The Government is set to publish a Road Traffic Bill in the autumn leading to the introduction of a penalty points system for motorists.
The Minister for State at the Department of the Environment, Mr Robert Molloy, said he hoped to have the new system operational by early next year.
The Minister was speaking at the launch of the first progress report of the High Level Group on Road Safety. The group is responsible for monitoring the Government's strategy for road safety up to 2002.
A similar penalty points system already exists in Northern Ireland. Every year in the United Kingdom 30,000 drivers are disqualified from driving after accumulating penalty points.
Motorists receive penalty points for offences such as speeding and illegal parking. The proposal has been welcomed the Automobile Association and the National Safety Council.
The new penalty system is part of the Government's strategy to reduce road fatalities by 2002 by a minimum of 20 per cent of their 1997 level. The group estimates that attaining this objective would save 172 lives by 2002.
Last year 458 people died on Irish roads, a 3 per cent reduction on the number in 1997. The number of people injured in road accidents in 1998 was the lowest in a decade.
Mr Molloy said that while progress was being made, the number of road accidents remained "unacceptably high". He said "speed, drink and the non-wearing of seat belts are the main causes of road accidents".
The report notes that there is still considerable scope for improvements in speed limit observation. On average some 37 per cent of trucks exceeded their legal limit of 50 m.p.h. while one in five car owners drives at speeds above the legal limit which is generally 60 m.p.h. Detections from the first set of fixed speed cameras will start next month on several national routes. Last year 131 on-the-spot fines for speeding were issued by the Garda, an increase of 84 per cent on the 1997 level. The indications so far in 1999 are that this upward trend will continue.
Mr Molloy said there was evidence to suggest that young people were observing drink-driving warnings. However, an increasing proportion of car driver and car passenger deaths is in the 15 to 24 age group. In 1998, approximately one in 10 road deaths and injuries was in that age category.
Mr Molloy appealed to motorists "not to make our roads a death trap for others" over the August holiday weekend. He appealed to all road-users to remember that their actions "will make the difference between life and death over the next few days".
Under the penalty points system introduced in Northern Ireland in October 1997, there are two types of road offence, those which carry a fixed fine of £20 and those which carry penalty points along with a fixed fine of £40.
Motorists who accumulate a maximum of 12 points in a three-year period are automatically disqualified for at least three months. The courts have the power to extend that ban to match the severity of the offence.
The points are automatically endorsed in an offender's licence. Three points are awarded for disobeying traffic signs and driving a vehicle with faulty brakes and tyres. Drivers can receive up to six points for speeding and driving without a licence.