Gardaí report drop in offences

DOZENS of drivers across the country were yesterday handed their first penalty points after being caught speeding by gardaí.

Many others clearly got the point as gardaí were reporting an overall drop in the number of drivers caught speeding.

Dublin’s traffic unit, which covers much of the city and county, said around 15 or 20 drivers caught speeding were given penalty point notices by lunchtime yesterday. The majority of these were on the Stillorgan bypass, ten of them in one hour.

But a garda from the unit said a checkpoint on the road had reported the number of incidents of speeding was down. “It seems people are being careful the first day,” he said.

Other units across the country said drivers appeared to be more cautious and were travelling slower.

In Co Louth, gardaí said there was a noticeable decrease in speed and detections on main Dublin-to-Belfast road were down. A spokesman said the new system had certainly had an effect.

In Portlaoise, a Garda spokesman said it was “very sedate” on the roads and there were queues leading into some 30 and 40 mph zones which suggested traffic was moving slower.

Gardaí in Cork city and county reported a noticeable slowdown in traffic flow.

“Heavy fog may have contributed to a slow traffic flow on many routes,” a garda said, “but most motorists seem to have grasped the message to slow down.”

Gardaí said some of those stopped thought there might have been a period of grace in relation to the introduction of penalty points but this assumption was wrong.

Traffic units said it would take several days to confirm the number of speeding tickets issued yesterday but one officer in west Cork issued five.

The penalty points system came into operation from midnight yesterday, initially just for speeding offences. Drivers will lose their licence if they get 12 points in a three-year period.

Fine Gael’s spokesperson on transport, Denis Naughten, yesterday warned that badly-located and damaged speed limit signs will cause drivers to inadvertently break the limit while legal experts said the new system could be open to challenge in the courts.

Under the new system, drivers caught breaking the speed limit will be given two penalty points and an 80 but, if he or she challenges it in court and loses, the penalty will rise to four points and the fine can be up to 800.

Barrister Paul Barr said this seemed to be contrary to the principle, copperfastened by the courts, that a person should not be penalised for fighting a case. This amounts to forcing people to admit the offence, he said. Mr Barr said a number of other recent changes in laws relating to driving have been challenged in the courts. There is also a backlog of drink-driving cases because of challenges to new breathalyser tests.

However, anybody contemplating a court challenge faces the argument that penalty points do not amount to punishment in the same way as a sentence imposed in a criminal case. It could be further argued the penalty point system is covered by the regulation of statutory rights to drive in public places.