Michael McAleeranswers your questions
From RD:
I was very interested in last week's article 'Gardaí forced to refund fines', as I got three penalty points on March 15th, 2007, at the checkpoint under the bridge between the Port Tunnel exit and the airport. I was actually doing 98 km/h, according to the letter from the Garda. I had thought it was a 100km/h area and was driving with cruise control.
Please explain if I am eligible for a refund of points and money, and if it is up to me to claim from gardaí. I don't suppose they will refund without being asked.
According to Patrick Logue, author of the piece, the correct bylaws were in place to enforce the 80 km/h limit in March 2007, so there is no refund due in this case. However, there are two other periods of time when the correct laws were not in place.
Gardaí have contacted a number of motorists who were caught driving above the 80km/h speed limit on the M1 between the Port Tunnel and the airport interchange. The speeding fines and penalty points were deemed to be invalid because the correct bylaws to allow for the speed limit were not in place, according to gardaí.
Fingal County Council explained that the National Roads Authority requested that the speed limit be reduced from 120km/h to 80km/h prior to the December 2006 opening of the Port Tunnel. A temporary bylaw was introduced on November 14th, 2006, allowing for the 80km/h limit. However, it seems that the limit was being enforced by gardaí before November 14th, 2006. If you were caught speeding in the area above the 80km/h limit before this date, and have not yet been contacted by the gardaí, you may be in line for a refund. We are still trying to find out how long the limit was being enforced incorrectly in 2006.
The local authority also explained that the temporary bylaw expired on May 14th, 2007, and due to an "administrative oversight" was not renewed for five weeks until June 20th, 2007. Again, if you were caught speeding above the 80km/h limit during these five weeks last year, and have not been contacted by the gardaí, you may also be in line for a refund. The speed limit was made permanent last November. Motorists with any queries should contact the Garda Traffic Division in Dublin Castle.
From D Clarke:
Following on from Tim O'Brien's report on the delay in contracting Gatso camera vans for the gardaí, it seems like years ago since we were promised a national spread of speed cameras, located in the blackspot danger areas on our roads. I haven't seen a one, despite all the hype and column inches devoted to the topic.
Numerous consultations have been undergone and a short-list of potential contractors for the privatised cameras has been created. It now seems that increased cost is the latest in a litany of hold-ups to the proposed speed camera scheme.
While there may be a debate about whether speed cameras offer the sort of panacea to the current road carnage that some might have us believe, there's no escaping one increasingly important fact: they will have little or no impact on non-national drivers.
You can lace a string of speed cameras the length and breadth of the State, but until we can get an EU-wide - or even Anglo-Irish - agreement on the recognition of penalty points across jurisdictions, cameras will be pointless in slowing non-national drivers.
No one wishes to scapegoat those from other jurisdictions. However, they play an increasingly relevant part in our motoring world. While the majority may well be as good, if not better, behind the wheel than their Irish counterparts, the small minority that behave recklessly can do so without fear of incurring points under the present system. EU-wide recognition of penalty points has been discussed for years, even well before points were introduced here. Something needs to be done about it, and not just more ministerial meetings where everyone agrees it is a good idea in principle.
Finally, we should also remember that it is not simply speeding that causes crashes: it is inappropriate speeds. The problem is that all too frequently speed limits do not reflect the correct speed for a particular stretch of road. They are often too low, thereby frustrating drivers or leaving them with points, or too high, at risk of misleading a driver into a false sense of security, particularly when entering a corner. Knowing what the appropriate speed is for a stretch of road should be a combination of training, knowledge, and correct information. The last point means we need proper road signage and reliable and appropriate speed limits.
From Owen Edwards:
When should a head gasket go on a car? I have a 2005 (bought in March) car and had to get one replaced in December 2007 due to an oil leak.
The car had 40,000 miles on the clock. I will refrain from giving you the car make for the time being. They did replace the part free, even though the car was beyond its two year warranty, and paid some of the labour; but I was left with a bill for over €350 (remaining labour charge, VAT and a new fan belt). I tried to find out why it would go, but got only polite answers with little information. As I paid some of the cost, should I be entitled to get more information back from them, or did I get a fair deal in having them cover some of the cost?
The first point to make is that a blown head gasket can cause incredible damage to the engine. For those lucky enough not to know, the head gasket is the seal between engine block and the cylinder head.
As a very poor description, think of it as a washer between the block with the cylinders and the top part where the fuel injectors, valves and the rest are found.
Damage to this can cause seepage of oil into the cooling system and water into the oil. Alternatively it can cause these fluids to leak out. At the very least it will lower the pressure in these systems that will prevent proper lubrication/cooling. In layman's terms, it can cause the engine to eat itself.
There are various signs of a blown head gasket, though only by removing it can you confirm a problem. Telltale signs include a lightness in oil colour that suggests there is water in it, or alternatively brown scum in the radiator coolant. Problems with the coolant system but with no external leaks evident can also signal a problem.
According to someone with an expertise in this area, there is no specific mileage or vehicle that a head gasket should last.
Many vehicles will have a head gasket which will last the lifetime of the engine, others may be replaced due to engine overheating (eg coolant loss from a damaged or leaking radiator), or, as in this case, replaced because of oil leakage. Frequently modern engine design means that the gasket is not only a seal for the combustion chambers and coolant galleys (passages), but also timing chain area which naturally will have oil splashed around.
If the oil is leaking from where the head gasket provides a seal to keep oil inside the engine, then the cylinder head must be removed to replace the gasket, which is a labour intensive job.
The garage will no doubt show you where the problem lay, but they did seem pretty fair to you in putting it through even after the warranty had run out.
If in any doubt, you might just checkwith the car manufacturer, however, to see if there was a recall issue on the gaskets.
o Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, Tara St, Dublin 2 or e-mail motorshelp@irish-times.ie