54 in a 50 Zone

Clare70

Help... I think I was doing 54 mph in a 50mph ( 80 km ) zone ...spotted Garda on a side road with camera on tripod. I had slowed down to 50 by the time I was passing him. Has anyone else been as stupid as me and if so can you let me know what I can look forward to ? I presume I am looking at 2 penalty points... Clare

Kevin_rc_ie

87 kph in a 80 zone. tut tut

camarobill

Clare70 wrote:

Help... I think I was doing 54 mph in a 50mph ( 80 km ) zone ...spotted Garda on a side road with camera on tripod. I had slowed down to 50 by the time I was passing him. Has anyone else been as stupid as me and if so can you let me know what I can look forward to ? I presume I am looking at 2 penalty points... Clare

if those sly f.....s caught u,its more than likely ul get the points, :mad: pitty they wouldent catch real criminals

BrianD3

He would have pulled you over if he was going to give you a ticket. You may not even have been breaking the speed limit because speedometers usually overestimate your speed by a few mph. Even if you were going a couple of mph over the limit, you'd be unlikely to get a ticket, as there is a usually a bit of "leeway".

BrianD3

camarobill

BrianD3 wrote:

He would have pulled you over if he was going to give you a ticket. You may not even have been breaking the speed limit because speedometers usually overestimate your speed by a few mph. Even if you were going a couple of mph over the limit, you'd be unlikely to get a ticket, as there is a usually a bit of "leeway".

BrianD3

my mate got dun for 33 in a 30,thats a fact he wasent stoped :mad: leeway wouldint think theres much of that around with them,

Bard

camarobill wrote:

pitty they wouldent catch real criminals

People who break the speed limit ARE real criminals.

This isn't the first 'wah wah, I broke the speed limit and I got caught, wah wah' thread. Speed limits are there for a reason. Don't break the speed limit and you're not breaking the law. It's not rocket science.

If you get caught speeding, you've nobody to blame but yourself.

528i

54mph in a 50 zone is unacceptable, in some cases this can be the difference between life & death.

Bard

To answer the original question anyway, what you can look forward to is a letter from the Garda Fines Office informing you that you were detected breaking the speed limit. It will tell you the exact date, time and location of the offense, the speed you were doing, the speed limit at that location, and it should also contain a small photograph of your license plate.

You will then be given some time to cough up the fine. If you pay the fine within the allotted time, you will receive 2 penalty points on your driving license which will remain there for 3 years. If you fail to pay on time, you will be given a certain amount of time to pay a higher fine and you will be guaranteed to receive 4 penalty points on your license - which, again, will remain on the license for 3 years. If you again fail to pay on time, there is no 3rd strike before you are out:- you will be summonsed to court, where you may be fined a much higher amount and may risk losing your license or worse. Basically, - pay the first fine. What's behind door no. 2 is a substantially bigger fine... and you don't want to see what's behind door no. 3!

There is, of course, the option of disclaiming responsibility for the offense and trying to contest the gardaí's allegation that you committed it. There are a number of ways of doing this, all of which are relatively pointless and stupid. Don't do it. Pay the first fine.

camarobill

Bard wrote:

People who break the speed limit ARE real criminals.

This isn't the first 'wah wah, I broke the speed limit and I got caught, wah wah' thread. Speed limits are there for a reason. Don't break the speed limit and you're not breaking the law. It's not rocket science.

If you get caught speeding, you've nobody to blame but yourself.

im not getting into a bitchin match,i stated a fact thats all.people who break the speed limit are criminals

Thorbar

Breaking the speed limit by less then 10% you baby eating, innocent perverting scum bag. World would be a better place without the likes of you around.

I drove past one of the unmarked garda vans at what I think was around 33/34 mph in a 30 limit and was sure I was going to get nailed for it but a few months passed and nothing happened.

BrianD3

it should also contain a small photograph of your license plate

Unlikely in this case, in this country very few laser guns (which is what the OP was "caught" with) have recording equipment. No recording equipment = no photo = Garda has to pull you over at the time of the offence.

AFAIK this is correct. Alfasudcrazy may be able to confrim or deny this.

BrianD3

IrishRover

Bard wrote:

People who break the speed limit ARE real criminals.
Don't break the speed limit and you're not breaking the law. It's not rocket science.

I have a theory that most people who see it in such absolute terms like this are either not drivers or don't drive very often.
I'm just curious to know whether that's the case?

I don't want to take part in a row about it as it's all been said before and neither "side" ever seems to want to take on board what the other is saying anyway.

Clare, as Brian says if you were going to get a ticket I expect you would have been pulled over there and then. If it made you slow down (or better yet concentrate on driving more safely) for the rest of your journey then that's what should be their primary objective anyway.

528i wrote:

54mph in a 50 zone is unacceptable, in some cases this can be the difference between life & death.

Yeah, as with 75mph in a 70.

Victor

Bard wrote:

People who break the speed limit ARE real criminals.

Offenders.

Breaking the speed limit is an offence.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=offense
offense
n 3: a crime less serious than a felony [syn: misdemeanor, misdemeanour, infraction, offence, violation, infringement]

Robbing a bank is a crime.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=crime
crime ( P ) Pronunciation Key (krm)
n. A serious offense, especially one in violation of morality.

Bard

IrishRover wrote:

I have a theory that most people who see it in such absolute terms like this are either not drivers or don't drive very often.
I'm just curious to know whether that's the case?

It's not me that sees it in such absolute terms, it's the law. Yet 99% of the time I tend to agree with this particular law (governing speed limits) despite having broken it before, and having been caught, fined and "awarded" penalty points for doing so.

I'm a well experienced and fully licensed driver and I drive every day. Don't know what that does for your theory.

And for Mr. Pedantic above (yes, you, Victor) - it seems to me that an offense is still a crime (albeit an apparently "less serious" one), - as your dictionary definition tells us, so is an offender not still technically a criminal (albeit an apparently more minor one) as they are guilty of commiting a "less serious" criminal act?

Stephen

No - you don't get a criminal record for just breaking the speed limit.

IrishRover

Bard wrote:

I'm a well experienced and fully licensed driver and I drive every day. Don't know what that does for your theory.

Ah, it's just a theory - I'm not attached to it.
Although this...

It's not me that sees it in such absolute terms, it's the law. Yet 99% of the time I tend to agree with this particular law (governing speed limits) despite having broken it before, and having been caught, fined and "awarded" penalty points for doing so.

... sounds like a turkey voting for Christmas!

LOL at Victor quoting the dictionary, but I guess he's just expressing in another way that there are different degrees of criminality, and I think most people would see driving over the speed limit as being at the bottom end of the severity scale. Hence, being distinct from the more severe "real criminals". I think what adds to a lot of people's sense of aggreivement is that the only group of "criminals" who seem to be at the receiving end of any police enforcement are us normal everyday law abiding citizens who never have any assistance from the gardai when we actually need them, but go over the arbitrary (and often ridiculously low) speed limit and they'll be there to give you points and a fine. Of course, the other maddening thing is that this is all in the name of safety, whereas to most of us it seems patently obvious that it's simply revenue generation, now with the added bonus of getting more motorists off the road. Compare and contrast with this thread

rymus

BrianD3 wrote:

speedometers usually overestimate your speed by a few mph.

Which is why its nice to have a gps to tell you your real speed... I wouldnt go anywhere without it these days, especially on any motorways anyway. Just over 80mph is my real 120kph.

causal

Clare70 wrote:

Help... I think I was doing 54 mph in a 50mph ( 80 km ) zone

You think you were doing 54mph => you were doing around 60mph
Should we read anything into the fact you called yourself Clare70 ?

Check the signs .. check your speed - didn't I see that somewhere recently?

As Bard said - if you get the penalty notice, pay up (oh, and slow down )

causal

GoneShootin

Hmm, 54 in a 50 zone. What age is the car? I say this because there has been cases that the spedometers had been proven to be giving an incorrect speed back to the driver. Digital ones ofc are unlikey to be incorrect, but the one on my 94 Citroen ZX its often had ot tell whether im doing 52 or 54 kph.

Still breaking the law ofc I got done years ago for doing 76mph in the days of the 60mph limit - was trying to get down to Waterford Hospital for something urgent - the irony is not lost on me. 50 bob fine and that was it. Was coming into Fermoy recently and was doing (if iirc) 37kph in a 30kph zone. My brain said "its grand, cos its not a built up area and there are no people in sight" - but sure enough two young looking officers were standing (with no squad car it would seem) with handheld devices.

I thought these "guns" had to be linked back to a squadcar to be recorded/receipt printed. These two gardai were just standing there, with a gun and no obvious wires going back to any kind of hub. Are they using mobile versions now?

Anyway, Ill take the penalty on proof of a receipt. I was a bold boy.....again.

Blitzkrieger

omg! speed is teh satan like!

:rolleyes:

You can't get done for 54 in a 50 zone. European law requires a 10% leeway for inaccuracies in speedometers.

Alun

GoneShootin wrote:

Hmm, 54 in a 50 zone. What age is the car? I say this because there has been cases that the spedometers had been proven to be giving an incorrect speed back to the driver. Digital ones ofc are unlikey to be incorrect, but the one on my 94 Citroen ZX its often had ot tell whether im doing 52 or 54 kph.

Whether it's a digital speedo or an analogue one, doesn't make the blindest bit of difference, it still gets its input signal from the same place and is subject to exactly the same inaccuracies, mainly due to tyre wear, incorrectly inflated tyres or after-market alloys and tyres that are the 'wrong' size.

My GPS also tells me that I can safely drive at a rough indicated 80mph (130km/h) and still be legal in a 120 km/h limit.

kenmc

What really bugs me is that they decide on whether or not you were speeding by capturing your speed at one instance in time and judging that. That is akin to listening to a radio station once, hearing Britney and deciding that the radio station only ever plays britney spears.

Speeding is travelling the distance between 2 points faster that the limit allows you to - i.e. if you manage to cover more than 50 km in a 50kmh zone in less than an hour. If they really wanna know if you're speeding they should sample you at the start of the journey and at the end, and then decide if you were speeding or not, not just at one instance along the journey.

It is impossible and dangerous for us to watch the speedo for the entire journey. Momentary blips WILL occur due to all sorts of factors - eg going downhill, long straight road - whatever - the speed limit will creep up without you realising it. Humans are not perfect, and neither is the speedo. There are loads of roads where this always happens - around lucan in the 60 zone on the N4 and the N11 being 2 examples that I can think of. It is invariably when the speedo creeps up that the fcuking pigs will jump out of the bushes and wave hair dryers at you. You never see them giving you a big thumbs up for going *below* the speed limit. There always seems to be too much "stick" and not enough "carrot"....
Unfortunately, short of putting black boxes in all cars I don't see any way of fixing this problem though. But that might be a nice option, some sort of log in the vehicle of the speed over the last X KM so that if you were stopped you could at least show that you were *trying* to keep to the speed limit.

memorex

Out of curiousity, what address does the fine get sent to? The address under on the transfer of ownership form when you purchased the car? Or the address on your driving license? I think the latter is out of date for me, would hate to miss a fine (not that I remember seeing a garda whilst over the speed limit) and end up with a summons because the fine was sent to an old address. I understand that it is still my responsibility to keep these things up to date - just curious.

Bogger77

memorex wrote:

Out of curiousity, what address does the fine get sent to? The address under on the transfer of ownership form when you purchased the car? Or the address on your driving license? I think the latter is out of date for me, would hate to miss a fine (not that I remember seeing a garda whilst over the speed limit) and end up with a summons because the fine was sent to an old address. I understand that it is still my responsibility to keep these things up to date - just curious.

It'll got to the registered owner of the car, at the address the dept of env in Clare have for that car. It's an offence, aint it, to not inform them of change of keepers address?

lilulila

Last year I went past a gard with a gun on the New Ross road at 63mph. was certain i was going to get a letter in the post but didnt.

Eoin

BrianD3 wrote:

Unlikely in this case, in this country very few laser guns (which is what the OP was "caught" with) have recording equipment. No recording equipment = no photo = Garda has to pull you over at the time of the offence.

AFAIK this is correct. Alfasudcrazy may be able to confrim or deny this.

BrianD3

I don't think they need to pull you in with a tripod mounted camera - these can take all the details for later processing. I think *some* of the hand held ones (connected to a car) can do the same, but AFAIK most of the hand held ones require the Garda to pull you over.

peasant

I'm no racer and I don't have a fast car either, so I don't really have a problem with sticking to the limits, as there is no compulsion / temptation on my side to go faster.

What I DO have a problem with, though is the "willy - nilly" approach to the limits themselves.

30 kmh in front of a school ...yes please
50 kmh in villages / towns ... of course
60 kmh on a dual carriage way ...paleeze ...just schikane and a money maker for the garda pension fund.

But what REALLY, really gets my heckles up is the utterly mindless way the new speed limit signs were put up with the changeover. Right around the corner from me there's a really narrow, bendy, dirty, bloody dangerous stretch of main N road. An accident per week kind of road. 80 kmh is the physical maximum you can do on that road in anything else but a properly adjusted Rallye car. 60 kmh is the safe speed and 50 kmh is what the limit ought to be That particular stretch is under a kilometer long, between a village and a major crossing, limiting the speed would have been no problem. In mph days there wasn't a sign at all (bad enough) but now, right at the beginning of the really dangerous section you have a sign on either side, reminding you not to go faster than 100 kmh. Dind't anyone realise, that this is almost an invitation to actually DO the 100 kmh and end your life right there and then?
And there are many examples like this all across the country. Come up to a dangerous spot and what do you see ...a speed limit sign that is waaaay too high for the danger potential. No sign would have been better. A speed limit corresponding with the actual danger would have been the right thing to do.

That's what I call criminal !! Putting up speed limit signs across the country like you would salt your soup, here a bit, there a bit ...no thought, no analysis, no brains ...and calling it a safety campaign :mad:

Imposter

The feckers here in Austria caught me this morning. Apparently I was doing 88kph as I rounded a bend in a 70 zone and apparently I was getting faster! I was going to ask was that all, as my speedo is usually around the 100 mark there. 21€ on the spot or wait for a 29€ through the post. No penalty points here yet thankfully. Paid on the spot and then rang some other work colleagues to warn them

Praetorian

That Gardaí (god bless em) seem to be enforcing the new speed limits very strictly. I was on the M1 yesterday in the left lane and I was doing 124k/ph when a guy in the right lane was passing me very slowly (about 2-3 k/ph more) and certainly didn't seem to be doing anything else wrong. He was pulled over by an unmarked car for it. Hate that.

Watch out guys, they're back! This time they're after the real dangerous speeding criminal scum of Ireland.

Praetorian

Ohh, and my aunt got a lovely 2 points for 53k/ph in a 50 k/ph zone from the sound bud in the gatso van. Lovely. What's that, 2 old m/ph over the limit.

LFCFan

was in Donegal last week and saw a side road heading into a wooded area which consisted of more of a dirt track then an actual road and plopped right at the top of it was an 80Kph sign. You'd be lucky to do 20Kph on it. When the head the balls putting up the signs came to a road like this, surely there was some direction from the councils to earmark these roads for review and move on to the next one. Some of the decisions made by our councils/goverment are so retarded, you'd wonder how some of them manage to breath without instructions!