Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2012
776 Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of drivers on penalty points, ordered by the number of points; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19933/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe following tabular statement provides the material requested by the Deputy.
Number of drivers on penalty points at 31st March 2012 ordered by the number of points.
|
Penalty Points No. |
No. of Drivers |
|
1 Point |
13,092 |
|
2 Points |
579,874 |
|
3 Points |
4,856 |
|
4 Points |
126,478 |
|
5 Points |
35,540 |
|
6 Points |
16,213 |
|
7 Points |
724 |
|
8 Points |
3,870 |
|
9 Points |
307 |
|
10 Points |
832 |
|
11 Points |
97 |
|
12 Points |
133 |
|
Total |
782,016 |
777 Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of drivers who have not had penalty points applied to their licences due to a lack of information on licence numbers gathered in courts when drivers are prosecuted; the number of penalty points not applied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19934/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Road Traffic Act 2002 penalty points are required to be endorsed on the Irish driving licence record held on the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF) and a current driving licence is required to serve penalty points. While in the majority of cases this endorsement takes place without difficulty against the relevant NVDF driver record there are circumstances where endorsement of the points on the NVDF is not possible.
It is not possible to determine the number of drivers who have not had penalty points applied to their licences on the NVDF due to the absence of driving licence numbers in the data provided by the Courts Service. However since 2002 some 83,788 penalty points offences ( total of 365,795 penalty points) received from the Courts could not be associated with the relevant driving licence record on the NVDF. This is broken down as follows with overall penalty points offences for each year also included. In all these cases the NVDF issued a notification of penalty points to the driver in question so the driver is aware of the situation.
|
Year |
Courts |
Overall Total |
% |
|
2002 |
0 |
129 |
0 |
|
2003 |
8 |
14,193 |
0.06 |
|
2004 |
2,290 |
20,889 |
11.0 |
|
2005 |
5,538 |
21,392 |
25.9 |
|
2006 |
9,776 |
40,676 |
24.0 |
|
2007 |
10,828 |
54,405 |
19.9 |
|
2008 |
13,814 |
65,563 |
21.1 |
|
2009 |
13,500 |
204,978 |
6.6 |
|
2010 |
13,126 |
195,637 |
6.7 |
|
2011 |
11,744 |
257,651 |
4.6 |
|
2012 |
3,164 |
55,940 |
5.7 |
|
Total |
83,788 |
931,453 |
9.0 |
The Road Traffic Act 2010 requires a motorist to provide a driving licence and a copy of their licence in Court. The purpose of bringing a copy of the licence is to speed up the logistical and administrative recording of the driver number to facilitate its availability for update of the NVDF. It also means that the motorist does not have to surrender their licence to the Court for processing.
I refer the Deputy to replies given by my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality to Deputy Broughan on 7th March (Ref: 13045/12) and on 18 April (Ref: 19071/12) which stated that the Courts Service are making the necessary arrangements to facilitate the recording of the driving licence number.
