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[Article] Plan to fast-track driving bans put on hold

04-12-2005 3:38am

#1

Victor

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2765-1903145,00.html

Plan to fast-track driving bans put on hold
Richard Oakley

A DRINK-DRIVING initiative that could allow gardai to spend more time policing Irish roads has been put on hold because of the ongoing delays in the computerisation of the country’s penalty points system. The plan involves fast-tracking disqualification for drunk drivers by putting motorists off the road without bringing them to court.

Proposed last year by Michael McDowell, the justice minister, and supported by the garda commissioner, the move has the potential to reduce the amount of time gardai spend in court attempting to achieve successful prosecutions.

Sources in the departments of justice and transport have indicated that the necessary legislation will not be introduced until late 2006 at the earliest because of problems caused by themanual administration of penalty points.

Drink driving is not a penalty points offence, but any non-court system for its prosecution would require considerable administrative resources. As gardai are currently struggling to process manually a limited version of the current penalty points system, a decision has been taken to stall the drink-driving move.

Under the planned system, motorists caught drink-driving will be sent a letter asking them to send in their licence for disqualification for a period of time. If they choose not to do so they will have the right to take the case to court. Motorists who take the court route and lose the case will face stiffer penalties than they do at present.

The standard penalties, currently in force, will be reserved for those who admit to the offence when they test positive. It is hoped that this will prove an incentive to drivers to accept the non-court system.

Guilty drivers will still face disqualification but for a shorter period than those who go to court. They will also pay a smaller fine and will not be named and shamed in public, unlike those who are prosecuted through the courts.

It can take the gardai up to six months to get drink-drivers to the district court and convictions can be delayed for a further four months if decisions are appealed. These delays encourage over-the-limit drivers to fight prosecutions in the hope of staying on the road for another year before being banned by the courts.

Martin Cullen, the transport minister, has said that he intends to extend the penalty points system to include more of the 69 offences originally envisaged.

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