One in five road traffic offenders avoided penalties
Up to one in five road traffic offenders, involved in some 170,000 offences, were able to avoid penalties, according to the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG).
The losses to the State are due to “significant weaknesses” in the operation of the fixed charge notice system which the Garda Síochána, the report advised, “urgently” needs to address.
The watchdog expressed serious concern at the termination of almost 43,000 offences in 2011 and 2012. It said a significant proportion appeared to have been wiped in circumstances that did not satisfy policy and many may have been terminated “without due cause”.
In the latest controversy surrounding the Garda system for penalising road offenders, the C&AG’s report analysed the fixed charge notice database and examined a random sample of 350 cases in six Garda divisions.
The analysis found:
* 21,198 fixed charge forms filled out by gardaí were lost or spoiled;
* 850,000 notices were issued from the fixed charge penalty system (FCPS);
* 70% of those, 595,000, were paid;
* Of the 28% of unpaid fines, 5% (43,000) were terminated and 11% (93,500) were struck out as no summons were issued.
The 11% strike-out rate represented half of all cases brought to court. Adding in a further 2% unpaid for other reasons, mainly company cars where no driver could be identified, up to 20% of offenders escaped penalty.
“Because of significant weaknesses in aspects of the operation of the fixed charge notice system, a substantial proportion of offenders — up to one in five — are able to avoid penalties, and do not end up in court,” said the report.
“These operational weaknesses need to be addressed urgently by An Garda Síochána to underpin the effectiveness of the system and to ensure fairness and continued public confidence in, and acceptance of, the fixed charge notice system.”
The report highlighted the variation within the country on the termination of cases, with 5% of all fines wiped, including an average rate of 2.2% within Garda districts.
But some districts had much higher rates of terminations such as Ennis (5.9%), Roscommon (5.7%) and Sligo (5.4%).
The report also documents districts where a large number of fines issued in other garda districts had been cancelled. It shows 81% of terminations in Bridewell Garda Station in Dublin north central are cases from other districts (a total of 37 districts).
Fitzgibbon Garda Station, in the same division, has a rate of 79% (11 other districts), followed by Navan, with a rate of 69% (15 districts). Blanchardstown has a rate of 50% (involving 38 other districts).
Looking at a sample of these cases it found that at least one-third of the “terminated outside district” cases appeared to have been “unauthorised” within the terms of the Garda manual.
The report said the State is losing around €1.12m every year because drivers using company cars are able to evade penalties.
The watchdog said a list of its recommendations to improve the system had been agreed to by the Garda commissioner.
Among a sample 300 notice terminations reviewed, more than half were wiped for “discretionary reasons”, including:
* Hurrying back to a farm as bees were attacking livestock.
* Rushing to pick up a relative at a bus station.
* Being late for a religious ceremony.
* The road being quiet and wide.
* Being late for a swimming lesson.
* Being on “urgent domestic business”.
* The speedometer was not working.
* The driver was not concentrating as a cow was dying on his farm.
