The backlog for driving tests must be reduced from one year to six weeks, a national road safety tzar warned today.

THE new Road Safety Authority will simply be “rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic” unless the group is given the power and resources to make an impact, a safety expert has warned.

Motorists who use mobile phones while driving are to face penalty points leading to a possible loss of their licences under the terms of plans being prepared by Transport Minister Seamus Brennan.

More than 93,000 drivers have fallen foul of the penalty points system in the last fourteen months.