Traffic offenders evading penalty points to be focus of clampdown

A plan to clamp down on large numbers of traffic offenders who are getting away without penalty points has been welcomed by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.

Official figures show a significant proportion of drivers are taking advantage of poor enforcement measures to avoid penalty points.

People brought before the courts on traffic offences are avoiding penalty points by not presenting their licences in court as they are legally obliged to do.

Courts Service figures show 21,709 people were convicted under the Road Traffic Act of a penalty point offence last year, but only 8,059 had their driving licence number recorded on the Criminal Case Tracking System (CCTS). That means about 60 per cent of those convicted of a penalty point offence by the courts managed to avoid penalty points, even though they were fined.

Ms Fitzgerald has expressed concern that “a large proportion of persons coming before the courts on road traffic offences were not presenting their licences in court and in many cases thereby not receiving penalty points”.

She said gardaí would shortly commence prosecutions, starting at multiple locations nationwide, targeting persons not presenting their licences in court, which was an offence under road traffic legislation.

“It is essential that our road traffic laws are both respected and enforced. Enforcement and prosecution of offences in this area is critical to public safety and to reducing deaths on our roads.

“There must be no way out for anybody seeking to avoid getting penalty points and I welcome the initiative by An Garda Síochána to commence prosecutions for failure to present driving licences in court,” she said.