Penalty points loophole for motorists caught speeding

Motorists caught speeding or not wearing seat-belts have been able to avoid penalty points by giving gardaí an inaccurate licence number when paying their fine, the 2003 annual report of the Comptroller & Auditor General has revealed.

The loophole is one of a range of problems with the fines system for speeding, promoted by the Government as a key part of its effort to reduce road deaths.

The report states that where drivers submit an inaccurate licence number in response to a fine notice, gardaí do not have access to the National Driver File to authenticate licence numbers at the time of payment, even if they notice the inaccuracy.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport said legislation due at the end of this year or the beginning of next would resolve the problem.

The report also states that 47 per cent of drivers caught on Garda cameras speeding or not wearing seat-belts in the 14 months to December 31st, 2003, were not prosecuted because images from cameras were too poor, or because number plates were dirty or obscured, or because the vehicle speeding was a motorcycle.

The report also said that, where drivers were caught speeding or not wearing seat-belts in company cars, once a company ignored a notice from gardaí to nominate a driver for the vehicle at the time of the offence, gardaí could not proceed with the case.

The report also says that:

• The Government's €50 million electronic voting project should have been subject to a more rigorous cost-benefit analysis.

• More than 1,000 people who availed of the 1993 tax amnesty have since made settlements as a result of Revenue inquiries into such matters as bogus non-resident accounts, evidence arising from tribunals and the inquiry into offshore assets.

But the Revenue Commissioners have yet to assemble sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction under amnesty rules against anyone who made a false declaration in 1993.

• Grants for a number of marinas were issued in an "unorthodox" manner, bypassing the procedures provided for in the National Development Plan and leading to concern about the viability, rising cost or lack of proper appraisal of the projects.

Buildings forming part of one marina complex supported with a grant were later knocked down because they did not have planning permission.