. Our main objective was to put a stop to it. We also took a zero tolerance attitude to the detection of prosecutable offences,” he said.

Twenty eight officers from the regional traffic unit, Clondalkin Garda station and the Garda Air Support Unit were involved in the operation on October 2nd.

Unmarked cars managed to restrict entrance to the estate and every vehicle was inspected.

Those arrested will be charged at a later date. Offences include drug-driving, possession of cannabis and motoring offences, from having no tax or insurance to driving with bald tyres.

CCTV footage from the Garda helicopter which showed a car mounting the pavement and then executing a handbrake turn is still being examined with a view to bringing a prosecution.

Insp Moore said such a large gathering was rare but may happen on a smaller scale elsewhere in the country. He described the operation as extremely successful. “It was a clear show of strength from the Garda that we are not going to tolerate this kind of behaviour from young male drivers.”

He said those involved loved their cars and the potential loss of their licence was a sanction they feared most.

Sgt Jim McAllister from the Garda Road Safety Unit said the real fear was that many of the motorists would behave in a similar fashion on the roads when they left the estate. He also said the car filmed mounting the pavement could have killed pedestrians who were watching.

He appealed to the public to report any such gatherings to the gardaí. “We have seen over the last couple of months how much grief can visit a community when you have multiple deaths,” he said.

“If you are aware of somebody acting the maggot like we saw in Clondalkin, let us know. We will get them to realise the risks involved and you won’t have so many people standing at graveyards.”

SPEED TRAPS

1,500 CAMERAS TO BE SET UP

GARDAÍ HAVE announced a speed camera initiative which could potentially cover 1,500 different locations throughout the State.

The Garda has signed a contract with a private consortium called GoSafe to provide vans with speed cameras to catch speeding motorists.

Assistant Commissioner John Twomey of the Garda National Traffic Bureau said an extra 6,000 hours a month will be spent in locations where motorists are known to speed or where there have been accidents.

Places where 85 per cent of the motorists are known to go over the speed limit will be targeted first. Mr Twomey said international evidence showed the compliance rate goes up to 50 per cent when such cameras are put in place.

The initiative is likely to begin in the middle of next month in time for the run-up to Christmas.

The locations will be flagged up on the Garda website in advance, but the times when the vans will be in operation will not be disclosed.

Last year a five-year contract worth €65 million was signed with GoSafe to provide 45 mobile cameras.

The assistant commissioner said it was not a revenue-gathering exercise or an attempt to persecute motorists, but an initiative designed to save lives.

Sgt Jim McAllister of the Garda Road Safety Unit said excessive speed was a factor in around 40 per cent of all road deaths especially in relation to single-vehicle crashes, which accounted for 106 of the 173 people killed to date on Irish roads this year.

He said speeding becomes a potential killer when the unexpected happens on the roads and speed limits are not a target to be reached but an advisory for ideal conditions.

RONAN McGREEVY