I have zero penalty points on my driving licence, but I was thinking if an unmarked garda car was to follow my car - or any other persons car who has zero points - lets say as an experiment for an entire day that points would be quickly accumulated.
For the experiment the occupants of this hypothetical garda car are paying close attention to only my driving, and are doning things exactly by the book.
Lets see what happens.
Maybe in slow moving traffic you were just a bit too close to the car in front “Failure to leave appropriate distance between you and the vehicle in front” 2 points, maybe you pulled out for a cyclist and two wheels crossed a continuous white line for a second “Crossing white lines” 2 points and sure lets add “Dangerous overtaking” 2 points, maybe you were unfamiliar with an area and drove almost stright over a ghost roundabout “Failure to turn vehicle left onto a roundabout” 1 point, maybe on a narrow street in a scenic tourist town while crawling along you had to put two wheels on the footpath to pass a parked delivery truck “Contravention of restrictions of driving a vehicle on a footway” 1 point, maybe when coming to a stop sign you stopped with your front wheels just past the sign “Failure to stop at stop sign” 2 points.
Note how many offences carry multiple points, so I easily reached 8. What does that mean? Well for each point there is a monetary fine, but more importantly the cost of my insurance would rocket, and if the experiment was to continue and I accumulated 12 points, within a 3-year period, then I would automatically lose my driving licence for 6 months.
Fortunately I am not being followed by an observant garda car in real life, but the message is clear, driver carefully because it is your licence on the line.
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