Senior Gardaí are warning that the administrative process behind the penalty points scheme is struggling to cope with the backlog of offences, even before they begin to process new points for non-seatbelt wearing.
Gardaí are unhappy with the tickets, which they say are badly designed, and the increasing backlog of video and photographic footage to be viewed. Estimates put this backlog at about 15,000 potential offenders whose footage still awaits viewing by gardai.
According to one Garda source, about half of these will never hear from the gardaí, because on average 50 per cent of the images are unreadable due to dirty number-plates, fog and poor weather conditions.
Despite the introduction in May of a computerised system for tickets issued in the Dublin Metropolitan Garda Area, gardai are still struggling with the backlog of manually issued fines. Eight additional members have been reassigned to try to clear the accumulation.
Outside the Dublin area, the situation is even more pressing, as all prosecutions have to be manually dealt with by the issuing garda.
Differing problems apply to the two types of tickets that carry penalty points. The first, the "intercept" ticket, is issued when a motorist is stopped by a garda. In the Dublin Area, a garda files the offence with the IT (computer) section which then monitors the case until the motorist has either paid and had the points put on their licence, or the case goes to court.
However, the ticket itself has being criticised by gardai using them, who say the boxes on the tickets where the offence must be written are too small. The Garda's IT department is unable to process tickets unless the details are extremely clear and beyond contention. If they are not, the ticket is simply scrapped and no further action is taken.
Outside Dublin, the process is even more unwieldy. The ticket is filled out by the garda who gives a section of it to the motorist.
The officer takes the remainder of the ticket back to the Garda station and inputs the details into a ledger. If the motorist pays the fine then the officer logs it and the penalty points are issued to the licence.
However, the problem arises when the motorist does not pay within 28 days. Then the officer must return to the ledger, check the details and notify the alleged offender that they are now in the second 28-day period which means a higher fine. If the motorist still fails to respond, then the officer must again notify both the alleged offender and the Courts Service, which takes over at this point.
The garda who originally issued the summons is notified of the date of the court case. In cases of non-appearance by the defendant or non-payment, warrants are sent to districts for service. Gardaí say the system is far too time consuming and is wasting resources.
The second type of ticket issued is the "non-intercept ticket" for offences recorded by Gatsos and other fixed speed cameras.
A principal problem here, according to gardaí is in prosecuting the drivers of company cars. When a speeding fine is sent to a company, the firm is asked to nominate the driver. Many do, but there is no legal obligation on the company to name the driver. If they don't, the prosecution cannot be completed.
With Gatso and fixed speed camera cases, wet film and dry video is read to identify registration numbers of the vehicles and the date of the alleged offence.
As with the non-intercept tickets, the offender is given 28 and 56 days to pay the fine and accept the penalty points or the case goes to the courts system. Gardaí are experiencing problems here because the system depends on the National Vehicle File (NVF) in Shannon having an up-to-date ownership record for every vehicle.
In reality it can take the NVF from three to five weeks to register a change of ownership on a vehicle, so the person caught on camera might not be registered owner.
A Garda source revealed a backlog of approximately 100 videotapes to be viewed by gardai with an estimated 150 vehicles per video. That means footage of up to 15,000 potential offenders is awaiting viewing.
In the case of non-intercept tickets which go to court, the film evidence has to be traced again and a photo printed, which is certified and attached to the court proceedings.
This involves trawling through film and video. The offender must be served with the summons with the certified photo attached.
Furthermore, in the prosecution of the case there is a presumption that the offender received the notice and that he or she is the registered owner. This is rebuttable, the offender could in court deny getting the notice, thus forcing the prosecution to prove that notice was served.
The Department of Transport asserts that the computerised system currently in use in Dublin will be rolled out across the state before Christmas.