Motorists dodge the law with speed trap detectors

PENALTY points may be slowing down motorists but they are also accelerating sales of speed trap detectors.

Suppliers of devices for detecting speed cameras and radar guns report an upsurge in sales since the penalty points system came into operation, despite the fact that they are illegal to use here.

A number of internet-based British suppliers are now directly targeting the Irish market and one Northern Ireland supplier said almost all of his business was now coming from the south.

“It used to be 90% from the north and 10% from the South but it’s exactly the reverse now, ” said Wayne Lyons of nomorepenaltypoints.com, which operates from Markethill, Co Armagh. Mr Lyons would not disclose how many units he was selling but called it a “very considerable quantity”, most of which were the most expensive model costing €395.

Dublin supplier CQ Communications, which has a shop at Ormond Quay, said it had also seen an increase in interest and was selling at least a dozen devices a week, again usually the most expensive model which retails at €449.

These more sophisticated models include a “shutdown” feature which, it is claimed, prevents garda lasers or radars detecting the detector - a feature considered essential in the Republic where owning a device is legal but fitting it to a car and/or using it is outlawed.

Penalties start with fines of €253 but it is not clear whether anyone has ever been prosecuted. A Garda spokesperson said yesterday the normal procedure was to confiscate the device if it was discovered.

A technician at CQ Communications said the store had never been challenged about stocking the detectors. He said the people most buying the units were taxi-drivers, sales reps and long-distance commuters, rather than boy-racer types.