JUST OVER A third of the 1,354 drivers disqualified from driving after accumulating 12 penalty points have surrendered their driving licences.
Figures released by the Road Safety Authority show 531 of the drivers with 12 points handed over a licence to the District Court.
The issue arises because gardaí do not have the power to seize the licence of a disqualified motorist.
The Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, told The Irish Timeshe plans to close this loophole and make it an offence for a motorist reaching 12 penalty points to fail to hand over their licence.
“It needs to become compulsory to hand over your licence when you get to 12 points. It will need to become an offence. There will be an offence of not presenting your licence,” he said.
Mr Varadkar said he will close another loophole, which has allowed more than 85,000 holders of an Irish driving licence to avoid having the points put on their licence because they failed to bring their licence to court.
A provision to make it a requirement for a driver before the courts is contained in the Road Traffic Act 2010, and Mr Varadkar said he hopes this legislation, which also makes it compulsory to hand over a licence after accruing 12 points, will be enacted in time for the October bank holiday weekend.
Mr Varadkar said he was also considering an increase in the penalty points allocated for two key offences; speeding, and using a mobile phone while driving.
“I am considering adjusting the points allocated for speeding and using a mobile phone,” he said. “I am weighing up the pros and cons of such a move.”
Both offences currently attract two penalty points and the Road Safety Authority has recommended that the points for speeding and failing to wear a seatbelt should be increased to three.
Mr Varadkar said he plans to expand the penalty points system and activate a number of new offences including driving with faulty lights, and failing to wear a motorcycle helmet.
Mr Varadkar said his road safety priority this year was to get road deaths below 200 (last year saw 211 deaths – the lowest on record) and then focus more on the level of serious injuries.
“The focus up to now has been on deaths. But injuries are really important and huge numbers of people are damaged in crashes,” he added.
Mr Varadkar was also generous in his praise of the previous government and former minister for transport, Noel Dempsey.
“The last government gets a lot of criticism but on road safety I think they did a really good job,” he said. “Road deaths would not have gone down by the amount they have had it not been made a priority.”
