Paschal Donohoe to tighten driving laws

A crackdown on dangerous drivers has been pledged by Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe after he described as unacceptable the number of motorists committing offences and escaping penalty points.

He was reacting to figures showing 150,000 motorists who were commanded to appear in court over the past two years avoided convictions due to legal loopholes like claiming to have not received a fixed-charge notice in the post, or that they had not been served with the summons at their correct address.

The minister said tough new action was needed to deal with drivers who used the court process to dodge sanction.