NCT delays - Penalty point system flaws

WITH five incriminating penalty points and fines of up to €1,500 hanging over drivers without a valid National Car Test (NCT) certificate, it is not surprising that motorists are worried over ongoing delays in getting appointments for the test.

More than 98,000 drivers at centres across the country are now scheduled and awaiting a test. The situation is so bad that extra mechanics are being drafted in to deal with the summer backlog, stretching into September. It is worth noting that motorists who applied for the NCT and have a receipt will not be prosecuted by the Gardaí and therefore will not incur penalty points.

By any yardstick, however, there is no logic in a safety policy that imposes fewer penalty points for speeding, the single biggest cause of road deaths, than for NCT offences which include not having a certificate of road-worthiness or failure to rectify a fault identified by the NCT.