Speeding fines increased by 9% last year

123,000 penalty point notices were issued for speeding offences in 2019. File photo of a road safety camera van. Picture: Denis Minihane.

The number of speeding fines paid by drivers increased by 9% last year.

According to freedom of information figures, more than €20m worth of penalties were settled in 2018 and 2019.

If you drive over the speed limit, you get three penalty points and a fixed-charge fine of €80, which increases to €120 if you don’t pay within 28 days.

Just over 110,000 speeding fines were paid in 2018 – coming to more than €9.6m.

But both figures rose sharply last year, when almost 120,000 fines were paid, with the gardaí collecting over €10.5m as a result.

Of last year’s fines, 17% were in the six Garda divisions in Dublin.

Kildare is the next highest, with nearly 13,400 speeding fines paid last year, coming to nearly €1.2m.

Penalty points are issued with every speeding fine, and there was a similar increase last year.

123,000 penalty point notices were issued for these offences in 2019 - over 10,000 more than in 2018.