Points for not using seatbelts deferred

The introduction of penalty points for non-use of seatbelts has been deferred because of difficulties in the production of new tickets.

The latest addition to the penalty points scheme was due to come into place next Tuesday. It has been put back to July 31st.

The introduction was delayed because of problems printing tickets which include provision for an on-the-spot fine and the imposition of penalty points.

The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said yesterday that while he had hoped the penalty could be introduced on July 1st, it would be in before the month was over.

Despite the setback Mr Brennan said yesterday he was convinced the penalty points system would be successful.

Speaking in the aftermath of a renewed increase in fatalities on the Republic's roads, the Minister said the system would require constant vigilance to prevent drivers slipping back into bad habits.

Some 30 people died on the roads this month, up to 9 a.m. yesterday, just four short of the total for June last year.

Mr Brennan said nothing could take away from the fact that lives had been saved since penalty points were introduced last October. "We are still ahead. There are still fewer people being killed. The numbers are still down," he pointed out.

Mr Brennan said he accepted that the greatest impact of the system would not be felt until the whole system was rolled out, but the message should go out that those who transgressed the rules would be caught and would gain points, leading to higher insurance premiums and ultimately the loss of their licence.

However, a spokesman for the Insurance Industry Federation said the issue was one of enforcement.

"It really now needs to be all stick. People need to know they will be caught, otherwise there is no deterrent," he said.

The spokesman also pointed to recent research which suggested that errant drivers had just a one-in-1,400 chance of being caught, a statistic which he described as startling.

The National Roads Authority's corporate affairs director yesterday denied it used hedges and fences made from chicken wire as crash barriers in the median of motorways.

Mr Michael Egan was commenting after a man was killed when a vehicle crossed the median, driving through a hedge and chicken wire, resulting in the loss of life of a driver.

Describing the reports as "factually incorrect", Mr Egan said the NRA did not have crash barriers on the road.

"The erection of line wire in the central reservation of motorways and dual carriageways is intended to support plants and hedging, thereby facilitating the establishment of an anti-dazzle measure.

"The wire concerned has no crash-barrier function or capability. Any claim to the contrary simply has the effect of generating debate on an entirely false premise," he said.

According to Mr Egan experience showed that a reservation of sufficient width, without a specially constructed steel or other form of crash barrier, was a highly effective safety mechanism.

"The central reservation area enables the vast majority of drivers to regain control of their vehicles without loss of life or injury to themselves or others, or indeed, damage to vehicles," he said.