Prison term, €2k fine, if learners drive your car unaccompanied

Motorists who allow their vehicles to be used by unaccompanied learner drivers will be hit with €2,000 fines and could be jailed for up to six months under strict new laws agreed by Cabinet.

The planned laws, which are set to be imposed after a high-profile campaign by victims of road crashes, will also see the vehicles of offending motorists seized by authorities as part of a wide-reaching road safety clampdown.

Under existing rules, while a learner driver who is driving alone in a vehicle can be prosecuted for putting other people at risk, the person who owns the vehicle is able to escape any punishment.