How many penalty points have you got?

PaddyFagan

I have 2, done on the portlaoise by-pass doing 80ish mph in Aug 03, 100% my fault, running late getting to a friends wedding with my girlfriend (now wife) going spare about how late we where running and put the boot down on the motorway. Points didn't show up until March 04. :mad:

My sister-in-law has 6, all speeding - including one where her husband rang her to tell her where the speed trap was (he was a few miles ahead on the road) and she still got done :eek:

Paddy

the jew

edmund_f wrote:

something like http://www.speedzones.com/

had the 'escort' an excellent peice of kit, totally illegal here so dont use it

anyone know if the radar sends out some signal that the gards can pick up on? whats stopping everyone from having one, i mean you can just hide it somewhere in your car if the gards can't detect them (which i'm guessing they can)?

John2002

the jew wrote:

does anyone know how near a gard has to be from your car to pick up your speed?

I believe it's around 300 metres, can't remember where I heard that though.

John.

ambro25

Distance for Gardai to read speed depends if laser- or radar-based.

I believe the hairdryers and Gatsos are radar, so say 300 to 400 meters for those. Readings affected by all sorts (bends, power lines or lots of metallic objects close by, etc.).

Laser - depends on atmospherics but in a straight and level line-of-sight, a good couple of miles, potentially lots more...

EDIT: Oh... and 0 points 'cause my license has got a big 'F' on it and my dad said he didn't know who was driving his car last Xmas in France

babaduck

John2002 wrote:

I believe it's around 300 metres, can't remember where I heard that though.

John.

The garda who stopped me in Baltinglass told me the range is 1/4 of a mile. I was heading northbound out of Baltinglass & he was at the entrance to the Golf Club a good bit up the road. Got those 2 points in May 03

In March I was driving southbound on the Merrion Road on a Sunday morning & a cowboy on a bike was standing behind a tree with a hairdryer laughing his head off as I went past (too late for me to slow right down.. I was doing about 50mph) & scanned his hairdryer across my numberplate

Haven't heard anything since tho'

Bogger77

Big Fat Zero points, not from lack of trying. Everytime I head to Midleton from Birr, I pass at least 2 or 3 checkpoints each way. I do the trip bout once a month. Averaging about 1800miles a month.

edmund_f

the jew wrote:

anyone know if the radar sends out some signal that the gards can pick up on? whats stopping everyone from having one, i mean you can just hide it somewhere in your car if the gards can't detect them (which i'm guessing they can)?

depends if you have a jamme.. sorry 'garage door opener' or not. There have been a few attempts, such as driving behind drivers lighting up the gun and seeing if there is any reaction (will take our cops a while to figure this one out)

another is using micro pulses, i.e. the laser is not on all the time only just short bursts that are designed to be too short for the dector to detect

the main problem is the cost, but having said that, a loss of 10%+ on your insurance cost will encourage a lot of people to buy them (expect to pay 300-500 for a decent one). Nice to know the cops here are 5-10 years behind everyone else so any detection equipment you buy will be ahead of them.

but remember they are illegal - dont use them

Tobias Greeshman

ambro25 wrote:

Laser - depends on atmospherics but in a straight and level line-of-sight, a good couple of miles, potentially lots more...

I was talking to a traffic-core guard before and he was telling me that the laser one that they have can easily work efficently at ranges around 2-3 miles, and have regularly caught people speeding on the road between carlow-kilkenny (very straight road).

As for myself, I haven't got any points yet, but Im sure its only a matter of time really! hard to keep it under 60mph on a good straight.

V1llianous

unkel wrote:

No points yet. The system HAS changed my driving. I do 60km/h now on the N4 outbound between the M50 roundabout and the Texaco petrol station - most of the time it's just me and a few learners doing this kinda speed. My family and friends mock me. I've no proof, but I can just feel it: my car hates me for it

It's quite likely that I'll cause an accident on that stretch soon enough because I'd have fallen asleep / played a game with the baby on the backseat / fiddled with the controls / played a game on my mobile / read the paper / put the cruise control on, climbed out of the moon roof and started polishing the bonnet etc

The gatsos are out there quite a lot. Shooting + fish + barrel. They'll do you for doing 62km/h in a 60km/h 6 lane highway :rolleyes:

Sad, sad system :mad:

My wife got caught there before Christmas - pulled into traffic that was moving swiftly - kept up with it and 3 months later letter in the post 2 points for 51 mph in 40 mph zone - they must have got lots of people that day.

The Clown Man

I got caught doing 70kmph in Wolfe Tone quay which is a 50kmph zone.

However, I won't be getting the points as the gun they caught me with was one of those ones that they weren't giving tickets for and were ruled useless by the High Court!

Having said that, since then I have changed my driving style on 50kmph roads to being much slower. (Even though that place I was caught is a ridiculous place to put a trap or 4 - 5 other people were caught in the time it took the garda to write his info in his little book. :mad: Way to have 4 garda spend their time dealing with criminals :rolleyes:)

Funxy

A nice 0! Although im sure its just luck, its so hard to stick to silly 80kmph on massive roads, thas why ive turned to a speed detector. That being said though i havnt seen any speed traps in soooo long :cool:

Nuttzz

may have two after this morning I was going ~35mph when i noticed the gatso on the 3 lane n7 which has a 50km/h limit, wtf?

talking to a chap who helped implement the points system and says that the links between the court system and the DOE just is not there, what he says is if you go to court and lose and pay the fine but dont give your licence details on the day then they cant do anything as the court matter has been settled (i.e. the fine) and they cant compell you to provide the licence details. Dont know if its true or not but he has no reason to lie to me.

unkel

Nuttzz wrote:

the links between the court system and the DOE just is not there, what he says is if you go to court and lose and pay the fine but dont give your licence details on the day then they cant do anything as the court matter has been settled (i.e. the fine) and they cant compell you to provide the licence details

Very interesting. This suggests there is no link between the driving license database and the vehicle registration database. So I you are caught by a machine, you'll get a fine. I presume that in order to pay the fine you have to give your license details? If you don't pay the fine, you get a court summons. In court if you show up and pay the fine upon being convicted there and then they can't make you provide your license details, so there is no way to get penalty points?

We should get to the bottom of this!

Our man in Havana

Bollocks! Section 22 Road traffic act 2002

22.—(1) A person charged with a penalty point offence or an offence committed after the commencement of this section on conviction of which the court is required to make a consequential disqualification order shall, not later than the day on which the hearing by a court of the proceedings in relation to the charge commences, give or send his or her driving licence to such officer of the Courts Service as may be designated by that Service and an officer of that Service may inspect and make a copy of the licence or of extracts from it and shall then return it to the person.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person charged with an offence if the person produces, on or after the date of its commission, and before the hearing by a court of the proceedings in relation to the charge, his or her licence to a member of the Garda Síochána who is or was acting in connection with the alleged offence or the court proceedings concerned.

(3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence.

An officer of the court can demand to see your licence upon conviction.

Nuttzz

thats fair enough, he worked on the technical end rather than the legal end, the officer of the court must have to manually send the details to the DOE rather than automatically applying the points in the court

unkel

Bond-007 wrote:

An officer of the court can demand to see your licence upon conviction.

Thanks for clearing that up

stratos

no points yet but i got gatso,d, going to court next week.
It is an offence not to give your licence to the court officer on or before the day of your hearing.... Section 22 rd traffic act (amended).

stratos

still no points case struck out !

Our man in Havana

stratos wrote:

still no points case struck out !

oh do tell why? No show Garda?

Loco

stratos wrote:

still no points case struck out !

explain!

i got 2 for doing 42 in a 30

i will be getting 2 for a cruel seatbelt fine(i just pulled off, (not even left 1st gear/side of foot path)
got summons for it unless it gets struck out or something?

lorraine78

I got 2 for doing 58 mph in a 50 mph zone.......Got stopped a couple of weeks ago for doing 90kph in a 60kph zone and got away with it......Its handy being a girl sometime.....gotta turn the charm on!!!!!!!!