Drink driving fixed penalty notice query

Nuttzz

A friend of the missus was done for drink driving 3 weeks ago, she was brought to the station and told she was going to receive a fixed penalty notice and lose her licence for 6 months.

Two questions:

1. How long will it take for the fixed notice to come out? She thought it would be out at this stage

2. While she awaits the notice, can she still drive?

Bigjacklad

Hi... there's no real time limit to receive the fixed penalty notice... but usually within 6 weeks.. She can continue to drive..

Pappillon

I was caught for drink driving in early March this year and issued with fixed penalty notice of a 6 month driving disqualification and a €400 fine. Exactly four weeks after I was breathalysed by the Garda, I received the fixed penalty notice from the RSA in the post. It informed me that I had the choice to:

1: Accept the decision by paying the requested fine within 28 days and be disqualified from driving for the 6 months. There would be no court appearance or criminal conviction.

2: Not pay the fine and appeal the decision in the courts.

I accepted the decision (I had no choice really). Two months, to the day, passed between me being breathalysed and the beginning of my road ban.

After being breathalysed I decided it best to inform my insurance broker that I had failed a breath test. They were helpful, my insurance premium continued unchanged and I drove until the start of my ban as usual.

At the moment, I have just received my licence back from my local motor tax office and I have only begun looking for quotes... Fingers crossed....

Bit late to help with your query Nutzzz but hopefully someone finds this useful..?


I can post again letting people know how I get on with insurance...

Slán....

goz83

And you registered a new account to be honest?

CiniO

400 euro and 6 months ban would be for between 80mg/100ml to 100mg/100ml of blood.
Before changes last year, this would be mandatory court appearance.

I wonder one thing.
If someone is caught between 50mg to 80mg, this is 200euro fine and 3 penalty points as far as I know. No disqualification.

Would this affect insurance premium at all?

In the end this is not a conviction, no disqualification, just regular fixed penalty notice and penalty points in the same way as speeding or running red light.

Our man in Havana

The country has gone soft on drink driving. Fix penalty notices for DD. Madness.

Stheno

Our man in Havana wrote: »

The country has gone soft on drink driving. Fix penalty notices for DD. Madness.

I thought that was only for being under 50mg?

CiniO

Stheno wrote: »

I thought that was only for being under 50mg?

Under 50mg you are considered sober.
Between 50mg and 80mg it's 200euro fine and 3 penalty points.
Between 80mg and 100mg it's 400euro fine and 6 months ban.
Over 100mg it's mandatory court appearance.

CiniO

Our man in Havana wrote: »

The country has gone soft on drink driving. Fix penalty notices for DD. Madness.

I think limits and fines for them are great and adequate.
All we need now is enforcement, especially in rural areas.
In my place, there doesn't seem to be any limits for drink drivers.

Stheno

CiniO wrote: »

I think limits and fines for them are great and adequate.
All we need now is enforcement, especially in rural areas.
In my place, there doesn't seem to be any limits for drink drivers.

This really annoys me, why do you think it is CiniO

Our man in Havana

CiniO wrote: »

Under 50mg you are considered sober.
Between 50mg and 80mg it's 200euro fine and 3 penalty points.
Between 80mg and 100mg it's 400euro fine and 6 months ban.
Over 100mg it's mandatory court appearance.

These blood or breath readings?

CiniO

Stheno wrote: »

This really annoys me, why do you think it is CiniO

There is a town with few bars, and a community of about 1000 people living mostly in plenty tiny villages (sometimes consist of few houses) within radius of 15km from the town.
All those people drive to the town to have few drinks (some people more than few) and they drive back home then at night totally wasted.
There is a garda station in the town, but most of the time it's closed. I see a gard there maybe once a month to do some paperwork during the day midweek.

Over last 6 years I lived here, I've never seen a roadcheck, and I never heard of anyone who did see one.
Then it's obvious why everyone is driving drunk - it's convenient for them they are not afraid to be caught.
Simple.

CiniO

Our man in Havana wrote: »

These blood or breath readings?

Sorry I forgot to mention.
Blood.

50mg alcohol per 100ml of blood is the sober limit.

Also different limits apply to L driver, holders of full licence for less than 2 years, and professional drivers (taxi, truck, bus), as their limit is 20mg /100ml of blood, below which they are sober.
20mg to 80mg it's 200 euro fine for them and 3 months disqualification. Above that it's mandatory court.

drunkmonkey

Stheno wrote: »

This really annoys me, why do you think it is CiniO

It's because it's the country side, there's a very big difference between someone driving home from a rural pub and young Timmy driving home from coppers. There 2 different planets when it comes to how things work. You can bet your ass the Garda has as much chance of getting a taxi in the wilds of mayo as the guy sitting beside him at the bar. That's the way it's always worked regardless of what laws they make for city and town folk.

Stheno

CiniO wrote: »

There is a town with few bars, and a community of about 1000 people living mostly in plenty tiny villages (sometimes consist of few houses) within radius of 15km from the town.
All those people drive to the town to have few drinks (some people more than few) and they drive back home then at night totally wasted.
There is a garda station in the town, but most of the time it's closed. I see a gard there maybe once a month to do some paperwork during the day midweek.

Over last 6 years I lived here, I've never seen a roadcheck, and I never heard of anyone who did see one.
Then it's obvious why everyone is driving drunk - it's convenient for them they are not afraid to be caught.
Simple.

Jaypers, I reckon one in three times (now it's rare maybe 3-4 times a year) the Oh and I go out we get pulled for drink driving, we live in Dublin.

In fact thinking back we got pulled three times out of three the past year.

Then there are the afternoon Saturday checkpoints and early morning ones.

Must be dense population centred.

Reloc8

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Fix penalty notices for DD. Madness.

Why is it madness ?

Surely the main point is to ensure that drink drivers are detected and punished.

It doesn't matter whether that's on foot of a fixed penalty notice or court appearance.

Bearing in mind the limitations on the fixed fine procedure - its not for every drink driver - its a more than reasonable procedure.

Stheno

Reloc8 wrote: »

Why is it madness ?

Surely the main point is to ensure that drink drivers are detected and punished.

It doesn't matter whether that's on foot of a fixed penalty notice or court appearance.

Bearing in mind the limitations on the fixed fine procedure - its not for every drink driver - its a more than reasonable procedure.

Personally and it might sound very very harsh, but I'm in my late thirties, and I was brought up that it is never right to drink and drive.

I know I might feel fine after one drink, but I'm not sure I'd be ok behind a car in an emergency situation.

Current limits are very low for tolerance of drink drivers, I'd lean close to zero tolerance to be honest.

Our man in Havana

Are these disquals recorded on a licence as an endorsement?

Stheno

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Are these disquals recorded on a licence as an endorsement?

Are they not just there for a limited period and removed?

Our man in Havana

Stheno wrote: »

Are they not just there for a limited period and removed?

Normally they stay there for 3 years after the ban lift.

CiniO

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Are these disquals recorded on a licence as an endorsement?

According to what Pappillon said in the other thread, they are not recorded as endorsement.

Our man in Havana

CiniO wrote: »

According to what Pappillon said in the other thread, they are not recorded as endorsement.

So no insurance punishments then.

CiniO

Stheno wrote: »

Personally and it might sound very very harsh, but I'm in my late thirties, and I was brought up that it is never right to drink and drive.

I know I might feel fine after one drink, but I'm not sure I'd be ok behind a car in an emergency situation.

Current limits are very low for tolerance of drink drivers, I'd lean close to zero tolerance to be honest.

I'm actually in favour of current limits.
Average man would probably have about 30mg/100ml of blood after one pint (that's very approximate).

So current limit means you are ok to drive after one pint. If you have two and drive, then you will most likely fact the fine and penalty points. After 3 you are nearly definitely going to face disqualification, and very possibly court.

I can't see how driving after one pint might impair someone's driving to reduce safety much. Simple tiredness, flu or just distraction might make driver more dangerous than one pint. Two or three are getting more dangerous, and therefore fines are getting higher.

It's not people who had one pint on the road, we should be afraid off. It's the one who drive after 5 or 10 pints.

That's why current limits and enforcement system is IMO adequate, and all we are missing is enforcement to get rid of drivers who do drive after 5 or 10 pints.

In Poland where I come from, limit is 20mg/100ml blood, and that's too low.
You can't have a small glass of wine with your dinner if you plan on driving.
If you drink in the evening (say 4 pints) and drive at 7 in the morning, you are in great danger to be caught and prosecuted. That's not neccessery IMO.

blindside88

Our man in Havana wrote: »

So no insurance punishments then.

This all depends, some insurers will not insure if you have been convicted of any offence (even shoplifting etc), others will only insure if your penalty points are for certain offences (I know of one that only accepts penalty points for speeding and parking offences)

Del2005

drunkmonkey wrote: »

It's because it's the country side, there's a very big difference between someone driving home from a rural pub and young Timmy driving home from coppers. There 2 different planets when it comes to how things work. You can bet your ass the Garda has as much chance of getting a taxi in the wilds of mayo as the guy sitting beside him at the bar. That's the way it's always worked regardless of what laws they make for city and town folk.

Where are all the DUI deaths/crashes? It's not where the majority of people live and drive.

It may be a different part of the country but the roads are much more dangerous. Young Timmy from Coppers is just as dangerous as farmer Joe if they consume alcohol and drive.

The we're in the middle of nowhere and can't go out for a few pints is BS. If you only want a few pints why can't you car share. Depending on your location it may mean you can't drink every 2nd time you go to the pub. A few beers only puts you over the limit and I thought you only go out for the craic anyway. Why can't country people designate a driver or have a rockshandy?Since the alcohol isn't the reason you go out, or is it?

djimi

Stheno wrote: »

Jaypers, I reckon one in three times (now it's rare maybe 3-4 times a year) the Oh and I go out we get pulled for drink driving, we live in Dublin.

In fact thinking back we got pulled three times out of three the past year.

Then there are the afternoon Saturday checkpoints and early morning ones.

Must be dense population centred.

I live in Naas and Id say Ive seen no more than maybe 2-3 checkpoints max in the last few years.

That said, I rarely drink and would never ever consider driving a car if Id had even one drink in a night, but I was walking home from a friends house after a party having had a few drinks one night and as I was leaving I was thinking to myself what the chances would be of getting caught had I brought the car and driven home. Standing in the road in the 50 or so yards between the estate I was in and my estate was a Garda checkpoint... Just goes to show why you would never take a chance!!!

MrDerp

djimi wrote: »

I live in Naas and Id say Ive seen no more than maybe 2-3 checkpoints max in the last few years.

That said, I rarely drink and would never ever consider driving a car if Id had even one drink in a night, but I was walking home from a friends house after a party having had a few drinks one night and as I was leaving I was thinking to myself what the chances would be of getting caught had I brought the car and driven home. Standing in the road in the 50 or so yards between the estate I was in and my estate was a Garda checkpoint... Just goes to show why you would never take a chance!!!

In my 5 and half years of driving, making up about 160,000km, I have been at 2 checkpoints where they were checking for drink driving - though many more for tax/insurance.

Once was St Patrick's day in Dublin, once was a Saturday evening of a bank holiday weekend in Cork.

I don't drink and drive myself. I've been known to have a glass of wine, one bottle of beer, with dinner at a friend's house if I know we're not leaving until well after dinner i.e. have the drink around 8, leave around midnight or afterwards. I don't like being in the pub without drinking, but then we don't really go for a quiet drink - if we're out it's an occasion like someone's birthday. So it's very rare I'd be in the pub, driving, and then I wouldn't be tempted to risk anything.

However, I can easily see why people think they won't get caught. Enforcement is so low that I reckon a drink driver who behaved only on bank holidays and around Christmas might go a lifetime and never get caught. Obviously I don't condone it, but it's a sad fact. Maybe in the city, or large towns with 24 hour garda stations, they'd run the risk of being spotted driving somewhat erratically, but in the country?

CiniO

Over last 6 years I drove around 300,000 km in Ireland (mostly West) and enountered 3 roadcheckes out of which 1 included brethylising (this was Friday evening outside Galway)

For comparision last winter I was 5 weeks in Poland, done about 5000km there, and was pulled over 5 times for roadcheck, out of which 3 included brethylising.

Sadly this is not great either, because 2 out of 3 of those brethylisings there happened early in the morning (afair Sunday or day after Christmas around 6am) so this had little to do with road safety but rather to catch a pigeon who is slightly over 20mg limit after having few drink in the evening.

Anyway - better this than nothing.

djimi

CiniO wrote: »

Sadly this is not great either, because 2 out of 3 of those brethylisings there happened early in the morning (afair Sunday or day after Christmas around 6am) so this had little to do with road safety but rather to catch a pigeon who is slightly over 20mg limit after having few drink in the evening.

Or to catch the guy who was steaming drunk the night before, had 4 hours sleep and thinks that its okay to drive when he wakes up...