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TRANSPORT MINISTER SHANE ROSS has said he does not anticipate having to “go to war” with his Cabinet colleagues over his new graduated speeding law.
Cabinet is to consider the regulations tomorrow, though it is expected that some ministers and TDs will give significant push back to the new proposals.
In an interview with this publication last year, the minister confirmed that he intended to introduce the new law in 2019.
Under the system, drivers who exceed the limit by more than 30km/ph will face a court prosecution and a €2,000 fine.
The new law will also see drivers that record minor infringements of the speed limit, of between zero to 10km/ph, get fewer penalty points than is currently the norm.
Currently, speeding of any kind carries a fixed charge fine of €80, along with three penalty points.
Under the new rules, drivers who record minor infringements will only get two penalty points along with a €60 fine.
Anyone speeding between 10km/ph and 20 km/ph over the limit will receive three penalty points, and a €80 fine, with those caught speeding between 20km/ph and 30 km/ph over the limit getting a €100 fine and four penalty points.
“It will be graduated, the more you break the speed limit the more you’ll be punished – there will be higher penalty points,” Ross said at the time he proposed the new measures.
However, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan spoke out against the new plans this year, stating they could have unforeseeable consequences.
Due to the disagreement, the bill was sent to a Cabinet subcommittee to be redrafted, with one or two amendments being made, Ross said. These changes have resulted in some of the penalties for lower-level infringements of the speed limit being reduced.
Christina Finn / TwitterRoss says he’s not ‘privy to the plot’ and not one minister or rural TD has approached him on the issue, he says pic.twitter.com/HPzEFYOoyw
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) November 25, 2019
The justice minister has now endorsed the legislation, said Ross, who told reporters today:
It fundamentally changes the way we respond to speeding. Those that are the least amount over the speeding limit actually get more lenient penalties, those who are in the middle get the same as there always was, and those who are extremists, those over 30 kilometres per hour, get greater penalties.
The majority of people will find themselves in the same or a better position. What it is aiming to do is the faster you go the more you get punished. We thought it was worth changing to make it a little more lenient for the people who are only marginally over the limit.
While all breaches of the speed limit are dangerous, said the minister, “if you are going over 30 km/ph over the limit that has to be treated differently”.
A headline in the Irish Independent this morning said that rural ministers were engaged in a ‘plot’ to derail Ross’s plan. Asked about TDs briefing against the proposed legislation, Ross said:
I am not privy to the plot and not a single minister or rural TD have approached me on this issue at all.
He expects ministers will make their views known at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting, he said.
While he acknowledged that some might have reservations, he would ask them to study the changes that have been made to the bill.
“I don’t think there is a plot of any sort,” said the minister, who added that speeding is not an issue for rural Ireland, but a problem nationwide.
“Speeding is the biggest killer on our roads, we’ve got to tackle it,” Ross said.
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2 points for 5kph over the limit?? No thanks. Points should only apply if your more than 10kph over. Who agrees??
@Oliver Jumelle: That makes no sense. That’s effectively increasing all speed limits by 10 km/h. Everyone would just drive at 10 over every speed limit making them pointless.
@Oliver Jumelle: It’s currently 3pts, so 2pts and 60 euro fine is better than it current should you nudge above the limit. Cars are already set with spedometers that tell you are going faster than you actually are, so you should stick to the limit and you’ll be fine.
@Oliver Jumelle: Strongly agree but my comment somehow got appended below.
@Oliver Jumelle: we had a case some time back where an employee of private a company charged with operating the speed camera vans, refused to tell a judge in open court what speed or above was a driver travelling at before a ticket was sent.
He was asking about the calibration essentially. The employee refused to answer.
@Colonel Buckshot: no. I’m saying if your above the speed limit by up to 10 kph. Then all you get is a fine
@Colonel Buckshot: No they won’t be pointless
@Oliver Jumelle: 2 points for 1k over limit how can that be justified
Anti Motorist Ross yet let’s cyclists away with everything
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: Totally agree. I lived abroad where speeding penatlies are only applied at 10% above the published limit. Then they are graduated with the top offenders exceeding 100% of the limit getting a jail term and/or a hefty fine with suspended license. It’s insane to penalise someone who is a couple of km over the limit because no equipment is that accurate or reliable. It also gives people time to check their speed when entering a road with a lower limit. FFG only want revenue.
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: Maybe you should check out the other article on a cyclist today.
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: earlier today you deemed this new points system as nothing more than a revenue collecting exercise, now here you are complaining about cyclists breaking the rules. But here’s the thing: it’s motorists that are killing an average of 160 people a year, that’s where the problem is on our roads, errant motorists are the ones that need to be tackled, not cyclists. You need to get your priorities right, drop the sense of entitlement and drop the double standards and get over this obsession you seem to have with cyclists.
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: so sad
@Conoroconnor: You ever tried overtaking cyclists that have already decided they own the road?
@Denis McClean: our cities are clogged every day by cars, they cause me way more delays than the occasional group of cyclists. I don”t get thus obsession everyone has with cyclists. There are bad cyclists of course, but they are nowhere near being the biggest problem on our roads.
Let’s get back to why some people are speeding, some just speed because they have a heavy foot fair enough, but what about the Likes of Minister Ross and all the elderly who do 60kph on 80/100kph roads that lead to people breaking the speed limit to pass them on the only available stretch of road and low and behold there’s a Garda or speed van stuck there. Address root causes before applying punishment I say. Cyclist, elderly and Sunday drivers lead to more accidents indirectly than speeding alone
@OpinionsMyOwn: bullshit
@OpinionsMyOwn: absolute nonsense. Drive to the conditions.
@John O Reilly: Your response is so intellectual, btw you’re a city cyclist which is not the issue, the issue concerns the roads outside the cities and towns. The best example is the Autobahn which for the majority has no speed limit. I will not disagree that speed kills, but all of ye eco warriors will never agree the there is mitigating circumstances as to why some people speed. So if you want call my statement bullshit have a think first and be more intelligent with your sad response.
Speeding in itself isn’t necessarily the problem, only 4% of accidents occur on motorways.
Speeding in built up areas was a huge problem, but I don’t see it anywhere near as much as I did 25 years ago.
Nor do I see a fraction of the boy racers I used to see.
Oddly, one of the biggest dangers I find these days are electric cars. I can’t here them coming. They could do with some form of audio warning.
@Perlum Sprite: add to that LED head lamps
At this time of yr they’re hazardous, esp SUVs
@Eugene Walsh: Led bulbs in the correct lamp housing are absolutely fine unless the headlamps are very dirty or your windscreen is filthy/marred.
@Perlum Sprite: what absolute twaddle
2 points for going 5kph over the limit? No sorry. 0 points for 5kph over the limit. The penalty points should only kick in once you go more than 10 kph
Poor man has a head that only a mother could love..
Some call an election some spare us anymore SpongeBob squrepants thinking form this past sell by date politician
He’s ‘not privy to the plot’ because pragmatic rural TDs won’t waste time trying to talk sense to this eejit. Hopefully his latest brainfart will get the quick burial it deserves.
Waiting for Michael and Danny to comment on this…
@John Considine: because speeding on rural roads is a good idea, is it?
@John Considine: Country folk logic at its finest, no wonder this country is such a car crash…..its riddled with morons.
Under this new proposal as with the old one the poorer you are the bigger the penalty. The more you can afford to pay a fine the less of a deterrent it wii be. Fines should be proportionate to ability to pay.
@Adrian Stewart: this opens up all kinds of grounds for lawyers to question evidence.
@Adrian Stewart: if you have a car and can pay insurance, tax and the rest that comes with ownership of a car then you can afford to take fine also if your caught speeding or disregarding the rules of the road. Silly answer
What about speeding push bikes breaking traffic lights speeding through roundabouts driving straight off walking paths no helmets no lights no reflectors these suaside jockeys need to be brought into this sector like should they also have insurance as the bought in work scheme would be easy to get details for the owners
@Noel Cowzer: what??
Shane you should bring in a law forbidden people who walk to fast seen that you have everything else covered
Wow this guy is some snob – just after the power grab – bet he won’t throw his snob head for election next year
There’s a big difference between doing 10kmh over the limit on Batchelors Walk at 3am on a Saturday and doing same at 3pm.
One way of FG and Mr. Toss losing seats at the next election!
Please stop posting that mug
That egit has Fine Gael wrapped round his finger.Think he’s got away with enuf bull and why Fine Gael lets him rule is beyond me.Stand up to the turkey he hasn’t even a car.Hes a disgrace FineGael will lose some votes over him
He’s doing his best noblest Napoleon pose, just looks like he’s got wind.
I wish they would re-assess some of the roads that have been improved over the years. For example the stretch at Lucan that is still 80 due to an old traffic light system that’s now gone or the 3 lane naas bypass that is better than the motorway.
If they are catching alot of people, maybe the limit does not fit that particular road.
TYPO ERROR…..headline should have said “I have lost the plot”…really Journal you do need to proof read!!!!
I presume all train drivers will be given a mandatory JAM card?
Also Shane Ross is a muppet
It’s very simple you make the law based on ones income e.g a certain percentage that’s the fairest way to do it like in the U.K.
Shane Ross Germany has Autobahn top speed 130 Km We built Irish motorways to go Slow What is the Fine in England Shane Ross is it €2000 Euros ? its Time for you to take a one way Trip Not Germany but into Space Take Katherine Zappone with you
What a weasel
Don’t often agree with him but I have to say I do on this……if you want to avoid penilty points, don’t speed , simple….. No ?
Vermin,maggott.
What a clown. Everybody knows mobile phones are the real danger. I’m grand. I’m below the speed limit . But I got 20 new likes on Facebook.
Ross ugly fool
Will new rules/laws not mean the penalties be contested even more in courts as to ascertain were you under or over the limit by how much. Talk about mudding the waters
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