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Gun law
Page 40
Page 41
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Speed enforcement in Ireland is in chaos after laser-gun evidence was ruled inadmissible by the High Court. The Irish government has moved to close this loophole, but their problems may not be over yet
Ann Marie Foley reports.
Hundreds of speeding prosecutions are being thrown out of court in Ireland after the High Court ruled that laser gun readings do not count as evidence because they do not produce a permanent record of speed.
However. the Irish Department of Transport says that while some judges had taken a narrow interpretation of what constitutes a "permanent record" new legislation will clarify this situation.
At the roadside. gardai present the speed reading on the laser gun to the offender. But this does not solve the problems which began in a remote rural courtroom. A defendant at Carrick on Shannon District Court challenged evidence from a laser gun for an offence on 10 July 2003 and the case was referred to the High Court.
High court ruling
On 14 February this year the High Court ruled that the use of the LT1 20/20 Ultralyte 100 Laser Gun, which does not produce a permanent record of the alleged speed, does not meet the requirement of the Road Traffic Act 2002 section 21(1) and 21(3).
Since then dozens of prosecutions have failed. For example, on 24 February the Wexford People reported that "a string of summonses" were thrown out at Wexford District Court for lack of evidence. Ten speeding prosecutions were rejected in Portlaoise District Court on 4 March and another 20 failed at Ennis District Court on 14 January.
The gardai say it is impossible to quantify how many speeding prosecutions will be struck out as it takes at least six months for cases to come to court. A spokesman explains:"There are certain cases still going through the court and our advice is that they could be heard and dealt with retrospectively. It will be up to the judge whether he decides to throw them out, so we are still waiting on decisions."
He does not rule out similar challenges to the Road Traffic Act 2004, introduced on 20 January 2005, which covers the use of laser guns (see panel).
It is not known how many hauliers escaped speeding convictions as the courts do not publish the names of those whose summonses have been abandoned.
Irish Road Haulage Association spokesman Jimmy Quinn says: "It may be challenged in the courts again — I think it is a fundamental right to see a printout. Technological evidence needs to be transparent, especially for people whose livelihoods depend on their driving licences."
The Traffic Acts 2002 and 2004 have brought major innovations, including penalty points, on-the-spot fines and metrification of speed limits. Not all of these measures are unpopular. Some hauliers say on-the-spot fines enable them to pay and go rather than lose a day's work in court. It also enables gardai to penalise drivers from Northern Ireland and abroad as issuing summonses can be problematic.
Some pundits saw the metrification of speed limits as a lost opportunity to improve road safety because speed limits were not adjusted to take real dangers into account on a road-by road basis. Instead they were simply rounded up or down to the metric equivalent Operators believe they have lost out because a mooted HGV motorway speed increase from 50mph (80km/h) to 56mph (90km/h) was aban doned. "A worrying trend is that gardai are prosecuting truck drivers for being out on the overtaking lane on the motorway," says Quinn. "If you are stuck behind a farm tractor or slow vehicle you have to stay behind." Penalty points are more punitive for hauliers as they spend longer on the road than motorists and are therefore in more danger of getting 12 penalty points over a three-year period and losing their licence.
Irish operators also claim that roadblocks targeting minor infringements do not necessarily catch dangerous drivers:1 am in favour of the speed limit, but some of the stupid places that speed traps are set up are not for road safety but to collect money" says Gerry Hughes of Hughes Transport in Dundalk. Vehicles slowing down while entering a built-up area might be caught out.
Static checkpoints
Hughes adds that cowboys generally get word of static checkpoints within minutes and avoid them. while licensed operators can be penalised and even lose their licence for an accumulation of minor offences. Many industry insiders support a rethink of penalty points and enforcement so the real offenders can be penalised. •