Idiot Drives the wrong way down Dublin Port Tunnel

Short video from Primetime showing a driver do a u-turn in one of the port tunnels.
The guy was sent a summons for |Dangerous driving;
Here's the video;

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The latest Tyres

No air so they never puncture you just change the thread when it wears out.
Deformable wheel! acts like an extra shock.
Flexible spokes, better than Air at absorbing road defects

Looks fucking poxy!

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Wanna know why the Traffic is Shite?

I was at a party on Saturday evening and I got talking to a pal who's now working in the traffic management section of Dublin City Council.
Keen to see how he was getting on with all the proposals I gave to him a few weeks back, he smiled and asked had I not noticed the vast improvements he'd made already?
In reality he said the office is snowed under with requests from resident associations, councilors and other "concerned citizens" for the erection of speed ramps, pedestrian crossings, along with the placing of double yellow lines, speed cameras and signs, as well as, funnily enough the removal of all of the above as well!
Each case has to be assessed on merit with surveyors attending the sites and measuring the need or otherwise of the location.
I guess if they were left to it they might be able to sort things out where it's ACTUALLY needed rather than having to pander to these people!

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My Humps My Humps

These are the De Rigeur Ramps at the moment, instead of the hillock spread across the road there are three humps, one either side of the road and one in the middle.
Because of the way they are situated, if you drive on your side of the road as you should, you then tend to get knocked about quite viciously.
However, if you drive half on your side and half on the other; Drive right down the middle, then you get a nice smooth ride.
So obviously everyone drives down the centre of the road, pulling in only when another car approaches doing exactly the same thing, speeding in an effort to beat them to the hump.
How daft is that?
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Simply Tragic

Yesterday I attended the funeral of my sons 17 year old friend, who died after crashing his car on his way home from work.
He was probably driving too fast, he probably had the car stereo at full blast, he probably took one too many chances, he was just the same as any other 17 year old boy driving his first car. He was unlucky and tragically the safety features built into his car were not sufficient to preserve his young life.
His mother was other worldly, I doubt she had any idea of her situation, his father had a similarly vacant expression, his young sister sobbed uncontrollably, calling out her brothers name from time to time.
It was heartbreaking listening to six of his classmates struggle tearfully through the prayers of the faithful, all around... young girls were breaking down.
The offertory gifts included an X-Box 360 controller and game and the coffin left the church to a song by the rock group "The Killers", all contriving to drive home the nature of the tragedy; The untimely death of a young boy.
I've no suggestions or solutions, I wrote this in an effort to purge my mind of the memory of it all, I may delete it tomorrow, this place is supposed to be light hearted.
Sorry!
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Ireland's Worst Pothole (deceased)

Irish Taxi's favorite radio station Newstalk 106 ran a contest to find Ireland's "greatest" pothole, the winner was this seven foot wide two foot deep monster in Cootehill, County Cavan;



Sadly, just two days after airing the great news, Cavan County Council sent workmen to fill it in, destroying something that must have taken years to develop!
Here is the result of this vandalism;


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Mugged By The Mad Cow

I was caught out by the new road layout at the Red Cow roundabout in Clondalkin. As a good "know it all" Taxi Driver I paid no attention to the roadsigns and continued along as I'd always done.
I ended up with just two options;
M50 South or M50 North (
I was heading into the city centre!
If there had been a third option "drive off a cliff" I'd have considered it.
I decided on the M50 south and took the extra miles and time as penance for past sins.
And they let idiots like me drive taxis !

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Tata Nano, the €1400 Car

Well here it is, the €1400 car, would you buy one?

Here's the official unveiling;

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First 08 Car

I spotted my first 2008 registered car last night (unusually late) It was a Toyota SUV.
Since 1987 there has been a bit of a date snobbery with cars, since thenthe registration plate on each car read the date first, ie, 08, then letter(s) for the county, ie. D for Dublin, then a number in order of registration.
So now if you ask someone about their car they'll tell you the date first then the model ie, I've got a zero one Primera.
A bit of an aside but the car I spotted was being driven by a black guy, which I thought was cool and indicative of the new Ireland
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Disneys Vision for Transport in 2008

This clip was made in 1958 and details how scientists assumed things would have changed in 50 years time (now), it's very quaint in it's outlook, some predictions are spot on, whereas others are way wide of the mark;

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Ramps give me the hump!

They're the bane of every taxi drivers life, RAMPS, I hate them, in particular those ones they put down temporarily during road works, they're like a telegraph pole cut in half longways and placed across the road, they tear the shit out of the suspension.
I'm boycotting D.C.U, they have them permanently fixed on their driveway, let the students walk from the gate..... sure aren't they young and fit?

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Crashed Lives

These are the new "real life" ads being aired on Irish TV, they are the most effective yet.

Here's Emmas story as told by her poor mother;

Erin's Mam would like us to wear seat belts;



Fran fell asleep at the wheel, a a warning to Taxi drivers maybe?



Miclin drank and then drove, I guess he wishes it was the police that stopped him.....



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Didn't he have any proper crimes to prevent?

An over zealous cop last spent last night circling St Stephens Green ticketing Taxis that were stopped waiting for the rank to clear, The rank was moving quite quickly but sometimes got held up while the Cabs were loaded.
Happy Christmas to you too.
(Thankfully I spotted him just as I was about to pull in behind a row of 4 Taxis he was ticketing)
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Too many Poles dying on the roads

Coroner Frank O'Connell has called for action on the rate of Polish deaths from road traffic accidents on Irish roads. He says there is a disproportionate number of Polish fatalities coming before his court, most perishing in drink driving related incidents.
Calls are being made to have the hard hitting road safety ads made bi-lingual and for more safety pamphlets to be issued in various languages.
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Flowers on a Pole

While listening to the radio yesterday I heard that there were traffic hold-ups at Doyles Corner in Phibsboro due to an accident, I wasn't working at the time so didn't pay too much heed, it was early afternoon and traffic in that area is awful all the time so I assumed it was just a fender bender.
Driving past tonight I saw the flowers taped to a pole on "Doyles Corner" meaning somebody obviously died there ( R.I.P ) which is doubly sad given the time of year.
So I thought I add a reminder here to drive carefully, not to drink and drive, and to wear seatbelts etc, please don't be the cause of an empty seat at the dinner table this Christmas

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I've gone Dual fuel

First thing tonight I popped into my local service Station to fill up the tank, after putting in a little over €10 worth of petrol I remembered my Cab takes Diesel!
I ran through the scenario in my head;

1. ring a breakdown truck and get the Cab dropped off at Stu's garage......€90
2. Stu empties the tank................€70 including the lost petrol and earnings
3. Re-fill the tank, no real cost ........I'd have to do that anyway
   

Total €160

Instead I went straight to step 3 and diluted the Petrol with €45 worth of Diesel hoping for the best. I drove off the forecourt with a little concern and reckoned I'd know one way or the other after a couple of miles.
Thankfully the car seems to have suffered no ill effects and I've topped up the diesel again do dilute the mixture even more.
Normally I like to see comments for my posts but this time I know I'll be told of the incredible damage I've caused to the Cab!
So I'll get my defense in first...............Sure it can't be that different to the additives I put in to clean the widgets prior to the annual test??????????????????
And if the government offer a grant for greener dual fuel cars tomorrow, I can now try putting in a claim!!

Squeak Squalk AAAAAHG!

It rained for most of the evening and yeah you guessed it; my windscreen wipers squeaked all feckin' night, they cleared the screen well enough but the noise drove me demented, so much so that I took the wiper from the rear window and replaced the offending article.... but it made no difference!

Changes to the St Stephens Green Rank

I see they are extending the rank across to the other side of the road, meaning the rank will start outside the Londis shop, rather than beside the Luas Stop (light rail system, Luas is Irish for speed).
This is fine so long as everyone gets with the system and the guy parked where the rank used to start points out the" new" first cab and doesn't take the fare.
Hopefully they appoint a Garda to police it initially until everyone is clear of their responsibilities, somehow I doubt it and instead Chaos will reign, perhaps the much needed extension won't even be used!

Irelands Most Expensive "gas" Station

The Statoil service station on Ushers Quay in Dublin is Ireland's most expensive, selling both Petrol and Diesel at the extortionate price of €1.79 a litre, the most expensive I could see apart from this is €1.20 a litre.
The reason they get away with this is because Statoil are the sole suppliers of gas to state cars and this is the only Statoil Service Station in the city centre, servicing 4 major police districts as well as other official vehicles.
As well as this they are the first Filling station tourists meet as they come off the ferries and travel up the quays out of the port and not knowing any better they assume these prices are normal and fill up.
So be warned and stay well clear

Operation Freeflow starts officially today.

In an effort to ease traffic congestion during the busy shopping season each year, the police take all the student Gardai from Templemore training academy and place them on every junction, bus lane, and clearway in an effort to ensure all regulations are being adhered to, works a treat!