Judges struck out over half the road traffic cases in Dublin courts last year, it has emerged. Ahead of the introduction of a new penalty points system for driving violations, the court service revealed that judges struck out 47,938 of the 89,790 cases in 2001.
Fines were imposed on 19,693 occasions. Judges dismissed 6426 prosecutions and imposed 147 prison sentences.
Parking violations (5,495) accounted for over a quarter of offences, followed by drink driving (1,505), unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle (293), and dangerous driving (209). The average number of days required to deal with cases from first appearance to final determination was 20. The statistics were compiled by the court service's new criminal case tracking system, piloted in Dublin and Limerick and soon to be installed nationwide.
The court service said 301,148 road traffic offences were recorded across the State last year. A far-reaching overhaul of road traffic regulations is anticipated over coming months.
Since assuming office in June, the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan. has given priority to the introduction of a penalty points system, similar to that operating in Europe and the US. Under the planned system, motorists incurring a predetermined number of points will lose their licence and be forced to re-sit the driving test.