Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 October 2013
67. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is considering the introduction of lower rate on-the-spot fines for cyclists who break the law which could be more regularly applied and would take into account the lower level of danger presented by cyclists to the public. [40905/13]
View answerFrom time to time, my Department receives complaints from the public regarding the behaviour of some cyclists, including cycling on footpaths, colliding with pedestrians and going through red traffic lights. These are all offences under the Road Traffic Acts. Section 108 of the 1961 Act places an obligation on a cyclist to give a name, address and date of birth on demand to a member of the Garda Síochána, where that member suspects that an offence has been committed under the Road Traffic Acts. Currently, such offences are prosecuted in court and where a conviction follows that prosecution, a fine not exceeding €1,000 may be applied. To date, the amount of the fine levied has been significantly lower than the maximum fine.
More recently, it has been argued that this method of enforcement does not represent best use of either Garda or Court resources. Accordingly, Action 92 of the 2013 to 2020 Road Safety Strategy provides that the Department should “legislate for the extension of fixed charge notices to other offences including those related to cyclists and driver’s hours”. The completion date for that Action is Quarter 2, 2014. In preparing the legislation to include offences committed by cyclists in the fixed charge system, I will be giving consideration to the level of the fixed charge amount for such offences. I will set that amount so as to give recognition to the offence itself and to encourage payment within the prescribed timeframes provided for under the legislation, thereby keeping those cases out of the courts.
