Gardaí stopping motorists for any of the 35 penalty points offences in force from today have "no way of knowing" if the driver is already banned from driving, it has been confirmed.
On the eve of the introduction of 31 new penalty points offences to add to the existing four, gardaí said last night they cannot tell if a motorist stopped at the roadside has already accrued the maximum number of penalty points. This is because there is no physical endorsement on people's driving licences and new hand-held devices do not include penalty points information.
A driver who has gained 12 points is automatically disqualified from driving for six months, with the onus on drivers to surrender their licence to their local motor tax office. However, if a banned motorist continues to drive, the licence will appear "clean" to any garda making a roadside check or stopping the driver for an offence.
The practice of endorsing licences was discontinued in 2002 and will not be reintroduced, Minister for Transport Martin Cullen told an Oireachtas transport committee last month.
Hand-held devices for recording offences on the roadside are being issued to stations. However, they will not enable a garda to enter a driver's licence number to check penalty points records and there are no plans to make this facility available.
"A garda at the roadside has no way of knowing if a motorist has 12 points because it's not recorded on the licence and we don't know yet whether the hand-held units will carry this information in the future," a Garda spokeswoman said.
Only 19 motorists have reached 12 penalty points and Mr Cullen said he has "no evidence" they are continuing to drive.
Labour's transport spokeswoman Róisín Shortall said there was every likelihood that, with the increase in the number of penalty points offences, there will be an increase in the number of people reaching 12 points "and we just can't depend on people being honest in all cases".
The National Driver File and the Garda Pulse system will be linked from April 15th, gardaí said, making penalty point information available at stations. However, this will not apply to the hand-held devices.
"Unless a garda decides to call the station, they will not know at the roadside if a licence is valid. An endorsement on the licence is needed," Ms Shortall said.
