Drink driving

The Garda tries to hold the bus lane

Air Sea rescue helicopter

Building site abandoned at Clare Hall. All building work over here is stopped.

You know taxi driving is always different every day, morning, afternoon and evening you never know what is going to happen next.
Mostly nothing happens and if something does happen out of the blue?
Well lets hope its a good happening.

Guinness is now officially 250 years old and it was celebrated in style in Dublin yesterday.
There were concerts performed at different venues and broadcast to pubs via satellite. All thought up by Satchi and Satchi.
Some pubs gave a free drink at 17.59 to remember the day that Arthur Guinness signed the lease for St.Jame's gate where the brewery is.
Others sold pints of the dark brew at € 2.50 marking 250 years.
My local had the concert on the TV turned down and he only gave away a few pints at 6 pm. He just didn't enter the spirit of the event click here

But it was a mamoth event with dancing in the streets, should have worked.

They (The wise ones) made a big change to the traffic flow here in Dublin at the beginning of the month.
College Green is now a bus lane and closed to cars morning and evening.
It has made a huge difference for taxis and buses,but the cars and vans are having a problem.
For a few days the Garda just cautioned them, then they turned them away form the area.
Then they wrote tickets by the score.

Today I was watching the guy shown in the photo above turn cars away every 2 minutes. Then on the other side I saw a woman driving along while talking on the phone. I think she drove through a red light as well,in the bus lane. She was so engrossed in conversation that she didn't notice the garda motorbike driving right at her window.
It took the third blast of the siren to get her attention to stop.
That could be a very expensive call.

1 Talking on a mobile phone while driving.
2 driving in a bus lane.
3 going through a red light.
4 driving without due care and attention.

She was not a pretty young thing and he wrote her a big bunch of tickets.

These tickets were not raffel tickets.

I picked up an Australian girl on Griffeth Ave,I thought she was English.
What an insult that was.(sorry)
This girl I have had in my taxi more than once, she has a wine business here and she told me something which I will share with you.

In Australia the government decided to tackle drunk driving head on.
If you drink and drive there you are in big trouble and if you kill someone you would likely go to prison and loose your licence for life.
The drink driving advertisements are very hard hitting.

That one "Haunted"is Australian.

Now listen to this, if you work in a bar you have a permit to sell alcohol and if you serve a person who is drunk, you may loose your permit,you will be fined, your premises can be fined and if that person that you sold drink to injures another person your place might have to pay damages.

On top of that all school children around the age of 15/16 are taken away for the day where they are shown videos about dangerous driving.
This includes viewing bodies of accident victims.

I might have told you that when I was starting to drive I was brought on a grand tour of Mr.Traynors scrap yard near Moy, I was shown the bent steering wheels,the hair and blood on the windscreens. How your knees travel through the dashboard only to be broken by the bracket which holds the steering colum in place.
Then I was shown a baby's knitted shoe and the blood on the roof of the car,
"all these people had one thing in common, all in a rush. Now lives are destroyed, sometime you will think of what you saw today and show down, at least I hope so"
Said Mr.Traynor
I was back there a few years ago and there was a lovely TVR there being scrapped.
Very little damage done. The driver had lost control of the car and it hit the ditch and rolled over, the driver got thrown out the passinger window and was crushed, he was not wearing a seat belt.
When I spoke to the lads they said that the car must be broken up. The owners wife or children would be shocked if they ever saw that car again, I could buy the wheels the engine or gearbox even the wings and doors the rest was to be crushed.
That year Armagh won the football final.

Oh to get back to my lady from Australia.
She is very strict on herself and has five days alcohol free every week!
"You should do this for the sake of your body"

Australian girls, nurses, physios and teachers jump into the front seat don't ask me why.
The rest sit in the back, don't ask me why.

Then .
Last night in Fairview I saw a car with no lights on, I flashed my lights at him,but he drove on. I was caught at the lights behind him and 3 sets of lights further on there he was stopped by an unmarked police car.
I picked up a passenger around the wooden bridge and headed back into town, as we passed him he was being breathalised. my passinger got out and as I headed past the car a third time. Now the driver had been arrested and his car was being driven back to the station.

One way of looking at it is that he will be using taxis for a few years so it will be good for business.

I am off to Manchester on Wednesday, to see a cousin of mine who is ill.
His family were very good to me when I was younger and staying at home was not an option.
I had a mad 2 days looking for my passport!
I have it now.

Look after your health