speeding fine

adzar · 26-03-2010 2:52pm #1

I got a speeding fine in the post yesterday.Got caught doing 59kmh in a 50 zone.the garda car was sitting just beside the sign,i was just coming in to a town reducing my speed from 100kmh.if i slowed down any faster the car behind me would have been in through the back of my car.the point im trying to get at is that the address it was sent to was miss spelled.is this a technicality i could use to my advantage?

Rulmeq · 26-03-2010 2:53pm

adzar wrote: »

I got a speeding fine in the post yesterday.Got caught doing 59kmh in a 50 zone.the garda car was sitting just beside the sign,i was just coming in to a town reducing my speed from 100kmh.if i slowed down any faster the car behind me would have been in through the back of my car.the point im trying to get at is that the address it was sent to was miss spelled.is this a technicality i could use to my advantage?

For the sake of 2 points and a fine, you would be better off paying up. If you want to try the technicality route, you will still have to turn up on court and waste a day of your life (and the money you would lose to take a day off work)... and you would probably still lose.

MetzgerMeister · 26-03-2010 2:57pm

IMO getting a fine and points for being 9km/h over the limit is a bit overkill. I know you were technically over the limit but it's a bit much.

You said it was a garda car, did they stop you and take details or was it a GATSO van??

Hagar · 26-03-2010 3:02pm

What was the speed limit on the road you were doing 100kph on?
Aren't speed limits normal brought down in decrements? From 100 to 80 then to 50? An immediate drop from 100 to 50 seems very severe and possibly dangerous. Just curious.

Anan1 · 26-03-2010 3:23pm

If the Garda car was sitting beside the 50km/h sign coming into the town then was the OP in the 50km/h zone when their speed was read?

R.O.R · 26-03-2010 3:23pm

69 wrote: »

What was the speed limit on the road you were doing 100kph on?
Aren't speed limits normal brought down in decrements? From 100 to 80 then to 50? An immediate drop from 100 to 50 seems very severe and possibly dangerous. Just curious.

I drive the R132 (old N1) every day which is now an 80km/h limit. Coming in to Julianstown the limit goes:

80 -> 60 -> 50 -> 60 -> 80

Can't believe there are any locations that go 100 -> 50 with no steps in between.

Perhaps the OP can enlighten us though?

neilthefunkeone · 26-03-2010 3:27pm

Anan1 wrote: »

If the Garda car was sitting beside the 50km/h sign coming into the town then was the OP in the 50km/h zone when their speed was read?

Wondering this myself!!! Unless th op forgot to mention he was beside the sign(100 metres past it!!) But if he was beside the sign pointing his hairdryer into the 100kmph region then its a false reading, no?

Michael 09 · 26-03-2010 5:23pm

My thoughts are the same... Garda positioned in one speed zone and reading the speed of a car in another. Worth looking in to...

Also, I have seen places where the speed goes from 50 to 100 and vice versa coming into a town. Its a severe change of pace!

si_guru · 26-03-2010 5:38pm

Michael 09 wrote: »

My thoughts are the same... Garda positioned in one speed zone and reading the speed of a car in another. Worth looking in to...

Also, I have seen places where the speed goes from 50 to 100 and vice versa coming into a town. Its a severe change of pace!

What? I bet you can see the sign from let's say 1/2 mile away... can't your car slow from 100 to 50 in 1/2 mile (30 seconds)?

Sorry but if OP broke the speed limit then he derseves the fine. His address doesn't matter - it was him driving the car not his house!

Seth Brundle · 26-03-2010 5:55pm

si_guru wrote: »

What? I bet you can see the sign from let's say 1/2 mile away... can't your car slow from 100 to 50 in 1/2 mile (30 seconds)?

Sorry but if OP broke the speed limit then he derseves the fine. His address doesn't matter - it was him driving the car not his house!

But was the OP caught doing 59 within a 100km/h limit or within a 50km/h limit?
On the assumption they were, they may have exceeded the speed limit within the 50km limit - we will never know as that speed wasn't recorded.

si_guru · 26-03-2010 6:05pm

He wouldn't get fined if he was in the 100kmh would he? Think about it.

Seth Brundle · 26-03-2010 6:13pm

I have no idea where the OP was caught or where the garda car was when completing the speed test.

Tefral · 26-03-2010 6:39pm

adzar wrote: »

I got a speeding fine in the post yesterday.Got caught doing 59kmh in a 50 zone.the garda car was sitting just beside the sign,i was just coming in to a town reducing my speed from 100kmh.if i slowed down any faster the car behind me would have been in through the back of my car.the point im trying to get at is that the address it was sent to was miss spelled.is this a technicality i could use to my advantage?

Firstly if you were within the 50km zone and were caught doing 59km then you were speeding, if the guy runs into the back of you its his fault for not keeping a safe distance. People in the country drive far to close to the cars in front. But thats his problem not yours.

Summons no longer have to have the correct spelling etc, i have heard of numerous people trying that trick and it not working.

The lads have a point though, if he was behind the 50km sign surely you were still within the 100km zone?

Hagar · 26-03-2010 7:17pm

That arguement is based on the assumption that he was "pinged" as he approached the Gardai it is just as likely that he was "pinged" from behind as he drove away. The guns work coming or going.

slimjimmc · 26-03-2010 7:18pm

cronin_j wrote: »

The lads have a point though, if he was behind the 50km sign surely you were still within the 100km zone?

Depends on when the reading was taken, after the OP passed the 50kmh sign (away from the Garda) or just before it (approaching the Garda). The OP hasn't told us and most likely doesn't know in which direction the Garda took the reading.

Tefral · 26-03-2010 7:20pm

69 wrote: »

The guns work coming or going.

That i didnt know...

would the gun have to send out two radar pulses to determine the distance it made between the first and the last to determine the speed or how does it work?

Hagar · 26-03-2010 7:26pm

It just calculates the distance covered between the two pulses and calculates the speed. There may just be a switch to flick on the unit or the absolute value of the calculation is always displayed.

Anan1 · 26-03-2010 7:34pm

cronin_j wrote: »

That i didnt know...

would the gun have to send out two radar pulses to determine the distance it made between the first and the last to determine the speed or how does it work?

The gun sends out a stream of pulses, it calculates speed on the basis of the time it takes them to return. As has been said, it all hangs on whether the OP's speed was read while they were in the 50km/h zone or the 100.

MetzgerMeister · 27-03-2010 3:26pm

Gardai are only allowed speed check in the zone they themselves are in.

DramaQuee · 16-12-2012 11:57pm

Does anyone notice the guards are always parked in the 50 km zone, especially when there is very poor signage saying that it actually is a 50km zone. I got caught in an area I've never driven through before somewhere around, Tyrrellstown, Hollystown, I kept getting lost looking for The Carlton Hotel 'Blanchardstown' which is not signposted at all. I had one of the most unpleasant guards ever. I was pleasant, just handed my licence rightaway. He went back to the car and took AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGES. I was already an hour late. Then back he came, stood ramrod straight, though I was in the car trying to crane my neck out the window to look at him. No eye contact, would quote the law, yet when I tried open my mouth to speak, barked over me. This is disgusting behaviour. At the very least, some courtesy, bend down to say something, listen when you are replying, and look at the person you are speaking to. Basic manners.

And then all the Guards are great catching all the people breaking the law on the roads. *If they detracted all the soft target areas like sudden 50km areas on a main road, they would not have so many fines.* I think these areas are left there, without BIG noticeable signs saying 50KM SLOW, just to make it easy for guards to make up numbers of 'offenders' whenever they need to, e.g. Christmas.

Supergurrier · 17-12-2012 12:23am

DramaQuee wrote: »

Does anyone notice the guards are always parked in the 50 km zone, especially when there is very poor signage saying that it actually is a 50km zone. I got caught in an area I've never driven through before somewhere around, Tyrrellstown, Hollystown, I kept getting lost looking for The Carlton Hotel 'Blanchardstown' which is not signposted at all. I had one of the most unpleasant guards ever. I was pleasant, just handed my licence rightaway. He went back to the car and took AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGES. I was already an hour late. Then back he came, stood ramrod straight, though I was in the car trying to crane my neck out the window to look at him. No eye contact, would quote the law, yet when I tried open my mouth to speak, barked over me. This is disgusting behaviour. At the very least, some courtesy, bend down to say something, listen when you are replying, and look at the person you are speaking to. Basic manners.

And then all the Guards are great catching all the people breaking the law on the roads. *If they detracted all the soft target areas like sudden 50km areas on a main road, they would not have so many fines.* I think these areas are left there, without BIG noticeable signs saying 50KM SLOW, just to make it easy for guards to make up numbers of 'offenders' whenever they need to, e.g. Christmas.

Dual carrageway in Galway going from tuam to headford roads would be a good example, it's not enforced anymore as people all go 80-100kmph regardless

Our man in Havana · 17-12-2012 3:46am

Do not drag up old threads.

Locked.

speeding fine

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