We've all done it once or twice; nipped the wrong way down a one-way street to avoid a traffic jam. Harmless enough you might say, but from Monday, getting caught for such motoring indiscretions will mean penalty points on your licence, a fine and possibly higher insurance premiums.
Each of these types of offences will carry one point - or three if contested and lost in court. They come with a €60 or €90 fine, depending on whether you pay up in the 28 days after the offence or not.
In the largest expansion of the accident-prone points scheme, first introduced by Séamus Brennan almost four years ago, Minister for Transport Martin Cullen is bringing onstream 31 new offences to be enforced along with the four existing offences of speeding, driving without insurance, non-wearing of a seatbelt and careless driving.
As well as making some, arguably minor, offences punishable with points, the new list also contains some offences you might consider too obvious to be specified in the first place. Driving the wrong way on a roundabout doesn't need further comment, although with up to three points on the cards, perhaps the 450,000 or so provisional licence holders will take a closer look at the Rules of the Road next week.
Of course, imbeciles who feel it necessary to commit such driving offences could, without fear of contradiction, also be accused of driving carelessly, an offence that already carries five penalty points, a fine and a mandatory court appearance.
But the latest expansion from four to 35 penalty points offences has a number of more serious aspects to it and can provide key tools for gardai to use in the fight against the rising road death toll.
The offence of dangerous overtaking will now carry two penalty points - or five if contested. A similar sanction will be in place for breaking red lights, while crossing a continuous white line will carry two or four points.
The addition of these offences makes sense. The most up-to-date data released last year by the National Roads Authority shows that in two-vehicle fatal crashes, the main contributory factor in 40 per cent of cases was a vehicle going on to the wrong side of the road. Speeding was listed by gardai in 13 per cent of cases as the cause of such crashes, followed by driving through a stop or yield sign, improper overtaking, and driving through a traffic light.
Three other, more serious, offences carry a mandatory court appearance and fine if convicted. They are driving while unfit, breach of duties at an accident and parking in a dangerous position. The National Safety Council is pleased to see the penalty points system finally expanding as originally envisaged.
"At the moment we have a manual-based system for just four offences," says NSC spokesman Brian Farrell. "From April 3rd, there will be 35 offences. The system will be computerised and theGarda system will be linked to the courts."
"It is up to the public to decide, but our hope is that it will have the desired effect and re-instill the fear factor. We need to recapture the fear factor. "The addition of dangerous overtaking and breaking red lights - serious offences - we are delighted with that." It was the fear factor in drivers that paid very real dividends during the initial roll-out of the penalty points system.
"That year saw a fall of 35 in the number of people killed on the State's roads. As the fear of getting caught continued into 2003, a further reduction of 41 saw the total of that year reach only 335. This approached what are considered "acceptable" levels. However, the fear factor was lost once drivers realised enforcement was piecemeal, and the likelihood of conviction was slim, they slipped into old habits. In 2004, road deaths rose again to 374 and up to 399 last year. This year has seen the figures remain worryingly high, with 89 already dead.
Farrell insists enforcement is "a matter for the Garda" but says "the message has to be if you transgress you could lose your licence."
A Garda spokeswoman said the force would "continue to maintain strong traffic enforcement levels." She said the new penalty points were "not going to affect our enforcement. What the punishment is does not have any bearing on enforcement."
But car insurers are more skeptical. Irish Insurance Federation Public Affairs Manager Carmel Mulroy says: "It all comes down to enforcement. We would question the extent that they [penalty points] are already being enforced, let alone new ones. Without enforcement they are meaningless."
They are not, however, meaningless for drivers who accumulate them. For them, insurance premiums will only go one way.
"The current situation is that policy varies from company to company," says Mulroy. "Generally, members would start loading at about six penalty points." But in the event of proper enforcement, with the likelihood of a lot of drivers accumulating a lot of points, will insurers continue to load at the six-point limit?
One insurer, Hibernian, offers discounts to drivers on two or fewer penalty points, but is adopting a wait-and-see approach on future trends. A spokeswoman said it would continue to "encourage safe and responsible driving" by offering discounts "to customers who are compliant with the new penalty points environment."
"We will be keeping the penalty points discount we offer under review as the new penalty points are rolled-out. In the future, we may be required to review the discount depending on the effectiveness of the enforcement of the new penalty points."
Some companies, such as Hibernian, will discount drivers with no points, while "others feel some drivers become more careful after they have been given points."
