Spinal injuries on rise despite points system
An analysis of admissions to the National Spinal Injuries Unit shows the number treated for injury due to traffic accidents was down just 10% for the second half of the penalty points year.
Cardiothoracic registrar Dr David Healy, who led a five-year study of admissions to the Mater Hospital unit, said the danger was that road users were becoming too familiar with the points system. “It should have a cumulative effect, in that each time a driver gets a penalty point, you would expect an improvement in road use. For whatever reason, that doesn’t seem to be happening,” he said.
