A new system may be introduced by the end of the year to ensure motorists who incur penalty points would be informed within a set period, the Minister of State for Transport, Dr Jim McDaid, said yesterday.
The issue arose after The Irish Times motoring supplement reported this week that a Dublin woman received 12 points from a single fixed camera over a one-month period.
Due to delays in issuing fines, she had committed six offences before she got notice of her first fine and so incurred 12 points, the report said.
Yesterday, Dr McDaid said there was nothing on the statute to specify that a person had to be informed of penalty points within a time frame.
He said that would change with the new Road Traffic Act, published in June, which he hoped would be introduced before the end of the year.
If it was up to the Department of Transport they would have the legislation in place now.
With all the additional provisions which could incur penalty points, in fact a person could acquire 12 penalty points in one day, he said.
Penalty points were a deterrent and were working as fewer people were being killed on the roads, Dr McDaid said.