Wife stopped for speeding - but I have a query

Kashkai

After years of listening to my wife criticising my driving (even though I'm accident free for 18 years and have no penalty points) she was stopped for speeding last Sunday week. She was doing 86kph coming from a 80kph zone into a 60kph zone that shortly thereafter reduces to a 50kph. The cop that stopped her gave her a fine and sent her on her way. When she got home she was absolutely fuming and my laughing at her didn't help. She just couldn't accept the fact that she was caught fair and square and when I also told her that she'd be getting 2 points on her licence, she lost the plot completely and I ended up in stitches at her ranting (she's normally so cool and calm).

Anyways the question is this - the cop never mentioned that she'd be getting the 2 points and he never showed her the speed that she was doing on his radar gun thingy which I'm fairly sure he is obliged to. So could she dispute this in court or would it come down to her word versus the cop's word and I'm sure I know who the Judge would believe.

TheNog

I think it is best practice only to show the speed and inform the driver of the offence and fine and penalty points. Don't think there is any obligation under law.

Mr. Presentable

Ask her did he have his hat on!

TheNog

nipplenuts wrote: »

Ask her did he have his hat on!

doesn't make a blind bit of difference


ah caught out again

peasant

much more important ...

buy some flowers and apologise for laughing at her

Mr. Presentable

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

After years of listening to my wife criticising my driving (even though I'm accident free for 18 years and have no penalty points) she was stopped for speeding last Sunday week. she lost the plot completely and I ended up in stitches at her ranting

Isn't it great though
Mine always criticised me for stopping at an early amber - she always shoes through. My dirty pleasure was her getting done for it six weeks ago

Mr. Presentable

TheNog wrote: »

doesn't make a blind bit of difference

I thought I wouldn't need to put in smilies, now I see I am wrong I'll amend the post!

Gandalf23

/ sits back and waits for the standard boards response to this question, ie "she did the crime now take the points and stop moaning about it... " /

Mr. Presentable

Gandalf23 wrote: »

/ sits back and waits for the standard boards response to this question, ie "she did the crime now take the points and stop moaning about it... " /

86 in a 60 is a bit quick............

Gandalf23

Serves us right for letting wimmins drive in the first place!!!

Right lads?


















Lads?

/ runs for the hills... /

Mr. Presentable

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Serves us right for letting wimmins drive in the first place!!!

Right lads?


Lads?

/ runs for the hills... /

Sorry Gandalf, no one here but us chickens!

Cluck cluck

WHITE_P

Take the points and fine, as it will only be worse if you take it to court. Never seen anyone win a traffic offence case in the District Court. Brining up minor technicalities in court will only annoy the justice and make him / her more likely to give the maximum penalty possible.

alexmcred

Sorry for the off topic post but if they don't give you a ticket after stopping you can you assume they have left you off with a warning?

Run_to_da_hills

nipplenuts wrote: »

Ask her did he have his hat on!

Beat me to it :mad:

Esel

alexmcred wrote: »

Sorry for the off topic post but if they don't give you a ticket after stopping you can you assume they have left you off with a warning?

You get the fine in the post.

Darragh29

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

After years of listening to my wife criticising my driving (even though I'm accident free for 18 years and have no penalty points) she was stopped for speeding last Sunday week. She was doing 86kph coming from a 80kph zone into a 60kph zone that shortly thereafter reduces to a 50kph. The cop that stopped her gave her a fine and sent her on her way. When she got home she was absolutely fuming and my laughing at her didn't help. She just couldn't accept the fact that she was caught fair and square and when I also told her that she'd be getting 2 points on her licence, she lost the plot completely and I ended up in stitches at her ranting (she's normally so cool and calm).

Anyways the question is this - the cop never mentioned that she'd be getting the 2 points and he never showed her the speed that she was doing on his radar gun thingy which I'm fairly sure he is obliged to. So could she dispute this in court or would it come down to her word versus the cop's word and I'm sure I know who the Judge would believe.

She is lucky (ur unlucky!), that she even had a converation with the Garda. usually the fine & 2 penalty points come in the post and most people don't even know they've been done when they are caught!

TheNog

my missus has stopped giving out to me about my driving after she got 1 speeding fine, 1 littering and 3 parking tickets!!!! granted the 3 parking tickets were my fault but i was driving her car so it doesnt count especially seeing that i blamed her for them!! :D

zuroph

littering?

i've had a speeding thing thrown out of court. dont know how, the solicitor did it.

TheNog

zuroph wrote: »

littering?

i've had a speeding thing thrown out of court. dont know how, the solicitor did it.

yeah she threw a cigarette butt out the window with a patrol car behind her. It was probably the first time she ever did it

zuroph

ouch.

RAFC

How come it's always the Guards fault when people get caught - hubby stopped doing 77 in 50 zone - but it WASN'T HIS FAULT :D:D - 'the limit is too low for such a good road' :) He was in such bad form afterwards I couldn't even laugh out loud :D so I did it very quietly

Fine came in post along with a letter stating he would now have 2 points on his licence but the wrong name was on the letter - he paid the fine in the hopes that they get the points wrong too :D:D

Stark

TheNog wrote: »

yeah she threw a cigarette butt out the window with a patrol car behind her. It was probably the first time she ever did it

God I hate when people do that.

Kashkai

I agree that she "did the crime and now must pay the fine" but at the time, her ranting was soooo funny as she's normally got the moral high ground on everything so I had to take my moment in the sun and have a laugh at her expense.

Funny thing is, she used to be an overly cautious driver (when she drove 205's, Clio's etc) but since she got the people carrier, she's become a bit more aggressive/speedy for my liking while driving. What is it with people who drive these tall cars, i.e. MPV's Jeeps etc?

So I guess there's no point in trying to dispute the fine in court and running the risk of getting 4 points and a larger fine. In her defence though, while she was doing 86 in a 60kph zone, the limit reduces from 80 down to 60 and onto 50kph in the space of 200 metres which is a bit tight IMO.

Stark

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

In her defence though, while she was doing 86 in a 60kph zone, the limit reduces from 80 down to 60 and onto 50kph in the space of 200 metres which is a bit tight IMO.

Now while I agree that slamming on the brakes as soon as you enter a lower speed limit zone is more dangerous than slowing down steadily, that defence would only apply if she was doing under 80 when she was caught.

TheNog

Stark wrote: »

God I hate when people do that.

so does she. never did it before and hasn't since. she said she was not paying attention to what she was doing at the time (thinking of other things). Anyway she has learned not to litter and to be more aware of her surroundings as well.

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Funny thing is, she used to be an overly cautious driver (when she drove 205's, Clio's etc) but since she got the people carrier, she's become a bit more aggressive/speedy for my liking while driving. What is it with people who drive these tall cars, i.e. MPV's Jeeps etc?

It maybe cos people who drive jeeps and large people carriers are elevated from the rest of us. Includes some van drivers too!!!!!

TheNog

RAFC wrote: »

Fine came in post along with a letter stating he would now have 2 points on his licence but the wrong name was on the letter - he paid the fine in the hopes that they get the points wrong too :D:D

don;t think it will make a difference if the name is slightly wrong. When he went to pay the fine he would have had to enter his licence number on the form.

sweetie

Had to go to court with my missus on tuesday as the speeding fine went to her old address (parents) and her Mam lost it so she was summoned to court with the possibility of 4 points and a fine. Thing is, the Garda happened to be sick and all the people who turned up had their cases struck out! There were about 100 names on the list and about ten people actuallye attended it. Does that mean the rest will have to go to court again? I got two points for speeding in the exact place my wife got hers (before we knew, obviously )

Run_to_da_hills

RAFC wrote: »

How come it's always the Guards fault when people get caught - hubby stopped doing 77 in 50 zone - but it WASN'T HIS FAULT :D:D - 'the limit is too low for such a good road' :) He was in such bad form afterwards I couldn't even laugh out loud :D so I did it very quietly

Fine came in post along with a letter stating he would now have 2 points on his licence but the wrong name was on the letter - he paid the fine in the hopes that they get the points wrong too :D:D

He shouldn't have paid a penny and ignored everything and let it go to court. It would be thrown out with the wrong name.

Top Dog

sweetie wrote: »

There were about 100 names on the list and about ten people actuallye attended it. Does that mean the rest will have to go to court again?

Typically - yes. If they weren't in court to defend themselves, and the Garda wasn't in court to prosecute, then the case is still open and will be postponed to a later sitting of the court. Just proves that its in peoples own interests to attend when they're summoned.

Oh and to the poster further up the thread who's never seen a speeding fine thrown out of court - I've had 3 dismissed in the past 18 months

RAFC

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

He shouldn't have paid a penny and ignored everything and let it go to court. It would be thrown out with the wrong name.

Did suggest that to him - he was too afraid of the points being doubled if he ignored it .

Poor pet, serves him right, listening to him for years bragging that he passed his test first go while I took 3 tests , BUT I never got stopped for speeding HA :cool::cool::cool::cool: (is it very obvious that I'm still enjoying this )

jor el

For those who've had speeding tickets, how long does it normally take to come in the post? I got caught at 122 in a 100 on the June bank holiday Sunday. Garda took my licence, went to the patrol car, then came back and gave me the licence and told me "That'll be in the post". I assumed "That" would be an €80 fine and 2 points, but I haven't received a thing yet.

It's almost 17 weeks now. Anyone know if there is a limitation on these?

zuroph

i thought it was 90 days...

jor el

Someone told me the same, but I wasn't sure, and can't find any information on it. I don't know the Garda's name, or even what station he was from, not that I'd go trying to contact them.

Top Dog

jor el wrote: »

For those who've had speeding tickets, how long does it normally take to come in the post?

Don't mean to sound smart - but how long is a piece of string? In my own expierence the enforcement of fines is nothing even closely resembling consistent. I got caught once and had the fine in the letterbox within 5 working days. Got caught another time and it was nearly 4 months (to the point where I'd completly forgotten about having been stopped in the first place). :rolleyes:

Mc-BigE

Same thing happened to my wife about 1 month ago, she was doing 70KPH ish
in a 50kph zone, a big wide road just outside a school on a sunday long weekend.

i travel this road myself everyday and if i drive at 50KPH i get peeped off the road by everyone.

Anyway, she has excepted that she was in the wrong and paid the fine and 2 points.

Now here's the interesting point, My insurance has gone up by 50 euro ish because shes on my policy! nice one.

cashmni1

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

He shouldn't have paid a penny and ignored everything and let it go to court. It would be thrown out with the wrong name.

ohhh, careful about that one lads. I was in court reciently and I was watching the guys trying to get off with a wrong letter in the name or the incorrect spelling of a name. It didn't work. At all.
The first thing the judge said was that this error can now be corrected right here in the court. He asked the defendant to identify himself and as soon as he declared who he was, the mistake was amended and the case moved on. Much to the dismay of the defendant (one guy didn't bother to show up and sent his dad, hillarious, the judge had a field day), as soon as the clerk of the court had the name amended, there was no chance of of getting away with it. i think it just pis*es the judge off. And some of those guys have good and very bad days.

jor el

cashmni1 wrote: »

ohhh, careful about that one lads. I was in court reciently and I was watching the guys trying to get off with a wrong letter in the name or the incorrect spelling of a name. It didn't work. At all.

It think that if the name on the fine/summons is wrong, then you shouldn't turn up to court at all, as turning up is effectively an admission that you are the person named. Easy to see how a judge could go crazy over that, and you could end up with 4 points and a bigger fine.

biologikal

I was stopped a couple of years back, the ticket I was handed had the wrong date on it, so I wrote a letter to the station super informing him that I had witnesses that would testify that I was about 100km away from the time and place on the ticket, and that by paying the fine, I could be putting myself in the location of a serious crime, and duly refused to pay. I also said that (in a roundabout way, and much more elegantly), that if the Garda was stupid enough to put the incorrect date on the ticket, how could we verify that he would be able to operate a peice of scientific equipment. I remember in the press at the time, there was all that business with that judge Curtin, so it was a bit of me thinking, well, you'd think they'd have learned their lesson, and get it right, something as simple as a date. Sneaky cop waited until after the second time period (60 days, I think) to send a letter, informing me that they wouldn't persue it any further. Still have the letter!

Anyway, got my cumuppance a couple of weeks ago, waiting for the fine and points to drop in the letterbox. Seems a long time to have to wait. Are they all processed somewhere, and issued every couple of weeks?

I presume the 30 days is from the date of issue. What about the points - do they expire 3 years from the date of the offence?

Steve

biologikal wrote: »

What about the points - do they expire 3 years from the date of the offence?

Even better - 3 years from when they're applied...:rolleyes:

guil

yeah which can be a few weeks months after the incident

Steve

guil07 wrote: »

yeah which can be a few weeks months after the incident

exactly my point - they punish you for something that you don't even remember doing....
Really effective at improving road safety.
/sarcasm

guil

heres a good one for ya, i was stopped in june headin in to blessington on the dublin road, guard asked for licence and whatever and let me on

a few weeks later got a fine in the post for bein parked on double yellow lines,even though there was none around where i was stopped, i rang the guard and he said just write a letter statin that it was a mistake and give that and the fine into the super in baltinglass, he said the super would ring him and then it would be cancelled

got a letter a few days later sayin they were investigatin it