I was done for speeding last night. At least, I'm pretty sure I was. I was in a 100kph zone and saw a cop car in my rear-view mirror, tucked into a slip road where they couldn't be seen by approaching drivers. I looked at the speedometer: 103. Fuckfuckfuck. I know for a fact that there is no way the cops will have let such a minor indiscretion pass though, as it was 2.30 in the morning and there was absolutely fuck all traffic on the road. One doesn't sit there, bored shitless and getting paid overtime, for hours and let someone off for only exceeding the speed limit by a couple of kilometres per hour.
I've written about speeding before, badly, in my third ever post. The wise old head of Grandad was the only commenter who seemed to fully get my point that speeding, in itself, is not especially dangerous. 3 kph over the speed limit certainly didn't drastically enhance my chances of having an accident, especially not on a completely empty stretch of good quality dual carriageway. I'll hold my hands up and accept the fine and penalty points that are no doubt making their way to me as I sit here. But, at a time when the government are cutting corners and fucking over people involved in first, second and third levels of education, I'll question the wisdom of using Garda resources for such purposes at such ludicrous times. Still, here's a few quid towards the coffers, lads. Glad I'll be claiming last year's taxback soon.
Friday, November 21, 2008
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Nah, I'd say you're safe. At 2:30 in the morning they'd likely have come after you and pulled you over. Least that's what happened to one of my sisters.
don't most fatal accidents in ireland involve single vehicles, young men, late night and speed?
as opposed to gaggles of eckied oul wans in the mid afternoon, say.
Do they not allow a percentage for error? 3% is a pretty narrow margin in anyone's book, and you would have grounds for appeal?
Rosie - You are right, but it's the young men who cause the accidents, not the speed. They drive way beyond their capabilities.
Catherine - Hey. In theory, I've always felt that cops should pull anyone who is speeding over, given that technically they must be considered to be driving dangerously. I was waiting for the flashing blue lights to start up behind me, but they let me down. Pity, the company would've been nice.
Rosie - You could be right. Are there really many eckied up folks desperately trying to get from the south-east to dublin at that time on a Thursday night, though?
Apparently not, i'd had to pull over twice before that to fix the black plastic thing with the indicator light on it as it keeps falling off my door. I was passed by a sum-total of two lorries and an off-duty ambulance.
The fear of the fucking thing falling off again was what kept my speed down, i'd often be doing around 130 there. Better to be hung for a sheep than a lamb, I say
You were speeding on a sheep?
Grandad - 3% is a very narrow margin for error, but I can't help feeling that with the roads so quiet they are going to nail anyone they can. How else can they justify the expense of having two cops out there at that time of night? A blogging friend of mine (who knows a thing or two about legal matters but will remain nameless) says that you can contest any speeding fine on the grounds that the Gardaí are supposed to calibrate their speed guns every day but really only do it about every three weeks.
Speed Limits? Meh! I look at the as more of a guideline that a rule.
There's actually quite a bit of paper work involved in issuing those fines and they may not find it worth it to chase down that 3kph.
Maybe if you promise to drive at 97kph for a defined period they will let you off this time.
Jo - It handles like one, at times.
Not that I often handle sheep...
Lottie - I reckon that if I get away with this one it means i'm invincible and can now get away with doing any speed i like from now on. Hurrah!
They can give a ticket w/o pulling you over? Here if you get pulled over for speeding the first thing you ask is when is the last time they got their detector calibrated? My sister gets away with a warning everytime with this because they usually don't calibrate it when they're supposed to and if you fight the ticket, you win.
Yeah, they just take your registration and send you the fine in the post. They only tend to pull you over if you're exceeding the limit by a lot. It was announced recently that 66% of people get away without paying the fine by simply claiming not to have got the notification in the post. It's that easy. That's how our country is run.
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