Appeal Speeding Ticket

homer1916

I got caught speeding while overtaking a car on a straight stretch of road. The guard said he clocked the car i was overtaking at 102km and why was i overtaking. He does not have me on camara so can i appeal as he has no proof of what speed i was doing?

_Kaiser_

You can appeal but because of the shambolic way our system is, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent (by way of getting more points and a higher fine), and the ridiculous situation that all the Garda has to do is give/her "word" (rather than having to back it up with photo/video evidence as shown in those UK Police Stop shows on Sky) and you'll probably lose - assuming you even get a letter in the first place.

pa990

was the other car doing 100km/h or more ???

Steve

homer1916 wrote: »

I got caught speeding while overtaking a car on a straight stretch of road. The guard said he clocked the car i was overtaking at 102km and why was i overtaking. He does not have me on camara so can i appeal as he has no proof of what speed i was doing?

Assuming you are telling the full story, then the Guard has no case as he has no evidence.

Get your day in court, you are innocent until the Guard proves otherwise.

There is nothing to appeal until you are convicted of something,

stratos

I wouldn'tworry about it cops threaten all sorts off things, and if you do actually get a summons, go to court you will more than likely get off. The system is stacked in your favour in my experience.

homer1916

pa990 wrote: »

was the other car doing 100km/h or more ???

He said he clocked the other car doing 102km. He kept saying why was i overtaking when the car in front was doing 102km. I said he put the foot down when i overtook. Im expecting the summons cause he told me it would be coming to my address. Not worth going to court over, however could i write into the superintendant of his garda station and ask where is the proof of me speeding? Also i could say i was overtaking anyway which allows the speed limit to be exceeded?

Seth Brundle

homer1916 wrote: »

He said he clocked the other car doing 102km. He kept saying why was i overtaking when the car in front was doing 102km. I said he put the foot down when i overtook. Im expecting the summons cause he told me it would be coming to my address. Not worth going to court over, however could i write into the superintendant of his garda station and ask where is the proof of me speeding? Also i could say i was overtaking anyway which allows the speed limit to be exceeded?

1. I'm surprised that his gun can target two cars pretty much at the same time.
2. You are not allowed exceed the speed limit whilst overtaking. However, you could claim that you unwittingly broke the law to perform the manouvre as quickly as possible. Its possibly your best excuse.

ART6

If he clocked the other car at 102k and you overtook it, then obviously you must have been doing a bit more than that. He didn't need to clock you at the same time. The question you haven't answered is what was the speed limit on the road at the time. If it was, say, 80k, then you must have been doing at least 30k over the limit to be able to overtake, and no doubt the guard would argue that in court. Balance of probabilities then applies. However, did the guard book the other car? If he didn't, then his case would be much weaker.

Having said that, I agree with your comment since I personally try to overtake a quickly as possible, and if doing so safely means temporarily exceeding the limit, so be it. I am not prepared to risk my life or that of other road users for an arbitary limit, particularly since many of them are so illogical as to be pure nonsense.

E92

What was the speed limit?

If it was 100, then you can't get caught unless you did 110(or exceed any speed limit by 10%).

Reason is is that speedos in cars are allowed to underread or overread by as much as 10%, so if your speedo is reading 100, then your actual speed could be anywhere between 90 and 110.

L-M

As far as i know, when sister was going to appeal her two points for doing more or less the same thing, she was told if she failed to win, her points would be doubled and she would get a 2000 yo-yo's fine. That's off the top of my head so open to criticism.

Seth Brundle

Almost right Limerick-man - the offence actually carries 4 points but you get half if you don't appeal it.

rebel.ranter

Does the garda nothave to show you the gun? Was his vehicle moving? If so how did he measure your speed?
Sounds very hap-hazzad to me.

He could still prosecute for careless driving I suppose.

Did he write you a ticket there and the?

mickdw

I doubt he can bring that against you based on having clocked the other car. Does he not have to quote an actual speed that you were doing?

Anyone note the newspaper article about cases being thrown out of court when people claimed they never got the reminder. Judge said his hands werre tied and had to throw it out. So until reminder comes by registered post or similar, there is no such thing as a speeding fine!

homer1916

The speed limit was 100km on a straight road coming onto a bad stretch of road which is 80km. He was pulling there cause people overtake on the straight stretch to get ahead of slow drivers before the road gets all bendy and you cant overtake for a while. He never wrote me a ticket but said it would come in post

Victor_M

Who is to say that after he clocked the car you were overtaking at 102 Km/h, it slowed down a bit as you were over taking it?

Sounds fairly ridiculous to me, I'd appeal it.

eringobragh

kbannon wrote: »

1. I'm surprised that his gun can target two cars pretty much at the same time.
.

1) Not at the same time but the LTI has been known to acquire a reading off a different car when aimed at a car that may not be speeding due to it beam pattern.



The beam pattern has three intensities due to the 3 element laser diode onboard both the LTI 20-20, Marksman and the LTI Ultralyte

Having used the LTI Marksman myself i can tell you that if the Garda decided to re-aim the gun he will have the speed reading in a third of a second. The gun is seriously quick to acquire a reading (even quicker on a tripod) .It WILL defeat even the best radar detector.FACT

Onthebus

Could the garda just have measured your speed off his speedometre by checking what speed he had to drive to keep up with the car in front?

Perhaps that is why he was telling you what speed the other car was doing, which is weird, instead of telling YOU what speed YOU were doing

The speed of the other car is of no concern to you. Perhaps the garda never measured your car at all and is making an assumption that you were going faster that the car you were overtaking

the previous poster seems to have some experience using those radar machines but are they installed in every garda car?

and if they are installed in a car how is the proof recorded?
Is there a photo print out which contains the licence plate of your car, the time and date and the speed clocked over a stated distance?

And then when was that machine last calibrated? Was it calibrated using the other built in machine in another garda car and if so well then when was that machine calibrated?

Surely the garda cant just say he saw you driving fast and thinks you were over the limit. Professional equipment which is professionally callibrated on a regular basis should be the minimum requirement for accusing people of criminal driving offences?!

eringobragh

Onthebus wrote: »

the previous poster seems to have some experience using those radar machines but are they installed in every garda car?

No they are a handheld device powered by batteries or in the case of the older one the 12v cig lighter.Radar is defunct now. There is very little if any around Ireland. They have migrated to LIDAR (Laser) as it quicker and easier to use.

and if they are installed in a car how is the proof recorded?
Is there a photo print out which contains the licence plate of your car, the time and date and the speed clocked over a stated distance?

Yes and no is the answer to this question: You may remember they had to change the legislation a few years back because someone challenged the 'written record'. That loophole has been closed along time.

In the case of the GATSO van, Its basically an LTI 20-20 connected to the Lasercam or an LTI Ultralyte connected to the Micro-Digicam, These produce a photographic record of your speed.

In ther case of the OP the proof is the Garda's word of mouth as the Handhelds produce no record.

And then when was that machine last calibrated? Was it calibrated using the other built in machine in another garda car and if so well then when was that machine calibrated?

LIDAR is self calibrating (it doesn't need to be calibrated), However tele-traffic calibrate the units annually, Notice the little 'T' sticker on the garda guns. Up north its compulsory to check the calibration of the LIDAR before it goes out 'on shift' this is donw using a radar gun and simulating a designated distance check

Surely the garda cant just say he saw you driving fast and thinks you were over the limit. Professional equipment which is professionally callibrated on a regular basis should be the minimum requirement for accusing people of criminal driving offences?!

It's fair for the guard to make the assumption that the driver was going faster seen as he clocked the slower car. Which was 20k over at the time

^ See Above