Gatso got me at 70mph. How fooked am i?

Our man in Havana

D!ve^Bomb! wrote:

put it this way..overtaking 3 cars??? get real man.. there was absolutely no reason for you to do that.. you got what you deserved... think next time

Did I tell you to be quiet?

D!ve^Bomb!

no

Pataman

NTL technical: unless you have a blue light on the roof you cannot break the spead limit regardless of whether you want to complete the manouver or not.

Rew

Actually there are more exemptions to the speed limits then just those with blue lights just not us us mere mortals.

BrianD

Where was the GATSo?

Fixed GATSO's take a photo of the rear of the car, mobile ones (van) get the front.

lomb

Pataman wrote:

NTL technical: unless you have a blue light on the roof you cannot break the spead limit regardless of whether you want to complete the manouver or not.

i remember about 8 years ago, there was an ambulance driver in dublin who killed a pedestrian speeding in the call of duty. all drivers were obviously told to obey the limits for a short time after.

i remember i was driving along the nass road when the limit was 40 around harris hino, and an ambulance had his lights flashing. i thought he was going rather slow and overtook him doing 50mph.
i saw the look on his face in my rear view mirror. absolutely priceless ill never forget it.

is_that_so

Gatso cameras are supposed to be set to the Speed limit +10% plus 2 m.ph ( guess that's 5 kph), although this may be a UK setting only.
There was a pilot project to roll out digital cameras for Gatsos, It was used initially at Islandbridge. I am not sure how far this rollout has now gone but it is not impossible that the camera is DIGITAL inside your Gatso.
You might get some allowance for being 10% over but beyond you're likely to get done.
As a small aside the German points system operates on the basis of the percentage you are over the speed limit. Double the speed limit means automatic licence loss. Big fan of that myself

Stark

i saw the look on his face in my rear view mirror. absolutely priceless ill never forget it.

I can just imagine I can't believe ambulances aren't allowed bend the speed limits anymore. I mean if a pedestrian gets knocked down by an ambulance with full sirens blaring, then he/she's a Darwin award candidate. Do they know how many lives were lost by extra time taken for ambulances to arrive at their destinations?

I remember being in the car with my parents in France before and we were nearly run off a road by an ambulance overtaking us with the lights flashing (it started pushing inwards as it was overtaking). Once the ambulance overtook us it turned off the lights and drove along in front of us at something like 50kph in a 90kph zone. Apparently the driver was in a bad mood and just wanted to be a prick

As a small aside the German points system operates on the basis of the percentage you are over the speed limit. Double the speed limit means automatic licence loss. Big fan of that myself

That does sound like a good idea.

Capt'n Midnight

is_that_so wrote:

As a small aside the German points system operates on the basis of the percentage you are over the speed limit. Double the speed limit means automatic licence loss. Big fan of that myself

I also like the Finnish way of relating the fine to the defendants income, in the past far too many people thought the £50 was a tax and not a fine. Also like the Canadian idea of doubling the fine for each 10 mph you go over the limit, some guy got caught doing 130mph in a 30mph zone - ouch...

is_that_so

30-6shooter wrote:

I had just pulled in i think when the camera went off (or was pulling in),, so i doubt they`d see the other cars. At most they might see one i reckon.


I have L plates up, but my bk window is tinted and u can barley see the back one.

Ps: it was practically a straight stretch of road. Camera is located before Balbriggin. Its before the turn off i have to make in order to head for Balbriggin.(if i drove straight on i`d be heading onto the motorway or dual carraigeway i believe).

Quite likely you will get a ticket from that camera. End of next month if it comes. Overtaking 3 cars is particularly silly and doesn't warrant boasting about at all. One day you'll meet a truck coming the other way.
I do empathise with your frustration but at times like this turn up the radio, look around and chill out.
As Hibernian say in their course , "Speed limits are not targets to aim for" .
Your aim in driving is to get from A to B without putting you or anyone else in danger.

lomb

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

some guy got caught doing 130mph in a 30mph zone - ouch...

must have been hard to explain.....

is_that_so

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

I also like the Finnish way of relating the fine to the defendants income, in the past far too many people thought the £50 was a tax and not a fine. Also like the Canadian idea of doubling the fine for each 10 mph you go over the limit, some guy got caught doing 130mph in a 30mph zone - ouch...

Absolutely, a lot of common sense in all of that.

Seth Brundle

There is so much incorrect information within this thread.
1. Points do not affect insurance unless you are insured with Hibernian (even via a broker dealing with them).
2. there were originally 22 Gatsos. There have been a number of them vandalised so even though it is more likely that it was empty (yet still flashing), there is an increased chance of it containing a camera.
3. This would only amount to a speeding offence and there is no issue of a huge fine or jail.
4. Apparently the cameras can still get the reg even if the plate is filthy (told to me by a garda)
5. it is not ok to exceed the speed limit unless you are an emergency services vehicle or a TD's chauffeur driving the TDs wife home from a footie match. The fact that the ROTR state that an overtaking manouvre should be done asap, this does not give carte blanche to exceed the speed limit - if it did then in theory everyone driving in the overtaking lane should be allowed to speed.

Squirrel

Stark wrote:

I can just imagine I can't believe ambulances aren't allowed bend the speed limits anymore. I mean if a pedestrian gets knocked down by an ambulance with full sirens blaring, then he/she's a Darwin award candidate. Do they know how many lives were lost by extra time taken for ambulances to arrive at their destinations?

From what I remember it was a person with a learning disability from Cheeverstown, I'm sure you didn't know, but it could be taken in bad taste

mike65

D!ve^Bomb! banned for a week. The next time its for good.

Mike.

Stephen

Thank christ. Its about time.

Our man in Havana

mike65 wrote:

D!ve^Bomb! banned for a week. The next time its for good.

Mike.

Good call there Mike! My 2000th post aswell woot!

30-6shooter

Overtaking 3 cars is particularly silly and doesn't warrant boasting about at all. One day you'll meet a truck coming the other way.

Its a straight road. There was nothing coming the other way at all. And i wasnt boasting about anything.

I was practically in line with the camera when i saw the flash, i was directly opposite it more or less when it flashed, so i dont understand how it could have gotten a decent pic of the bk of my car?? If the pic was taken when it flashed then it would seem to me that it has a nice pic of my face and the side of my car. Ill just have to stress it out and hope nothing comes in the post.

Shing

It would not make any sense for the camera to be positioned to take the photo of the side of the car.

There was a feature on Top Gear where they tried to determine what speed you must be at in order to beat the camera. It required over 200 mph.

Two photographs are taken. And they are compared. Meaning that there will be no mistake in wrongfully fining any cars around you.

Regards,
Wai Shing

Seth Brundle

If it flashed just as you were passing it then it probably would not have caught your car. Was there another car speeding just in front of you?

BrianD

BTW what side of the road was the GATSO on??

Boggle

Anyone got a rules of the roads book handy??

From memory it clearly states that "The speed limits is 60mph unless overtaking". Now ye can argue this all ye like or ye can go check it up. (New speed limits but book has not been revised yet)

Anyway, think about it logically: you overtake someone goin 55 with a +5mph differential. This is slightly above walking pace and given that you have to travel at least 4x the length of the a car at this speed, then this is suicidal. When you overtakle, do it as quickly as is safely possible and dont mind the overtake at 60 crap that is bein spouted here...

Scruff

what do the cops with the handheld guns do: take a picture or pull you over?

Rew

Pull u over AFAIK (Iv never been pulled in). Thats what the debate is about now, the guns dont print out anything so there is no proof of what speed you were doing once he resets the gun.

causal

Boggle wrote:

Anyone got a rules of the roads book handy??
From memory it clearly states that "The speed limits is 60mph unless overtaking". Now ye can argue this all ye like or ye can go check it up.

It says no such thing :eek:
It does say "A general speed limit of 60 mph applies to all roads not subject to a lower limit. ... This is the maximum legal speed limit at which cars, light goods vehicles and motorcycles may travel unless a special speed limit of 70 mph is signposted" - and that's for certain vehicles only on motorways.

Anyway, think about it logically: you overtake someone goin 55 with a +5mph differential. This is slightly above walking pace and given that you have to travel at least 4x the length of the a car at this speed, then this is suicidal. When you overtakle, do it as quickly as is safely possible and dont mind the overtake at 60 crap that is bein spouted here...

It doesn't say to overtake as quickly as possible; it says "with the minimum of delay" - two very different things.

Others have said and I'll reiterate that the speed shown is the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM SPEED LIMIT. It's not a target, you do not have to, and nor does any other road user, travel at the maximum speed limit.

If, as in your example, cars are travelling at 55 in a 60 zone and you want to overtake them. If you can't do it safely using 60mph as your max speed then you have absolutely no right to make the overtaking manouevre. It's really that simple.

And some friendly advice for 30-6shooter: overtaking 3 cars, exceeding the speed limit, provisional licence, presumably young male. Spend some time with a qualified instructor, it'll reduce your chances of having to spend time with the legal and medical professions.

Good luck

Eoin

i remember about 8 years ago, there was an ambulance driver in dublin who killed a pedestrian speeding in the call of duty. all drivers were obviously told to obey the limits for a short time after.

The only concession that ambulances have is that they can park on a double yellow line. They are no more allowed to break the speed limit than any other vehicle. Obviously, they are not going to be pulled over.

Although, a friend of mine is a paramedic and their ambulance was stopped in a road check for tax (I think the driver was also asked for his license) - they did not have a patient onboard thank God. Can you imagine if the ambulance was impounded for not having tax...

what do the cops with the handheld guns do: take a picture or pull you over?

The hairdryer speed guns do not take a picture, so you have to be pulled over. The tripod mounted ones do take a picture, so the Gardaì tend to just take pictures and process them later, as these tend to be operated by only one Garda.

Boggle

It says no such thing
It does say "A general speed limit of 60 mph applies to all roads not subject to a lower limit. ... This is the maximum legal speed limit at which cars, light goods vehicles and motorcycles may travel unless a special speed limit of 70 mph is signposted" - and that's for certain vehicles only on motorways.

Well unless they've changed it then yes it does. I'll fish out my old book next weekend and give you the details...

It doesn't say to overtake as quickly as possible; it says "with the minimum of delay" - two very different things.

Actually very much the same thing. Common sense tells you that you are most at risk when on the other side of the road so the idea is to get off it as soon as possible.

If, as in your example, cars are travelling at 55 in a 60 zone and you want to overtake them. If you can't do it safely using 60mph as your max speed then you have absolutely no right to make the overtaking manouevre. It's really that simple.

BOLL.......OX to that logic!

Our man in Havana

Although, a friend of mine is a paramedic and their ambulance was stopped in a road check for tax (I think the driver was also asked for his license) - they did not have a patient onboard thank God. Can you imagine if the ambulance was impounded for not having tax...

They are exempt from road tax.

Eoin

Bond-007 wrote:

They are exempt from road tax.

Sorry - you are dead right, must have been a license check then.

Seth Brundle

eoin_s wrote:

The only concession that ambulances have is that they can park on a double yellow line. They are no more allowed to break the speed limit than any other vehicle. Obviously, they are not going to be pulled over.

from http://www.oasis.gov.ie/transport/motoring/road_traffic_speed_limits_in_ireland.html
Exceptions to speed limits
Speed limits do not apply in Ireland to ambulances, Garda Siochana vehicles being used in the course of duty or fire brigade vehicles.