The “writing was on the wall” for a tractor driver drawing a load of straw with Gardaí over the weekend for road safety offences.
The driver in question was stopped by members of An Garda Síochána’s Road Policing Unit (RPU) in Co. Sligo over the bank holiday.
The driver was stopped after being spotted texting while pulling a trailer load, according to local Gardaí.
The incident was one of a number of road safety offences detected by the Sligo RPU yesterday (Monday, August 2).
In a tweet highlighting the issue, the An Garda Síochána Twitter account said:
“Sligo RPU conducting patrols over the bank holiday weekend, with a focus on life saver offences, detected the following: [a] driver texting while pulling a trailer load [a] driver speeding who also tested positive for drug driving; and [a] driver speeding at 161kph in a 100kph zone.”
According to the Road Safety Authority (RSA), it is an offence to hold a mobile phone in your hand or support it with another part of your body, for example between your head and shoulder, when you are driving.
Since April 2014, it is also illegal to send or read a text message on a mobile phone while driving.
If the Gardaí charge you with a mobile and driving offence, you will get a fixed charged notice of €60. If you pay the fixed charge you will get three penalty points.
If you choose not to pay the fixed charge and are then convicted in court you will get three penalty points and a fine of up to €2,000.