Penalty Points, should i appeal?

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blueblood

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Hi all. Today i was driving home from Cork to Limerick when i was pulled over by a detectives car with lights flashing behind me, the decective came to my window and asked if i was in a rush home, i said i wasn't, and he said i had overtaken on a continous white line (which i would never do). I was amazed and said no i didn't, that i had over taken a slow moving lorry (which sped up as we were side by side) on broken white lines but by the time i'd overtaken, and was safe to pull back into the left lane i was now on a continous white line. What could i do but coutinue to finnish overtaking and then pull in. After awhile the detective aggreed i hadn't overtaken on a continous line but now he said "as soon as i saw the continous line i should have braked, allowed lorry to pass me out again, then waited in the wrong lane untill i had a chance to pull into the left lane again:mad:. Then he said i'd did it TWICE. I argued that i was allowed to overtake on a broken white line when it was safe and i didn't know that 100-200 meters up the road the lines changed to a continous line, he said i should pay more attention. Should i appeal these penalty points?

P.S Sorry about the long post and thanks in advance for any help
 
I would appeal it, but be aware if it went to court, can they not increase the points.? What you did was a split second decision. I would find the truck driver more at fault for speeding up.

Based on what i saw on traffic blue programme on television last night a north reg driver got a fine and no penalty points due to be from the north- to me the whole integity of the system can not be respected by all till these people are brought into the system.
 

So you finished overtaking on a continous white line; so you did actually overtake at least at some point in an way that was not legal. Secondly part of being a safe driver is to anticipate danger ahead; to read the signs so to speak.. If there was continous white lines two hundred meters ahead then it is likely that if you did not see it you should have seen a bend ahead and anticipated. Personally I think its harsh enough on you but strictly speaking I dont think your going to get any where going to court except more PPs. Another obvious fact is that this is all from your point of view.
 
Thats the problem with appealing, there's the risk of getting more penalty points plus the cop quickley changed his reason for stopping me when i insisted i'd overtaken on a broken white line which really p!$$es me off ,and your right about the truck driver he could have caused an accident and to make matters worse he looked out his side window and saw me overtaking and kept speeding up!
 

I would have overtaken and been safely back but this guy did speed up, i know because i was behind him long enough doing 70kmp/h and we were both side by side doing 90kmp/h when he was looking at me
 

So the guard is wrong for seeing you driving recklessly and the truck driver is at fault for speeding up, you on the other hand are totally innocent.
 
blueblood said:
I would have overtaken and been safely back but this guy did speed up, i know because i was behind him long enough doing 70kmp/h and we were both side by side doing 90kmp/h when he was looking at me
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Was it an 80km speed limit by any chance?
 
Poor anticipation, careless overtaking, getting involved in a race with the ill-mannered lorry driver - busted.

I agree with the Guard.
 
blueblood said:
How could i anticipate an ill-mannerad driver doing that
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By observing your surroundings and observing the road ahead, by anticipating what may happen when you are coming up to an area where is probably going to be single white lines.
 
blueblood said:
no 100km/ph zone
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So the truck driver was going 70 MPH I wonder why that was? Maybe he was aware if the conditions and was driving accordingly. Maybe he was annoyed that a another driver was trying to overtake him in a place he deemed to be pretty stupid. maybe he reacted (not condoning it) by putting on a little gas.
 
television said:
By observing your surroundings and observing the road ahead, by anticipating what may happen when you are coming up to an area where is probably going to be single white lines.
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I observed my surroundings and road ahead, all was clear as far as the eye could see. as i said i couldn't this truck driver would do something so dangerous out of the blue, i did nothing wrong at this point and had no choice but to continue overtaking unless i was going to do something far more dangerous like slowing down and trying to get back across the broken lines before its too late between every other car stuck behind this nutter
 

Good road and condition, just because he's doing 70KPH dosn't mean we all should or he'll SHOW US by putting on a little gas
 

If you did not make a wreckless decision to overtake in a dangerous place the rest of the sanario does not happen. Take some personal responsibility. Dont mean to be harsh.
 
blueblood said:
Good road and condition, just because he's doing 70KPH dosn't mean we all should or he'll SHOW US by putting on a little gas
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Good road but with a single white line so potentially a dangerous road, where guards are patrolling.
 
I observed my surroundings and road ahead, all was clear as far as the eye could see
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You obviously didn't observe very much if there was a single white line ahead. You should have pulled back when you seen the white line coming ahead, I agree with the Guards here, you were in the wrong. You are not allowed to cross a continous white line - you did ie. you broke the law.
 
Television first of all its reckless not wreckless. Secondly you are talking rubbish and it seems to me you are just trying to wind up the op.

You judge the op for what seem to me to be fairly reasonable driving decisions, and praise the truck driver for what is clearly dangerous driving. The truck driver increased his speed deliberately when the op tried to overtake legally, to try to force the op back behind his vehicle. That is disgraceful driving IMO and could easily have caused an accident.

Sounds to me like the garda made a bad call on this one. I think it's wrong that people are not given an opportunity to defend themselves in court without running the risk of getting additional penalty points, but that's the way it is unfortunately.

I think you need to double check the specific rule of the road re overtaking and see if you were technically correct or incorrect. If incorrect you should accept the points. If it's a grey area or you were technically correct, then I would appeal. Good luck.

Kate.
 
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