Drivers using hand-held mobile phones behind the wheel this summer face five penalty points, a fine and a court appearance from next Tuesday, Patrick Logue reports
The severe punishment will be temporary - it arises from a delay in legislation and a delay in rolling out a new Garda computer system. The offence will carry only one point when these items are in place.
In the absence of a specific offence under the points system, mobile-using drivers face prosecution for careless driving, which is loosely defined as driving without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for others.
From Tuesday next, June 1st, careless driving - including using a mobile - will incur five points, a fine and a mandatory court appearance as part of the expansion of the points system by the Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan. Motorists face the stiff punishment until legislation making mobile use a specific offence is passed. When the Road Traffic Bill is passed, mobile phone use will carry one penalty point, or three if contested in court.
A spokesman said the Minister was confident the Bill would come before the Dáil "in the next three weeks, although it will be a tight squeeze." But even when the Bill is passed there will still be a delay in implementing the new phone offence.
The Department of Transport is holding off in implementing new offences after June 1st, until the Garda Pulse 2 computer system is deemed compatible with the Courts Service computer system and the National Driver File. This isn't expected to be fully rolled out until the end of the summer.
The Department of Justice told Motors that it is "planned to commence the electronic system before the end of June, initially by way of live pilot, with full implementation following successful completion of the pilot."
Brennan's spokesman said it would be "very much up to the gardaí" if motorists were prosecuted for dangerous driving for being on the phone. "The evidence has to be fairly strong to prosecute for careless driving," he said. "There is a difference between driving down a straight road using a phone and negotiating a roundabout."
Meanwhile, the Government's efforts to crack down on speeding have run into new problems with legal difficulties emerging on radar guns. Cork District Court Judge Con O'Leary dismissed a case because radar guns used by the Garda do not give print-out readings of the speed in question. The Government could amend the Road Traffic Bill before it is goes before the Dáil, or it could introduce separate legislation. It may also challenge any rulings in the High Court.
Brennan's spokesman said the Department would be monitoring any similar cases and may challenge their outcome in the High Court. "We need to rectify this quickly," he said. "We will monitor the outcome of these cases".
A flood of new claims was not expected, he said, as most people who have already been given points, have admitted guilt by accepting the lower two-point penalty instead of going to court.
Fine Gael's Denis Naughten says "the entire points system is at risk now that radar guns have been revealed as legally unreliable". Labour's Róisín Shortall says "a spotlight has been thrown onto the shortcomings of the Minister's road safety strategy. He must move immediately to rectify this anomaly by introducing the new Road Traffic Bill, which he has frequently promised yet failed to deliver thus far."