Penalties upheld despite confusion over speed limit

THE GARDA SÍOCHÁNA has poured cold water on the hopes of motorists who believed they had a case for having their speeding penalty points and fixed charges overturned because of confusion about the legality of speed limits on the M1 and N4 routes.

Last November, almost 700 speeding summonses were struck out at Dublin District Court after the judge was informed of a doubt about the validity of the speed limits on several roads, including the M1 and the N4 near Liffey Valley.

It subsequently emerged gardaí had previously arranged for penalties to be refunded to motorists who had been accused of speeding on the M1, north of the Port Tunnel portal.

In March 2007, gardaí wrote to a motorist saying: “Due to an administrative error, whereby the relevant bylaws were not in force, a decision was made to refund all paid notices and have penalty points expunged from all affected driving licence files.” The following month, the Road Safety Authority confirmed the points had been lifted.

Motorists who had not benefited from either the doubt expressed in court or the Garda retraction of penalties, claimed it was unfair that some drivers had penalties lifted arising from alleged offences, while others have been told there can be no reassessment of their files.

But the Garda told The Irish Timesthere were "two separate issues" involved in withdrawing penalties and striking out summonses.

The Garda has already accepted there was a problem in relation to making the speed limit on the M1 for an undefined period prior to their letter of March 2007. The recent statement acknowledged that in such cases “summonses have been struck out and fines refunded and penalties expunged”.

In relation to the 700 cases struck out by the courts, which occurred after a doubt arose in relation to the publication of the speed limit notice, the Garda said its advice was the limit was valid, despite the doubt.

“In the incidents referred to, the presiding judge made a direction based on the summonses before the court on the particular date. The law officers have advised that there is no defect with the legislation that governs the special speed limits. Subsequent court cases have been adjudicated upon where special speed limits were an issue, and persons have been convicted where appropriate and subsequent summonses have not been found defective,” said the Garda statement.

There the matter would appear to rest, pending any further clarification by the courts.