The Road Safety Authority wants to see penalty points for drivers caught speeding or using their mobile phones doubled. The increase from three points to six would amount to two strikes and you are out; 12 points in a three-year period results in the loss of a licence for six months.
The Government may find it difficult to ignore the RSA’s request which is now in the public domain following the release of documents under the Freedom of Information Act. There is no socially acceptable level for road fatalities and the numbers are currently going in the wrong direction. A total of 81 people have died on the roads in the year to date, the highest number at this stage of the year in a decade.
The RSA’s suggestion has the merit of not requiring the Government to commit any additional Garda resources. As such it might be attractive in an election year as it would at least give the impression the Government is doing something.
However, the law of diminishing returns applies and there is no guarantee that stiffer penalties will further deter drivers from speeding or using their phones. As with most things involving breaking the law, fear of getting caught is a much more effective deterrent.
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Enforcement is the nub of the matter and fundamentally it is a question of Garda resources in the first instance and the functioning of the courts system thereafter.
Technology such as automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in Garda cars has a role to play but its value is negated if – as is currently the case – there are not enough gardaí to stop all the offenders being flagged by the cameras.
At present the number of gardaí dedicated to road policing is at its lowest level since 2017, roughly 600 on any given day. Competing demands on Garda resources are a factor and so is the decline in gardaí numbers to around 14,000 compared to a target of over 15,000.
More gardaí dedicated to enforcing the current laws rather than more penalty points is the most important way to improve road safety.