advice on speeding in NI

admiralofthefleet

i posted a thread a while ago here about me being 'done for speeding' in the north. anybody who read the thread will know i was in court today for the offence.
i was expecting a small fine..something along the lines of 40 or 50 quid, but i was fined £150 (about €300).
i was a bit shocked by the amount that i was fined so i would advise anyone thinking of speeding on NI roads to think again, it isnt worth the hassle and expense. i have learnt my lesson and stayed at/below 70 on the m1 and 60 on the a1 on the way up and back down today.


gar

franksm

Good on ye, Gar.

Took some balls to say that, as well as to go to court and stand up.

I have been "training myself" to drive at no more than the speedlimit (much to the annoyance of people behind me) but I think it's working for me. I used to drive everywhere at "speedlimit + 10" but I just can't afford to have a crash. Guess I'm going against the alleged grain of other yellow-plates here heh heh

Supercell

Fair play, should slap on huge speeding fines down south here too - it might save lives..now theres a wacky idea!!

DMC

admiralgar wrote:

i posted a thread a while ago here about me being 'done for speeding' in the north. anybody who read the thread will know i was in court today for the offence.
i was expecting a small fine..something along the lines of 40 or 50 quid, but i was fined £150 (about €300).
i was a bit shocked by the amount that i was fined so i would advise anyone thinking of speeding on NI roads to think again, it isnt worth the hassle and expense. i have learnt my lesson and stayed at/below 70 on the m1 and 60 on the a1 on the way up and back down today.


gar

Well done for taking the medicine.

Just on that, I'm often up north, aren't dual carriageways 70mph, and only 60mph where indicated? (Thinking Banbridge here)
This sign...

Signifies 70mph on dual carriageways and motorways, 60 everywhere else.

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.htm

Seth Brundle

@DMC - correct

reg_anam

just in from Belfast, heard that the cameras on the M1 (the multiple sets on the big yellow arms over the road) average your speed beteen cameras and you can get multiple tickets, one after another, or even get enough points to lose your licence (NI only I presume) in one journey !

Can't vouch for the truth of it but it seems plausible.

secret_squirrel

admiralgar wrote:

i was expecting a small fine..something along the lines of 40 or 50 quid, but i was fined £150 (about €300).

closer to €225 actually /pedant

admiralofthefleet

oh rite i didnt do exact mathematics i just did a rough estimate in my head.


your right dmc but the section i was caught on on the a1 was a 60 stretch, but i think its worth it to just stay at 60 on the a1 instead of having to think about where you can speed up and where you have to slow down.

it was also banbridge where i was in court

gar

Captain Trips

Longfield wrote:

Fair play, should slap on huge speeding fines down south here too - it might save lives..now theres a wacky idea!!

Or, better roads and proper driver education and we can all get where we're going quicker on derestricted motorways?

Speed has zero to with accidents, but it sells newspapers and pads the speeches of politicians.

Captain Trips

DMC wrote:

Well done for taking the medicine.

Just on that, I'm often up north, aren't dual carriageways 70mph, and only 60mph where indicated? (Thinking Banbridge here)
This sign...

Signifies 70mph on dual carriageways and motorways, 60 everywhere else.

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.htm

That is interesting - I thought that the white circle and black line meant that the "National Speed Limit" applied - i.e., 60mph (like when we used to have it). I also presumed that it was 60 unless indicated that it was 70. Certainly, the A55 in north wales to chester is 60 for a lot and indicates 70 only in areas.

DMC

I thought that too, until I actually got a copy of the Highway Code for NI (in any Easons up north for £1.50)
The sign is "national speed limit" but 60mph on single carriageways and 70mph on Dual carriageways.

It explained a lot on my first trips up north that northern cars whizzed past at 70mph on dual carraigeways.....

DMC

admiralgar wrote:

your right dmc but the section i was caught on on the a1 was a 60 stretch, but i think its worth it to just stay at 60 on the a1 instead of having to think about where you can speed up and where you have to slow down.

it was also banbridge where i was in court

Thought it was the likely location... Banbridge is the N11 of the north. Fish... barrell... open season all year.

skibum

10 out of 10 for taking the slap on the wrist and not bitching on about like others on boards.

TempestSabre

skibum wrote:

10 out of 10 for taking the slap on the wrist and not bitching on about like others on boards.

Ditto. Thanks for letting us the outcome too.

admiralofthefleet

DMC wrote:

Thought it was the likely location... Banbridge is the N11 of the north. Fish... barrell... open season all year.

yeah the girl beside me in court was in the police station at the same time as me when i was caught, but the poor girl was on her first provisional and was alone in the car when she was caught; got hit with a £500 fine..ouch, and she is from drogheda...double ouch

DMC

Ooh. They take that into consideration up there? Not surprising.
Silly girl for being up North a) on a provisional b) her first and c) unaccompanied.
If she had a crash she'd have been über-buggered. Her insurance wouldn't have coughed up.
Harsh fines, but lesson well and truly learned.

admiralofthefleet

yeah and i agree with the psni, at least they are doing something about us speeding on their roads and hence helping towards cutting dangerous driving. between the time i left belfast city centre and the border this evening i counted 5 psni cars on the motorway and dual carriage way and not one garda car once i crossed the border between there and dublin

franksm

I know what you're saying about the A1/Banbridge being "fish in a barrel" but there really have been some bad smashes (fatal) on that road over the years, especially at the junctions. It's why they moved some portions of it down to 60mph.

And those "average speed" cameras, they read your rear number plate as you pass and calc your average speed through the various sections of the road. Because there's no "ruler" painted onto the road, I have not yet seen anyone jam on the brakes when they see them, as they do with the Gatsos (which a taxi did in front of me on the M50 near Finglas - he was very dramatic about it, luckily there was a good gap between my car and his)

Seth Brundle

admiralgar wrote:

your right dmc but the section i was caught on on the a1 was a 60 stretch, but i think its worth it to just stay at 60 on the a1 instead of having to think about where you can speed up and where you have to slow down.

Surely you should be aware of the prevailling speed limit at all times. Its not that hard to follow on that road anyhow!

admiralgar wrote:

yeah the girl beside me in court was in the police station at the same time as me when i was caught, but the poor girl was on her first provisional and was alone in the car when she was caught; got hit with a £500 fine..ouch, and she is from drogheda...double ouch

Her provisional licence is invalid up North so she should consider herself very lucky.

As for the SPECS system (multiple cameras), I found that when driving past them i was focused more on my speedo than i should have been (despite being below the speed limit)

CPG

Hi, just to add my 2 cent, Its very difficult, maybe frustrating trying to drive at the correct speed limits, not because I want to drive fast but because everyone else does. I frequently drive between Galway and Fermanagh and have lost count of the amount of times I have been flipped off for driving safely, I drive a Volvo T5 so I always make sure my overtaking is without hesitation and safe.
Sub-consiously I always think of what would happen if I did get hurt or killed, and that usually keeps me below 65mph.
C

DMC

franksm wrote:

I know what you're saying about the A1/Banbridge being "fish in a barrel" but there really have been some bad smashes (fatal) on that road over the years, especially at the junctions. It's why they moved some portions of it down to 60mph.

And that's why I've always felt that those junctions on dual carriageways are dangerous. I've seen a bad smash there on occasion myself, but they have closed a lot of the T-junctions on the A1 in recent times.

franksm wrote:

And those "average speed" cameras, they read your rear number plate as you pass and calc your average speed through the various sections of the road. Because there's no "ruler" painted onto the road,

Report on BBC Radio Ulster this morning said only 3 people have been prosecuted from these in 3 months.
Edit: I was the top piece on the Irish News, GMU was only reporting on the article.

kbannon wrote:

Surely you should be aware of the prevailling speed limit at all times. Its not that hard to follow on that road anyhow!

It wouldn't be common knowledge to southern drivers that the "national speed limit" (as show above) means two different speeds, depending on whether you are on a dual carriageway or not. It certainly wasn't to me, or anyone I asked until I looked in the Highway Code.

byte

DMC wrote:

It wouldn't be common knowledge to southern drivers that the "national speed limit" (as show above) means two different speeds, depending on whether you are on a dual carriageway or not. It certainly wasn't to me, or anyone I asked until I looked in the Highway Code.

I must confess I didn't know this either! I thought that those end-of-speed-limit signs just meant 60mph. That would explain why everyone zoomed past me on my trip to Larne recently on dual carriageways!

secret_squirrel

Does this thread make the case for a brief overview of UK signs and driving rules in the Irish Test and vice versa?

There seems to be a lot of ignorance out there about each others traffic laws.

Seth Brundle

There is a lot of ignorance out there about our own laws!
Why would we test someone on how to abide by laws elsewhere?

DMC

kbannon wrote:

Why would we test someone on how to abide by laws elsewhere?

I suggest that a page or two in the Rules of the Road book on signs and customs in NI (such as Red/Amber at lights) would suffice.

Road atlases also contain the road signs.

Seth Brundle

If people are planning on driving in another country (lets not get political!) then it is up to them to study the rules if the road for that country before they go.
It is crazy for our authorities to test people on laws in other jurisdictions.
Before driving in NI, England, France, etc. I made sure I knew the main principals of the driving laws there!

DMC

I didn't suggest that people in the Republic should know NI laws in order to pass the Driving Test down here, I advocate a page or two in the new Rules of the Road to cover the laws and differences (not getting political either) in the other political jurisdiction on this island. *cough*

I wouldn't expect anyone to be tested on them, just an advisory piece telling people that there are subtle differences.

Our man in Havana

kbannon wrote:

If people are planning on driving in another country (lets not get political!) then it is up to them to study the rules if the road for that country before they go.
It is crazy for our authorities to test people on laws in other jurisdictions.
Before driving in NI, England, France, etc. I made sure I knew the main principals of the driving laws there!

Try explaining priorité à droit to the average Irish person. :eek:

Seth Brundle

Try explaining priority to the average Irish person!!!

secret_squirrel

DMC wrote:

I wouldn't expect anyone to be tested on them, just an advisory piece telling people that there are subtle differences.

Exactly.

MrPudding

admiralgar wrote:

yeah the girl beside me in court was in the police station at the same time as me when i was caught, but the poor girl was on her first provisional and was alone in the car when she was caught; got hit with a £500 fine..ouch, and she is from drogheda...double ouch

Nice one. Though I would have hoped it would have been a bit more harsh to be honest. I think she got off very light indeed.

MrP