Tom cracks the Whip. Double penalty points on Bank Holidays

javaboy

From here : http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/12399038?view=Eircomnet

Penalty points for speeding offences should be doubled on bank holiday weekends according to the Government chief whip, Tom Kitt.

The proposed policy mirrors existing legislation in New South Wales, Australia and would see the amount of penalty points received when speeding during bank holidays weekends double.

Mr Kitt said that under the proposals all other offences committed during bank holidays would not be doubled instead one extra penalty point would be added on to the offence.

"A double penalty points regime would apply over 8 bank holiday weekends per year and would act as a recurring reminder to motorists of the dangers of speeding on our roads" Mr Kitt said.

The proposals have been referred to the Minsiter for Transport Noel Dempsey for consideration.

Since its introduction New South Wales has seen a 20 per cent reduction in the number of fatalities.

Meanwhile, gardaí have said they will establish additional checkpoints over the extended holiday period to combat drink-driving and excessive speed.

They also asked motorists to take all necessary steps to ensure their safety and the safety of other road users.

Last year 1,990 motorists were caught speeding and 481 drink-driving over the St Patrick's Day holiday period. Over the Easter period 2,644 speeding motorists and 445 drink-driving incidents were recorded.

niceirishfella

Further evidence we live in an efffing nanny state.

Seth Brundle

At least he said (on the wireless this morning) that he would not endorse a fine increase!
However, I feel that this is somewhat like Mary Whites staggered licences idea. Why should committing an offence such as speeding be worse at certain times than at others. Either they think its wrong or they don't!

Steve

This is getting ridiculous.

There aren't enough Gardai out there enforcing the existing penalty point offences, how is simply increasing the points going to help?:mad:

Seth Brundle

Thats why they are privatising the system!

bruce wayne

yea and whats the bets tha people doing 65 on the Stillorgan Road will be getting the 4 points and the lunitics on the backroads around Donegal doing 120 + wont get touched.....and eh....where are the most deaths occuring ?

Run_to_da_hills

Wait and see, in a few years time Tom Kitt will be the very man that will be hauled in for DD, Speeding or dangerous driving, It happens to them all

cashmni1

Because the traffic doubles on a bank holiday, anyone caught breaking the law, WILL be punished!!
I love it, not a word about taking extra precautions, slowing down, and extra time for your journey because of the extra traffic, oh no, just double the penalty points.
OK, I know they will warn you to slow down alright.
But the best of all is that the politicians qualify this "because New South Wales have it".
"20% reduction in road deaths since this was introduced" . FFS. What a misleading statement.
There might well be a reduction in road deaths in NSW since its introduction, but it is hardley down to this one single change in the law? How about all the other measures inrtoduced to combat road deaths?

ednwireland

its not the doubling of penalty points its getting rid of the discount for admitting speeding . thats why there is no increase in th fines it would require legislation.
still a joke it'll make no difference, most bank holidays i drive round the north west and rarely see a guard.

ballooba

How about they actually enforce the penalty point offences?

How about they increase the number of Gardai on the road at these peak periods?

WHITE_P

kbannon wrote: »

At least he said (on the wireless this morning) that he would not endorse a fine increase!
However, I feel that this is somewhat like Mary Whites staggered licences idea. Why should committing an offence such as speeding be worse at certain times than at others. Either they think its wrong or they don't!

Why indeed ?

JHMEG

Wonder if you contest points you got on a bank holiday weekend will you end up getting 8 points?

Rovi

ednwireland wrote: »

its not the doubling of penalty points its getting rid of the discount for admitting speeding . thats why there is no increase in th fines it would require legislation.

In that case, can we expect to see a huge jump in the number of these 'bank holiday offences' being contested in the courts?
After all, the 2 points 'discount' was to 'encourage' people not to contest the penalty; if that encouragement doesn't apply to these particular cases, why not contest them?

edited to add:
Is see JHMEG got there before me. :rolleyes:

seamus

Another useless suggestion from a useless TD.

There was a TD on the raydeeoh this morning (may have been Tom Kitt) who was pointing to NZ as a prime example of this working. He said that Easter 1996 had 24 deaths and Easter 2006 had 6 deaths. So that's conclusive proof. :rolleyes:

They must do a course in bull**** before they enter the Dáil because they clearly have no concept of what constitutes a valid statistic.

Stick a checkpoint outside every rural pub this weekend and the road deaths will plummett. Double the points and the same amount of people will die but people will get more points.

As an aside, DD offenders should be receiving 6 points and a ban for a DD offence all year round.

Lex Luthor

the price of the pint is also being doubled on bank holiday weekends...what next? :rolleyes:

prospect

There was another accident at the junction near my house last night. This is the same junction my local Rep told me was perfectly safe, even though my neighbour had two cars written off there in the space of 15 months aswell as the almost fortnightly accidents.

Here is the newsflash I am waiting for:
"Government announce the redesigning of Irelands many dangerous junctions. And coupled with this, they are going to cut hedges blocking signs, clean road markings, cats eyes and road signs. Also, cats eyes are going to be standard on all roads. As part of the policy, dangerous verges will be kerbed and potholes properly repaired.
This policy will mirror that of most of the countries in western Europe and should see road deaths & non fatal accidents reduced by 70%"


The government need to face up to their own responsability for our road death tally. It is getting tiresome listening to them blame the motorist all the time.

** Note: I am not saying the motorist is entirely blame free.

javaboy

prospect wrote: »

Here is the newsflash I am waiting for:
"Government announce the redesigning of Irelands many dangerous junctions. And coupled with this, they are going to cut hedges blocking signs, clean road markings, cats eyes and road signs. Also, cats eyes are going to be standard on all roads. As part of the policy, dangerous verges will be kerbed and potholes properly repaired.
This policy will mirror that of most of the countries in western Europe and should see road deaths & non fatal accidents reduced by 70%"

Sorry mittens. It's Van Diemen's Land for you!

JHMEG

In addition local authorities are going to remove "Mud on Road" signs, and clean the mud off the road instead.

They have to be the most Irish signs I've ever seen.

seamus

Or signs like "Dangerous junction ahead", they still baffle me. Why not fix the f*cking junction?

BnA

cashmni1 wrote: »

Because the traffic doubles on a bank holiday, anyone caught breaking the law, WILL be punished!!
I love it, not a word about taking extra precautions, slowing down, and extra time for your journey because of the extra traffic, oh no, just double the penalty points. ....

I can't remember the last bank holiday I didn't hear this mumbo jumbo, and it doesn't seem to be working.

ballooba

BnA wrote: »

I can't remember the last bank holiday I didn't hear this mumbo jumbo, and it doesn't seem to be working.

It's because speed is not the only problem. It's not even a factor in most accidents. Until the GTC start doing their job there will be no effect on the road deaths. If we need more GTC then let's have them. Let's not waste the money on "safety cameras".

astraboy

What an absolute spastic. How about the government face up to their responsibilities and fix the roads, train the drivers, and put more cops on the roads, and remove VRT and VAT on safety features so people won't be screwed when they try and buy a safe car. Then they can stop trying to catch people on our well engineered, tolled(AKA double taxation) motorways for going marginally over the limit, and stop spouting this horse ****.

How does double points help? How about enforcing the law with common sense and discretion and stop trying to blame the motorist for the crappy system we have to use. Unfortunately, it would take some long term thinking by FF to do this, its far easier to blame all the evil speeders for all the country's ills.

E92

astraboy wrote: »

What an absolute spastic. How about the government face up to their responsibilities and fix the roads, train the drivers, and put more cops on the roads, and remove VRT and VAT on safety features so people won't be screwed when they try and buy a safe car. Then they can stop trying to catch people on our well engineered, tolled(AKA double taxation) motorways for going marginally over the limit, and stop spouting this horse ****.

How does double points help? How about enforcing the law with common sense and discretion and stop trying to blame the motorist for the crappy system we have to use. Unfortunately, it would take some long term thinking by FF to do this, its far easier to blame all the evil speeders for all the country's ills.

+1 million. You do realise that FF haven't a single original idea, apart from saying what they think will make them the most popular party in the country, right?

Couldn't bring myself to calling him a spastic in a public forum, but that's what I was thinking in my mind alright:D.

astraboy

Don't even get me started on FF! Still though, a fickle and in my view ignorant majority voted them in, we have to live with their decision. I a FG man myself, at least Enda is honest and does't take bribes or spout ****e at every opportunity. The government need to sit down and think out a proper and total road safety strategy, not this constant blabbering about "speed".

Stephen

+1 here too. I'm not a member of any party and I didn't vote for any fianna f*ckwits last summer. The constant stream of utter bull5hit emanating from Leinster House is staggering. The shower of bastards are off on 20 days of holidays for St Patrick's Day and easter too. :mad: :mad: :mad:

JHMEG

astraboy wrote: »

I a FG man myself, at least Enda is honest and does't take bribes or spout ****e at every opportunity.

Ara now hold on. I despise FF as much as the next man, but didn't FG propose giving the taxi drivers stacks of cash (ie bribes) after deregulation... something FF are now doing (€20 million)?

If that's not gombeen-ism I don't know what is.

javaboy

Stephen wrote: »

+1 here too. I'm not a member of any party and I didn't vote for any fianna f*ckwits last summer. The constant stream of utter bull5hit emanating from Leinster House is staggering. The shower of bastards are off on 20 days of holidays for St Patrick's Day and easter too. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Yeah I saw that but did you notice how the opposition gave out to them over but didn't actually push it to a vote. Enda will be enjoying his holliers too

E92

astraboy wrote: »

Don't even get me started on FF! Still though, a fickle and in my view ignorant majority voted them in, we have to live with their decision. I a FG man myself, at least Enda is honest and does't take bribes or spout ****e at every opportunity. The government need to sit down and think out a proper and total road safety strategy, not this constant blabbering about "speed".

As am I. Always have been, always will be(for pretty much the same reasons you said), though the fact that even the Blueshirts want speed cameras depresses me. How people voted them in again, well lets not go there. I hate the Greens a lot more though.

E92

JHMEG wrote: »

Ara now hold on. I despise FF as much as the next man, but didn't FG propose giving the taxi drivers stacks of cash (ie bribes) after deregulation... something FF are now doing (€20 million)?

If that's not gombeen-ism I don't know what is.

True but that was a different leader, different times etc. You'll note they ditched that idea at the last election.

@javaboy: putting the thing to vote would have made no difference. THey were going on holidays, whether the opposition wasted the time on it or not. This is all a storm in a teacup. Comes up every single year at this time, then goes away once Paddy's day is over and life moves on.

Higgsy

bruce wayne wrote: »

yea and whats the bets tha people doing 65 on the Stillorgan Road will be getting the 4 points and the lunitics on the backroads around Donegal doing 120 + wont get touched.....and eh....where are the most deaths occuring ?

Bruce,

I would ask you to be careful with your words, as they show some amount of ignorance. You are correct about the rate accidents in Donegal is quiet high but if the government would take some of the money they are spending on the Stillorgan Road and improve the roads in areas like Donegal we might have less accidents in this country and you would not be able to throw stupid comments out like that.

daRobot

astraboy wrote: »

What an absolute spastic. How about the government face up to their responsibilities and fix the roads, train the drivers, and put more cops on the roads, and remove VRT and VAT on safety features so people won't be screwed when they try and buy a safe car. Then they can stop trying to catch people on our well engineered, tolled(AKA double taxation) motorways for going marginally over the limit, and stop spouting this horse ****.

How does double points help? How about enforcing the law with common sense and discretion and stop trying to blame the motorist for the crappy system we have to use. Unfortunately, it would take some long term thinking by FF to do this, its far easier to blame all the evil speeders for all the country's ills.

Bingo.

We've a disgracefully bad road network with a serious lack of motorways to link up cities.Gross mismanagement of funds and simple projects going two-three times over the original budget.

Far too much exposure on poor roads, to Trucks travelling fast in the opposite direction with no barrier protection between vechiles, and that's a big killer these days.

Exposure to these type of roads and situations just shouldn't be happening these days.

Knee-Jerk reactions like putting privatised speed cameras everywhere aren't going to help, they're just deflecting the issue away from the fact that the shoddy infrastructure here is the biggest killer. And who's fault is that exactly?.... Well it's not the chap 20kmh over the limit on the motorway is it?

Fcuks sake, it's so frustrating to see. We're taxed so heavily on motoring and nothing constructive is being done with the money.

And putting Gay Byrne in as the Figurehead of Road safety instead of outsourcing a tried and tested expert on road safety....An absolute farce.