A close friend has 6 penalty points on her licence. This week she thinks she may have picked up six more. Both were from stationary speed vans. Once she was doing 84 in an 80 km zone. Today doing 63 in a 50 km zone. The previous fines the fastest speed was 75 but was obviously in a 60 zone. Anyone know how this plays out. Do you go to court first or is it automatic disqualification. She drives for work and drives children everywhere. Is up the wall. Was stressed out this week already over other stuff and now this. 3 points are due to come off but not until June.
Six penalty points but possibly six more this week
- Thread starter Susie2017
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84 in an 80 zone she'll probably be ok as the speed van and car are never calobrated the same for speed, so i've been told. In other words there's a certain %age of give in this and the 4kph just might miss it. The other one you're up the swanney with i'm afraid. Against that, there's a huge number of motorists who say they've never gotten the registered letter that was posted to them and they've got off the speeding offence. Imagine that???????????????
We are close friends. I tried to get as much information from her as I could before posting. She is quite stressed at the moment for other reasons so I'm trying to help her out. So the Garda delivers the summons to court, even for one offence, if postman goes astray. Sounds like a lot of work for Gardai.
I got 3 points 4 yrs ago for doing 55 in 50 zone, I swore I was never getting caught again so I bought a cheap sat nav (had an old car so no fancy features), it was useless as a sat nav but brilliant for showing speed and beeping if I was over it in a zone. Much easier than looking down at speedometer and car had a miles dial too so hard to see the kilometers. Won't help present position but if lucky enough not to get disqualified might help in future.
Good idea about the sat nav. I didn't realise they had knowledge of speed zones built in. Do they all do that ? They don't take photos of the driver surely, just the reg plate I assume. She doesn't want to lose licence. Is quite upset over the prospect. I expect her to drive like a snail from now on.
I don't know if they all do it, it wasn't an expensive model, it seems to know all the speed limits except for one area I travel regularly where it doesn't show the lower limit at dangerous junction. So I imagine it is not infallible but it's a big help, I have a newer car now which shows the kilometre speed on the display screen but I still use the sat nav regularly as it's even easier to read and I like the beeping warning.
Also could she appeal the disqualification in any way ? She lives in a rural area. No one else to drive kids to school or anywhere else. 20 miles to work, round trip 40. Very poor public transport. Very few options for her to get around. No grounds for appeal as she wasn't bringing anyone to hospital or any emergency.
DeclanDublin
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As a rule, I don't speed, but I do also use a SAT NAV (tom tom) and it warns of fixed camera spots, which are usually road marked anyway, but it does give you a warning beep when approaching one. The joker is the mobile ones and for those, your friend needs to do one thing: slow down. Speed is a major component of accidents and deaths on the road. She has a duty to other road users, not just herself, and not because of a few penalty points. If she caused an accident these might be the least of her worries.
I've often been a passenger with her. She actually usually drives very slowly and there is always a queue behind her on the routes I have travelled with her mainly secondary roads where the limit would be 80 k. I don't know how she ended up in this mess. The zones she has got caught in have not been on motorways at high speed, but 50, 60 or 80 k zones. Yes of course speeding anywhere is not good. You say the sat nav beeps at fixed spots. But as far as I know they were vans at the side if the road where she got her fines. I presume the sat nav is no good in that scenario.
My last three lots of points were for low speed zones where the speed limit was changing and the markings weren't very visible -- in one case where the speed change signage was in a roadworks section with blinding headlights from oncoming single-file traffic. I reckon shooting fish in a barrel like this for transgressions of +10kph is unethical, but nothing you can do about it. I've spent the last several years driving like a saint, but only just now losing the last of my PPs.
The 2016 Summons Printing and Fixed Charge Notice Bill closed the loophole where drivers could claim they never received the fixed penalty notice. The onus is now on the driver to prove they did not receive a notice for that to be used in their defence.
True, under EU law speedometers must never under-read, and can over-read by up to 10% plus 4kmph. In order to ensure they never under read, all manufacturers build in a margin of error. As tyres wear or their pressure drops, they over-read more.
Try the free Waze app on your phone, does the same job.
You're asking publicly if anyone has experience of deliberatly giving false information to the Gardai? You should be aware that is a criminal offence, and has caught people out in the past.
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Brendan Burgess
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Thread closed after OP asked if she could get away with criminal behaviour.
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