Coast Guard speeding charge dismissed

A DISTRICT Court judge has dismissed a charge of speeding against an Irish Coast Guard volunteer who was responding to an emergency call-out.

At Nenagh District Court yesterday, the deputy officer-in-charge with Killaloe Coast Guard unit, Damien Madden, explained how he was responding to a vessel in difficulty at Shannonbridge in Co. Offaly at the time he was detected by a speed van.

The incident, which occurred on July 26 last year, happened over 80 kilometres from Killaloe Coast Guard’s base in Co. Clare.

Mr Madden had to leave work in Limerick and make his way to the Coast Guard station in Killaloe to collect an emergency vehicle. He explained how it would take him almost two hours to reach the scene after leaving work. He said the Killaloe unit was the only resource that could transport a boat by trailer to launch near the scene.

GoSafe operative Gerard O’Brien said he detected Mr Madden’s vehicle at 1.34pm on the N52 at Ardcroney in Co. Tipperary. He said the Coast Guard vehicle was driving at 71kph in a 50kph zone.

Mr Madden explained how he was the only officer and coxswain available to helm the rescue boat on the day. He said he remembered it was a warm day and ‘there was no other traffic, the road was clear’.

He said that when he received the fixed charged notice, he wrote to the fixed charge processing office in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, to explain the circumstances. He was told the ticket would not be cancelled as there was ‘no risk to life’ associated with the call he was responding to. Mr Madden opted to challenge the matter in court instead.

He told Judge Elizabeth MacGrath that while he was responding to the 999 call he didn’t know all the circumstances. He said he was informed by the Coast Guard coordination centre in Valentia that there was a boat aground with a man on board. He said he had no information on whether the boat was damaged, had a hole in it or anything else. He said the circumstances at the scene could have changed at any time.

After listening to Mr Madden’s evidence and stating, as far as she knew, the Coast Guard was not exempt from the speed limit while responding to emergency calls, Judge MacGrath decided to strike out the case.