[Article] Row over reasons for drop in speeding tickets

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Row over reasons for drop in speeding tickets
From:The Irish Independent
Wednesday, 18th February, 2004
Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

GARDAI issued almost 100,000 fewer speeding tickets last year, the Irish Independent has learned.

The Irish Insurance Industry Federation (IIF) claimed the reason was fewer speed checks and reduced hours spent using speed cameras because of penalty points paperwork. They also demanded greater garda visibility on the country's roads.

But this was immediately denied by gardai who insisted the fall was down to better driver behaviour in the wake of penalty points.

Unpublished provisional Garda figures reveal that there was a 26pc drop in speed detections in 2002, down from 340,000 to 250,000.

Niall Doyle, IIF corporate affairs manager, claimed yesterday that cumbersome paperwork has meant fewer checks.

"The amount of hours gardai spend out detecting speeding and their use of technology for this has reduced because penalty points is still a manual system," said Mr Doyle.

"We are 100pc supportive of penalty points but we need more gardai out there enforcing it," he added.

Mr Doyle said: "It's insane that we have wonderful new legislation on penalty points, new drink driving powers for gardai and still have grossly inadequate levels of garda visibility on our roads."

The insurance official said that only 96,000 motorists incurred penalty points last year compared with 350,000 who got speeding tickets the previous year.

But Supt John Farrelly head of the Garda Press Office, said that penalty points took some time to be added to drivers' licences and provisional figures indicated that 250,000 motorists were caught speeding last year.

He denied the 26pc reduction was due to reduced hours spent by gardai checking for speed and insisted the fall was down to a change in driver behaviour post penalty points.

Supt Farrelly attributed the fall by 26pc in the number of speed detections to better driver behaviour and insisted that the level of enforcement activity was still the same as in previous years.

The number of road deaths has risen dramatically in the first six months of this year, up 22pc sparking alarm that motorists are again speeding and overtaking dangerously in defiance of warnings.