750,000 penalty point offences in nine months

More than 750,000 penalty point offences were detected in the first nine months of the year, according to the Road Safety Authority.

The latest figures show speeding accounted for 75% (562,872) of the 753,228 penalty point offences detected to the end of September.

Driving while holding a mobile phone was the second most detected offence, representing 11% of all violations (82,449).

There were 15,687 instances of motorists using a vehicle without NCT cert, followed by 15,146 drivers who failed to wear a safety belt, both of which represent about 2% of the total. In 11,303 cases, penalty points were issued to drivers who failed to obey traffic lights.

Among the rarer offences detected include the Tipperary motorist who is the only driver in the country to have been caught striking a bridge with their vehicle, and the seven people — three of whom were from Meath — who failed to stop for a warden.

There were 37 instances where penalty points were issued to a motorist who drove on to a cycle lane — 31 of these were in Dublin.

Dublin licence holders were responsible for 151,969 offences recorded so far this year, while Cork motorists accounted for 79,485 of the transgressions that attracted penalty points. Foreign licence holders were detected committing 78,042 penalty point offences.

Across the country, 616,237 motorists had penalty points on their licences at the end of September. Almost 20% (122,804) of these were on licences held by drivers from Dublin, followed by 69,802 foreign licence holders (11%), and 64,427 motorists from Cork (10%).

More than one in three motorists (280,685) who have penalty points on their licences are currently carrying three points. Six-month disqualifications have been issued to the 615 motorists who currently have 12 points on their licence, while 1,025 are on the cusp of disqualification with 11 penalty points.

More than 6,500 licence holders have seven penalty points, the cut-off point for disqualification for novice and learner permit drivers who have been issued a licence since August 2014.

Meanwhile, a group of road engineers has repeated its call on the Government to introduce greater guidelines for the importation, sale, and supply of second-hand and part-worn tyres.

“We are disappointed that strict guidelines have not been forthcoming to date,” according to Donal Buckley of the Society of Operations Engineers/Institute of Road Transport Engineers.

“These tyres may be a contributing factor in road accidents,” said Mr Buckley.

“We are once again appealing to the minister for transport to deal with our concerns regarding the sale and supply of used and part-worn tyres which are widely available throughout the State.”