Legislative mess again

Hallowed

Just saw the below on RTE website. Once again the authorities show that the law is indeed an ass.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0123/driving.html

MrPudding

Hallowed wrote: »

Just saw the below on RTE website. Once again the authorities show that the law is indeed an ass.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0123/driving.html

Whatever you may say about the gardai and them lack apparent lack of willingness to enforce the rules of the road....... the gov doesn't do them any favours.

MrP

Bendihorse

I brought this up some time ago in a thread relating to speeding, that i knew of a person that had 12 points on his licence but he had not surrendered it and no one had taken it or requested from him. How is a garda to know what points you have on your licence when he stops you? Is there even a central system where they can run your licence number and get an answer?

I know i had to present my insurance recently and it took her 30 mins to process it through the computer as the software was running so slow. She said its like that all the time and they are more or less waiting for the day that the whole program grinds to a halt.

Cant imagine gards ringing in to have licences checked then waiting on the side of the road with traffic held up for any lenght of time to get an answer.

The law is only an ass because the people who create the laws are asses, i.e. the government of this fair isle.

Biro

I'd agree. It's the law that's crap. And the judges that allow the loop holes through!
Although there's probably much to complain about the Guards, I think in general they get an overly hard time in this country. They're fighting a loosing battle with the powers that be in the justice system. And when they do something pre-emptive like foil a post office robbery, they get flack from the media and criticised cause some armed thief refused to put down his weapon and got shot.

Our man in Havana

Surely the Gardaí can prosecute a person for driving while disqualified?

Alun

Bond-007 wrote: »

Surely the Gardaí can prosecute a person for driving while disqualified?

The article I read in the Irish Times today said they couldn't arrest someone for driving while disqualified. Whether that means that they can't physically apprehend someone they discover at a checkpoint, or whether they really can't even prosecute them wasn't clear. Either way it's a complete and utter farce.

Our man in Havana

I suppose that driving while disqualified would invalidate any insurance held which would lead to charges of driving without insurance.

Bendihorse

But are they disqualified if they didn't appear in front of a judge? Do you even get a notice in the post to say you have totted up 12 points there you need to hand over your licence? Im sure plenty of people out there would lose count, its not like you can look up your tally online?

Our man in Havana

It is an interesting situation wrt to totting up bans. I know in the UK you can only be disqualified by a court. So when you reach 9 points the next offence is dealt with by a court which then disqualifies you.

I am sure some lawyer here is gearing up a challenge to the situation here.

DublinDilbert

Sounds like another typical irish problem....

The fact that a Garda can't even check how many penalty points someone has is a disgrace. In every other country the police have access to that information, nope not ireland, thats the local authority.

Our man in Havana

Time for credit card type licences with a data strip on the back to be introduced.

In the USA if you are stopped the cop will take your licence and swipe it thru his computer terminal in the car and instantly they have your record and your points status is instantly known.

As said a typical Irish problem.

Alun

Bond-007 wrote: »

Time for credit card type licences with a data strip on the back to be introduced.

That's irrelevant ... all licences have a number on them. It would be quicker, but could easily be done without them.

DublinDilbert

Bond-007 wrote: »

Time for credit card type licences with a data strip on the back to be introduced.

In the USA if you are stopped the cop will take your licence and swipe it thru his computer terminal in the car and instantly they have your record and your points status is instantly known.

As said a typical Irish problem.

And if your not carrying your license, please step out of the car..... not this "ahhh sure you have a license, we believe you, just drop down the station in the next 10 days and show us.... "