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EU licences and points thereon

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  • 18-01-2005 5:37pm
    #1
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭


    Hi all,
    Anybody have any idea as to whether or not the EU is gonna sort out a community-wide system for application of points to licences from all states?

    We all know one can't have points applied to one's licence by a foreign durisdiction at present but surely this must be somewhere on the EU's agenda.


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    #2
    Imposter
    Registered Users Posts: 4,666 ✭✭✭Imposter


    Seeing as some countries don't have a points system for licences, I can't see it being too quick on the agenda. Now an EU wide standard for driving and teaching of said skills might be an idea!


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    #3
    lomb
    Registered Users Posts: 6,031 ✭✭✭lomb


    why is it that people are obsessed by points in this country. if i had a car that could do it i could drive at 170mph down the autobahn legally.

    its drink driving that kills more people here than speed. ireland is a country full of alcohol.

    modern cars can stop rapidly. the stupid 30 and 40mph limits they inforce are a joke. they dont give a monkeys about mild speeding on the continent and rightly so.


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    #4
    Bah
    Closed Accounts Posts: 395 ✭✭Bah


    lomb wrote:
    modern cars can stop rapidly. the stupid 30 and 40mph limits they inforce are a joke.

    I don't know what you'd consider as being able to "stop rapidly". You should probably look up just how long it takes, and just how much distance a "modern" car travelling at 100km/h takes to stop on a wet surface...


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    #5
    lomb
    Registered Users Posts: 6,031 ✭✭✭lomb


    why is the autobahn unrestricted? the reason is people are better drivers there. stupidity and alcohol are the biggest killers not speed. 60mph is just an arbitrary speed. it is a fact the braking distance of a modern car is half what the highway code or rules of the road show.


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    #6
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    lomb,
    It is not true that alcohol causes more accidents than speed in Ireland. It is also not true (in general) that you can legally travel at 170mph on the Autobahn, much of which has speed limits. It is also noteworthy that the Autobahn has 'suggested' maximums posted (they appear in blue squares as opposed to red circles) and if you are involved in an accident, even if it wasn't your fault, you will be found partly or wholly liable if you were exceeding these suggested limits.

    This is not on-topic though, this thread is about points application across the EU.


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    #7
    lomb
    Registered Users Posts: 6,031 ✭✭✭lomb


    no one in the fast lane of the derestricted parts of the autobahn usually travels at any less than 200-220km/h which is 125mph. if u drive at 100 mph ur playing with fire. there isnt any legal basis for the suggested limits at all. they are just that a suggestion.

    the point is modern cars are very safe no one wants to accept that modern cars have half the breaking distance of old junk.

    it probably is stupidity mixed with alcohol that causes most accidents. inappropriate speeds for the road conditions etc and just freak events. what amazes me is why the cops arent sitting outside johnny foxes on a friday night and instead are on the nass road outside coca cola trapping people doing 35-45 safely, with no chance of an accident never mind a fatality.


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    #8
    mackerski
    Registered Users Posts: 2,278 ✭✭✭mackerski


    lomb wrote:
    no one in the fast lane of the derestricted parts of the autobahn usually travels at any less than 200-220km/h which is 125mph. if u drive at 100 mph ur playing with fire.

    None of this is true. Especially the bit about the fast lane (they don't have them in Germany either). I know - I've often had to slow down from 220 because of slower drivers in the inner lane. Some shouldn't be there, some OTOH are overtaking quite legitimately. The good thing about the derestricted culture is that (almost) no driver will sit self-righteously sit in the inner lane as though by divine right - proper lane practice is naturally enforced.
    lomb wrote:
    there isnt any legal basis for the suggested limits at all. they are just that a suggestion.

    Your insurance company isn't a statutory body. The fact that they will take a different view of a driver exceeding the recommended speed (which is 130km/h where not otherwise posted) is a widely accepted truth in Germany, though happily not one I can back up with experience.

    Dermot


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    #9
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,290 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    lomb wrote:
    modern cars can stop rapidly
    Everything can stop rapidly when it hits an immovable object.


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    #10
    Nuttzz
    Registered Users Posts: 3,771 ✭✭✭Nuttzz


    I dont think that putting points on a EU licence will work, if I get done for speeding in the UK its up to the UK police force to try convict and put me off the road however I havent broken a law in Ireland so the GS cant convict me for it, they can only hand me over to the UK police. Until there is an EU wide legal system this will remain the case.


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    #11
    Calina
    Registered Users Posts: 8,219 ✭✭✭Calina


    This report is probably worth a look as a general overview on the transferability of motoring offences.

    I seem to recall having read somewhere else during the year that the French were looking into some reciprocal agreement with the British authorities regarding speeding offences and the application of penalties to the licence rather than a straight fine in the south of France but I can't find the link. They are kind of enthusiastic with applying the law down there and cameras and the like. I wouldn't say that they tolerate "mild speeding". There's a section of the autoroute outside Nice with a 110kph limit (20kph below normal autoroute limit) and there isn't just one camera on it, but cameras every five hundred metres or so. You cannot miss them.


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    #12
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    lomb wrote:
    no one in the fast lane of the derestricted parts of the autobahn usually travels at any less than 200-220km/h which is 125mph. if u drive at 100 mph ur playing with fire.

    Complete B*****cks. Last time I drove on an unrestricted (A8 south of Munich) section of Autobahn was in a smart mate! 140km/h is as high as the speedo goes and the car doesn't even make that! No problems whatsoever and many people were travelling slower than me. This is the slowest vehicle I've ever driven on the Autobahn but still no problems whatsoever.

    @Callina: Nice link, very interesting article. Looks like we are indeed a number of years from seeing EU wide points application on licences. IMHO, a pity.


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