Caught doing 136 km/hr on motorway

Ollygolf

Today on the motorway a guard stepped out onto my lane and flagged me down! He said I was doing 136 km/hr in a 120 km zone! I was kinda shocked! He came outta nowhere! I've a clean drivers license and i was in shock when he pulled me over! There was no squad car or anything! Very unusual! He gave me no piece of paper and just said it would come in the post! What fine and penalty points am I looking at? Also when I went to produce my license at the Garda station,they needed my car reg! Is this the usual? Oh and do I need to ring my insurance company?

Stheno

Three point fixed penalty notice and a fine most likely

They probably needed the ref to look up your details and update that you presented your licence

Was this on the m8 by any chance?

And how were you so unaware of your speed?

SCOOP 64

3 points and €80 fine, guard does not need to give you any paperwork,you will get fine in post, as for insurance wait until you get fine if you want to tell them ,when is your next renewal ?

the_syco

Ollygolf wrote: »

Today on the motorway a guard stepped out onto my lane and flagged me down

Have heard of this sort of thing before. Do these people have a death wish?

Ollygolf

Ya stupid him standing out in front of me! My initial thought was a motorway worker! Or an accident! The motorway to limerick from gort! Got caught around Clare! Renewal is October!

How didn't I notice my speed? I'd a lot on my mind and I was only just after getting on the motorway and travelled two miles and I guess I hasn't copped I was doing over! I was genuinely surprised! So surprised he told me to get out and look at the gun if I wanted!

If they don't give you anything then when stop me at all? Just let me off and send it in the post!

colm_mcm

If you were actually doing 136 then your speedo would have probably read at +/- 145 kmph on most cars.

Special Circumstances

Were you between limerick and Shannon, or between Shannon and ennis?

The idea of a garda on foot flagging people down on a motorway seems strange. Bizarre in fact if there was no garda car in sight.

Stheno

Ollygolf wrote: »

Ya stupid him standing out in front of me! My initial thought was a motorway worker! Or an accident! The motorway to limerick from gort! Got caught around Clare! Renewal is October!

How didn't I notice my speed? I'd a lot on my mind and I was only just after getting on the motorway and travelled two miles and I guess I hasn't copped I was doing over! I was genuinely surprised! So surprised he told me to get out and look at the gun if I wanted!

If they don't give you anything then when stop me at all? Just let me off and send it in the post!

They have to stop you if they are using tripod guns

Given you were distracted you probprobably didn't notice one further back from where you got pulled

Ollygolf

colm_mcm wrote: »

If you were actually doing 136 then your speedo would have probably read at +/- 145 kmph on most cars.

It couldn't have! I've never seen my neddle that high! I honestly wouldn't have driven it at that speed without realising!

Ollygolf

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Were you between limerick and Shannon, or between Shannon and ennis?

The idea of a garda on foot flagging people down on a motorway seems strange. Bizarre in fact if there was no garda car in sight.

I got on at clare and headed towards gort! Got caught about two miles up! There was nothing there only two guards and the tripod! So if it was there it was well hidden!

mordeith

Ollygolf wrote: »

If they don't give you anything then when stop me at all?

Ah, to stop you speeding maybe?

Stheno

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Were you between limerick and Shannon, or between Shannon and ennis?

The idea of a garda on foot flagging people down on a motorway seems strange. Bizarre in fact if there was no garda car in sight.

In the m8 near fermoy you'll regularly see them out with the gun and no car in sight

Ollygolf

Stheno wrote: »

They have to stop you if they are using tripod guns

Given you were distracted you probprobably didn't notice one further back from where you got pulled

So your saying I drove by a gun/tripod before the guard walked out in front of me further up?

Stheno

Ollygolf wrote: »

It couldn't have! I've never seen my neddle that high! I honestly wouldn't have driven it at that speed without realising!

Very easy at that sipped for the needle to hit another ten kilometres and not notice

Special Circumstances

Ollygolf wrote: »

I got on at clare and headed towards gort! Got caught about two miles up! There was nothing there only two guards and the tripod! So if it was there it was well hidden!

Clare is a county that begins about 10 miles before the motorway starts. I'm trying to figure out if you were actually on a motorway or a dual carriageway that you thought was a motorway.

Ollygolf

Stheno wrote: »

Very easy at that sipped for the needle to hit another ten kilometres and not notice

Well I'll be using cruise control from now on!

Would I still have been pulled for 125 or was it just cause I was 16km/hr over?

ShoulderChip

colm_mcm wrote: »

If you were actually doing 136 then your speedo would have probably read at +/- 145 kmph on most cars.

don't you mean 136?
why would it lie?

Special Circumstances

Stheno wrote: »

In the m8 near fermoy you'll regularly see them out with the gun and no car in sight

What do they do, drop one of them off while the other scoots off to collect the dry cleaning? :-)

Ollygolf

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Clare is a county that begins about 10 miles before the motorway starts. I'm trying to figure out if you were actually on a motorway or a dual carriageway that you thought was a motorway.

I got on the motorway at ennis and headed towards gort! Got stopped before the tulla exit I think! It's defiantly a motorway! He even said your doing 136km/hr in a 120 zone! I'm not a local but I had been using that road for work all week! And he realised that from my address aswell! I've often flown from Shannon airport for holidays and I've never seen them pulling on that strip of road but I guess you can find them anywhere!

Special Circumstances

ShoulderChip wrote: »

don't you mean 136?
why would it lie?

By regulation they cannot under read. So, allowing for different factory wheel sizes and tyre sizes, and add a margin of error so they don't have to test each actual car, you can end up with approx 10% over read.

Special Circumstances

Ollygolf wrote: »

I got on the motorway at ennis and headed towards gort! Got stopped before the tulla exit I think! It's defiantly a motorway! He even said your doing 136km/hr in a 120 zone! I'm not a local but I had been using that road for work all week! And he realised that from my address aswell! I've often flown from Shannon airport for holidays and I've never seen them pulling on that strip of road but I guess you can find them anywhere!

It is defiantly a motorway at that stage all right. Defiant in the face of locals taking wrong way shortcuts on it.

Stheno

Special Circumstances wrote: »

What do they do, drop one of them off while the other scoots off to collect the dry cleaning? :-)

I reckon they hide the cars :pac:


I've no idea there are always two of them one on the gun and as they've never stopped me the other one is standing there doing nothing

pred racer

ShoulderChip wrote: »

don't you mean 136?
why would it lie?

At 120kph on the speedo, my car is doing 113.7 kph exactly.

satguy

The country is falling apart, business men are bribing politicians to get phone licences, or to give secret shareholders €5 million. One guy worth €6 Billion wont pay the same interest rate as the rest of us.

The only part of the country that is new and shiny are our motorways, and they are nearly all tolled. Now the minute your speedo goes over 120 they have a guard behind every bush..

Ollygolf

Stheno wrote: »

I reckon they hide the cars :pac:


I've no idea there are always two of them one on the gun and as they've never stopped me the other one is standing there doing nothing

Well they'd more than just me caught today! One guy was dealing with a jeep while the other dude dealt with my misbehaviour! Then they had a good laugh when we both drove off!

confusedeire

They kind of give a 10% grace in the speed for errors. This is only a rule of thumb.

Most speedos are calibrated a bit higher than your actually speed. This is to compensate for tyre wear on cars. Could make a difference of a couple of kph.

But I wish they'd spend more time policing the motorways rather than setting speed traps. Speed doesn't cause accidents, dangerous driving and lack of observation does.

I travel a lot on the motorway and it's the slow drivers cause most of the issues I.E. Pulling out from a slip going 80kph. And going on to a slip but slowing down to 60kph more than 1/2 a kilometer before an exit.

slimjimmc

ShoulderChip wrote: »

don't you mean 136?
why would it lie?

Speedometers are allowed to indicate up to 10%+4km/h higher than the true speed but never less than the true speed. The idea is that your real speed is either exactly the same or less (never faster) than shown on the speedometer. Not all speedometers use the same tolerance so don't assume the amount, if any, yours overreads by.

Stheno

satguy wrote: »

The country is falling apart, business men are bribing politicians to get phone licences, or to give secret shareholders €5 million. One guy worth €6 Billion wont pay the same interest rate as the rest of us.

The only part of the country that is new and shiny are our motorways, and they are nearly all tolled. Now the minute your speedo goes over 120 they have a guard behind every bush..

There's always one :rolleyes:

Garda presence on the motorways is fairly low, I spend a lot of time on the motorways going to Cavan Cork, and Belfast from Dublin

That m8 spot in fermoy is the only regular speed check I enounter

Sobanek

colm_mcm wrote: »

If you were actually doing 136 then your speedo would have probably read at +/- 145 kmph on most cars.

Either the speedometer on the E38 is correct to the nearest KPH or the radar guns used by Gardai are not accurate at all.

70 - 70 on radar. I was surprised how accurate the speedo is.

Ollygolf

Ya I travelled up and down from Dublin to Galway every weekend for four years and I never seen guards on the motorway so I'm guessing I was in hard luck!

And it was at three in the day! It's rare I'd ever be finished that early in the day!

Stheno

It's always between ten and twelve and three and five that I encountered them

Never see them on the m1 but given the speeds driven on there I reckon they've written it off to do checks there as hahazardous

bilbot79

Speed every time I'm on the motorway. Never get caught.

RecordStraight

On an unrelated note, I've never seen quite so many exclamation marks.

Stheno

Ollygolf wrote: »

So your saying I drove by a gun/tripod before the guard walked out in front of me further up?

Yeah

Stheno

RecordStraight wrote: »

On an unrelated note, I've never seen quite so many exclamation marks.

Just noticed that now, put it down to shock

Ollygolf

bilbot79 wrote: »

Speed every time I'm on the motorway. Never get caught.

I was the same way for five years until today!!

Ollygolf

Stheno wrote: »

Just noticed that now, put it down to shock

Opps sorry! Terrible habit. Thanks for pointing that out though.

marno21

They are quite often out on the M8 near Thurles, and on the M8 Glanmire Bypass also as it's 100km/h.

I love the way they're mad to catch people doing 10km/h over the limit on the nation's safest (and these ones are also quite empty, especially M7 south of Portlaoise, M8 and M18) but boyos driving in the overtaking lane for the entirity of their journey are causing no trouble at all and letting them off meaning others have to undertake isn't a danger at all.

the_syco

Stheno wrote: »

Given you were distracted you probprobably didn't notice one further back from where you got pulled

Personally speaking, I'd have probably swerved around him, and kept going. And then rang the Garda to report some suicidal lunatic is playing chicken with cars!

confusedeire wrote: »

They kind of give a 10% grace in the speed for errors. This is only a rule of thumb.

Pretty sure they stopped doing that some time ago.

Stheno

the_syco wrote: »

Personally speaking, I'd have probably swerved around him, and kept going. And then rang the Garda to report some suicidal lunatic is playing chicken with cars!


go.

The guards in the m8 with the gun are barely on the hard shoulder they are so close to the driving lane

Ollygolf

marno21 wrote: »

They are quite often out on the M8 near Thurles, and on the M8 Glanmire Bypass also as it's 100km/h.

I love the way they're mad to catch people doing 10km/h over the limit on the nation's safest (and these ones are also quite empty, especially M7 south of Portlaoise, M8 and M18) but boyos driving in the overtaking lane for the entirity of their journey are causing no trouble at all and letting them off meaning others have to undertake isn't a danger at all.

Ya it's a pain. There wasn't a sinner coming after me on the motorway today. Hence it being 'safe' for me to pull over in the hard shoulder and 'safe' to rejoin the lane again!

Ollygolf

the_syco wrote: »

Personally speaking, I'd have probably swerved around him, and kept going. And then rang the Garda to report some suicidal lunatic is playing chicken with cars!


Pretty sure they stopped doing that some time ago.

I would have been tempted to stay going apart from the fact that I honestly didn't cop that I was speeding. If I'd realised I was and I'd been caught it could have been a different story.

Voodoomelon

Sobanek wrote: »

Either the speedometer on the E38 is correct to the nearest KPH or the radar guns used by Gardai are not accurate at all.

70 - 70 on radar. I was surprised how accurate the speedo is.

My E38 was bang on 5% out, measured it at very high speeds once.

Foxhole Norman

My E39 is almost exactly 10km out, when I set the cruise to 130 it's doing 120/121 according to the navigation.

RecordStraight

I used to drive an e90 and found that the speedometer seemed to exaggerate more as speed increased, so it would be bang on at 50kph, but would say 130kph when I was doing 120 according to the satnav.

confusedeire

the_syco wrote: »

Personally speaking, I'd have probably swerved around him, and kept going. And then rang the Garda to report some suicidal lunatic is playing chicken with cars!


Pretty sure they stopped doing that some time ago.

Its only a rule of thumb it's to do if there being a slight error on the speed gun and your speedo the error could reach 6-10kph. It could be challenged in court and then it costs more than its worth to the state.

Clareman

Your satnav mightn't be telling the true speed either depending on the calibration or the refresh rate of it.

My rule of thumb on it is that digital displays will be pretty much spot on but analogue speedos will have ~10% variance as you don't know what angle you're supposed to be looking at it from or the part of the needle you're supposed to be reading from or whatever. I have 1 of those bluetooth dongles for hooking up to the in car computer, I must hook it up some day to see if there's a difference in reading from the speedo to the computer.

_Kaiser_

I was coming back up the M8 about 1am a few weeks ago and rounded a bend in Tipp to see a squad car pointing towards me on the hard shoulder and a cop standing in the middle of the lane! :eek:

Seems there'd been an accident on the other side of the exit and he was there to divert people but FFS... why was he not a km further down the road or at least on the other side of the bend?? Good thing I was awake!

JBokeh

Stheno wrote: »

That m8 spot in fermoy is the only regular speed check I enounter

Is it on the Cork side of Fermoy or the Mitchelstown side? I'd often be making fairly good progress down that road and I've not seen anything. I've heard of them being near junction 13 on the downhill side but never seen them

Stheno

JBokeh wrote: »

Is it on the Cork side of Fermoy or the Mitchelstown side? I'd often be making fairly good progress down that road and I've not seen anything. I've heard of them being near junction 13 on the downhill side but never seen them

The Dublin side come across them pretty regular

_Kaiser_

They seem pretty fond of camping out on the M8 around Thurles - also watch for them sitting up on the on-ramps at junctions (so you don't spot them till you're already past them)

You'll also see them as you head down to the Jack Lynch Tunnel in the 100 km/h zone

I've also spotted them southbound at the M7/M8 split - they have a little parking spot there too