Call to reward motorists for early payment of fines

MOTORISTS SHOULD be given a 50 per cent discount if they pay parking fines within 14 days, an Oireachtas committee has recommended.

Such a scheme would be similar to one which operates in Northern Ireland, where motorists receive a £60 fine which is reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days.

In the Republic, average parking fines range from €40 to €80. The fines increase by 50 per cent if the motorist does not pay up within 28 days.

The parking fines recommendation is one of several made by the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht, in its submission on the Road Traffic (No 2) Bill 2011.

The committee met Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar last month as part of a new process which enables Oireachtas committees to consider legislation at an early stage and have a more meaningful input into law making.

The parking fines scheme which operates in Northern Ireland has proved effective at reducing administration costs and encouraging people to pay fines in a more timely fashion.

Committee chairman Ciarán Lynch TD said it has been shown in other jurisdictions that the carrot rather than the stick approach to payment of fines is a more efficient way of dealing with the issue.

He conceded that the new approach might cost local authorities revenues initially but that would be made up for by more prompt payments from motorists.

“There is a better chance of getting half the money in a short period of time rather than none of the money after a court case. This will add an immediacy to dealing with the issue from the point of view of the motorist,” he said.

The committee also recommended that the last owner of a car be hit with penalty points if that car is found abandoned.

There are 100,000 provisional licence holders waiting longer than a year for a test. The committee believes that a sanction should be imposed on those who do not apply for a test within a set time period.

It also maintains that driving instruction and education should be part of the school curriculum.

It advises the Minister to ensure that all NCT test centres should issue reminders of renewal dates to motorists.

Many have been lax in this regard for years.

It is also opposed to the proposal to move the tests for roadworthiness of commercial vehicles to a centralised location and away from local garages which could impact on employment in local garages.

Members of the committee also want the Minister to address the long-running saga of ensuring that motorists from the Republic who get penalty points notices in the North have them applied to their licences in the South and vice versa.

They note, though, that might only come about with a synchronisation of penalty point offences in both the UK and Ireland.

The committee is seeking clarification in relation to the issue of the driving licence system being taken away from local authorities with a potential loss of revenue.

Mr Lynch said the workings of the committee show how they can contribute to legislation at an earlier stage.

“It gives Oireachtas members a more significant input into drafting the country’s laws,” he said.