Gardai in Tipperary had a very busy afternoon recently, stopping and seizing two cars for breaking the law after getting an alert on their app.
The Traffic App helps detect disqualified drivers, untaxed cars and stolen vehicles, all at the members’ fingertips. The Offences App provides offence details including penalty points and fines.
The device scans the registration plates and automatically returns relevant data. The device can also scan a driving licence and automatically return real time information on the roadside to the Garda. This has proved successful in identifying false or forged driving licences and disqualified drivers.
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And it helped one specific crew in Tipperary recently.
First, the Roads Policing Unit intercepted an Audi in Nenagh having been pinged by their app.
A spokesperson explained: "We discovered: No Insurance, No NCT, No Tax and a Learner Driver driving unaccompanied with no L/Plates.
"The vehicle was seized and a court appearance pending."
Offences for driving without insurance are prosecuted in court. Failure to display an insurance disk carries a fixed charge of €60 (rising to €90 after 28 days).
If you drive while uninsured, you could be fined up to €5000 and get 5 penalty points. You could also go to prison for up to 6 months.
Then, just hours later the same unit were once again on patrol when getting a notification from the app about a car in Templemore.
The spokesperson continued: "The driver of this Skoda was found to be disqualified from driving after an alert on the #MobilityApp. The driver was arrested and charged to court & the vehicle seized."
If you drive while disqualified from driving, or you are required to produce a certificate of competency or certificate of fitness before getting a driving licence but you fail to do so, you could be fined up to €5000, or be imprisoned for up to 6 months, or both.
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