Róisín Shortall
Question:561 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Transport the position regarding the operation of the penalty points scheme; and the number of drivers who have received penalty points. [11623/03]
Vol. 566 No. 1
561 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Transport the position regarding the operation of the penalty points scheme; and the number of drivers who have received penalty points. [11623/03]
Penalty points for speeding have been operating since 31 October 2002. Penalty points are being applied to the driving licence records of those convicted of speeding offences, and to those who pay a fixed charge to the gardaí to prevent the instigation of court proceedings.
Preliminary indications from the Garda Síochána in respect of the operation of the system to date are that, with no reduction in enforcement efforts, there has been a significant drop in the number of detections for speeding offences. There was also a significant reduction in road deaths over that period. In the first six months of the operation of the system the number of road deaths was 143, compared with 211 road deaths in the period from November 2001 to April 2002.
The recording of convictions for offences is a matter for the Courts Service. In addition, the compilation of data relating to payments of fixed charges where the relevant notices are issued by the Garda Síochána is a matter for that force. Both those organisations transfer the appropriate data to the Department of the Environment and Local Government to facilitate its entry into the national driver file which is the responsibility of that Department. It is understood from the Department of the Environment and Local Government that 17,886 penalty point notices have issued as of 30 April 2003. A county by county breakdown of the penalty point notices follows for the Deputy's information.
Analysis of Penalty Points issued to 30 April 2003.
Number of Drivers
County |
2PP |
4PP |
6PP |
8PP |
Total |
Carlow |
190 |
6 |
196 |
||
Cavan |
187 |
3 |
190 |
||
Clare |
338 |
2 |
340 |
||
Cork |
1,891 |
35 |
4 |
1,930 |
|
Donegal |
329 |
7 |
336 |
||
Galway |
584 |
6 |
590 |
||
Kerry |
412 |
6 |
418 |
||
Kildare |
727 |
11 |
738 |
||
Kilkenny |
373 |
5 |
378 |
||
Laois |
291 |
7 |
298 |
||
Leitrim |
87 |
87 |
|||
Limerick County Council |
400 |
8 |
1 |
409 |
|
Longford |
110 |
2 |
112 |
||
Louth |
260 |
3 |
263 |
||
Mayo |
291 |
6 |
297 |
||
Meath |
548 |
7 |
555 |
||
Monaghan |
251 |
4 |
1 |
256 |
|
Offaly |
292 |
5 |
297 |
||
Roscommon |
231 |
5 |
236 |
||
Sligo |
207 |
2 |
209 |
||
North Tipperary |
221 |
2 |
223 |
||
South Tipperary |
290 |
6 |
296 |
||
Waterford County Council |
191 |
2 |
193 |
||
Westmeath |
283 |
3 |
286 |
||
Wexford |
586 |
9 |
595 |
||
Wicklow |
505 |
12 |
517 |
||
Dublin City Council |
4,785 |
79 |
2 |
1 |
4,867 |
Limerick City Council |
126 |
1 |
127 |
||
Waterford City Council |
164 |
1 |
165 |
||
No Driver Number |
2,211 |
2,211 |
|||
Total |
17,361 |
245 |
8 |
1 |
17,886 |