Some Irish advice please ?

[FRED]

Going over to Ireland next week for a long weekend. Will be a few of us all in Ur quattro's. As a rule I use a GPS speed camera detector which has a laser attachment (Origin b2) in my S2. All perfectly legal over here and very handy.

Obviously I won't be speeding but I was thinking of swapping it over to the Ur for the trip. If nothing else it would be nice to know what speed I am actually doing as the Ur speedo is hopelessly inaccurate.

I know the police are a bit less lenient with speeding over there but wondered if anyone could tell me if it's legal to use the B2 in Ireland (north and south)

Hopefully someone over there can keep me right.

thanks,

Grant

[Knight Rider S4]

Found this statement

Q. Are they Legal ?

A In January 1998 the Queen's Bench Divisional Court stated that radar detectors had in fact never been illegal in the UK , contrary to popular folklore and the repeated claims of the police.

We would recommend you check your own countries laws if you are outside the UK.

Countries such as France, Belgium and Switzerland continue to take a very dim view of anyone found in possession of a radar detector. Confiscation of equipment and an instant fine is normal. In the Republic of Ireland it is legal to own a radar detector but illegal to be found using one.

[Nj]

dunno the back and white of it mate but the couple of guys I know that use them in the north would try to keep them hidden when possible.
And the cops in the north don't put up big signs and make themselves noticeable all the time. I saw a golf of some sort (r32? vr6?) with big rims and all sat beside the motorway in belfast with blue lights in the back window and a depressed bloke in a scooby in front.

[Animal Mother]

Obviously the same laws and rules apply in Northern Ireland as in the rest of the UK.

[mcandmar]

KnightRiderS4 is spot on "Republic of Ireland it is legal to own a radar detector but illegal to be found using one", so if you get pulled over stuff it in the glovebox

I've never heard of anybody being fined for having one, they usually confiscate it and do you for anything they can. Speeding, reckless driving, driving without due care etc.

To be honest it’s rare to see a speed trap, road side cameras are also very rare, for every 10 only half actually have film in them. There are probably only 10 in the Dublin area to give you an idea, and a majority are on motorways/dual carriageways.

The other big difference over here is over half of the Garda cars are unmarked, and they can be anything from Impreza Turbos, Lexus, BMW 5 series, to the run of the mill Ford Mondeo. If you going to get done it’s usually the guy in the rear view mirror. Oh and transit vans, see one of them parked on the side of the motorway back off.

Enjoy the trip, any idea which part of the country you will be in?

Mark

[S2central.net]

There is just a LOT less cameras over here - North and South as Mark says.

He's also right about there being lots of unmarked traffic cars - including an Evo, Scooby and some anonymous looking fast Volvos in the North.

Oh and whereabouts / when you coming over - might be nice to catch up (no pun intended) ?

Paul

[FRED]

Thanks for all the advice/comments.

Paul/Mark - Coming in via Larne on Thursday late afternoon/early evening. Staying in Newtonabbey, About 10 miles north of Belfast I think. Off to the north on Friday morning, up to the Giant's Causeway for lunchtime, then south via the Sperrin mountains to Donegal where we are staying for the next two nights.
Saturday we plan to tour the County Donegal coastline visiting Fanad Head and Atlantic Drive and passing through Dunfanaghy, Dunglow , Ardara and heading west to
Glencolumbkille and back via Killybegs. If it's a good day we hope to include a drive to the Bluestack mountains.
Sunday to recover and relaxing drive home.

If i'm close to you any time let me know and I'll PM some contact details.

Grant

[S2central.net]

Fanad Head and Atlantic Drive are fantastic - especially as there will be little or no tour busses this time of year. On route to the Causeway be sure to take the scenic coastal version towards Ballycastle by way of Torr Head - great bit of road but impossible to safely drive at or near the speed limit in daytime as much of it is so narrow and blind.