Persistent delays in implementing new technology and reliance on a tedious manual system operated by the gardaí has resulted in tens of thousands of drivers stopped for speeding not incurring penalty points on their licences.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport confirmed yesterday that, to date, only 8,289 of the drivers stopped for speeding had penalty points added to their licences, although some had committed the offence last year.
In the two months before Christmas, 38,000 drivers were caught speeding by gardaí, but only a small proportion of these have been given penalty points. The Garda statistics for the offences committed since the start of the year have not been released.
The delay in processing the points is administrative, the Department of Transport spokesman said, and is due to the cumbersome manual system used to process the points scheme and the mountains of paperwork this has caused for gardaí.
The computer system specifically designed to process the penalty points will not be up and running until the end of this year.
Until then gardaí must collate the information on paper. When gardaí stop drivers they record the offence on a ticket. Collected tickets are then sent from individual stations to one of 26 Garda Divisional Headquarters. They then go to a private company, SWS Group, in Bandon, Co Cork, which feeds them into a computer and sends them on to the National Driver File in Limerick. The whole process can take more than two months.
The Transport spokesman said that the delay in the process lay with the gardaí and not SWS or the National Driver File.
"SWS Group updates the figures it sends to the National Driver File every Monday and the National Driver File can usually issue points within a week. The delay is in the manual area," the Transport spokesman said.
A Garda spokesman said he could not confirm how long it takes the individual Divisional Headquarters to send the information to Bandon. However, statutorily they have a six-month window within which to complete the process, he said.
A fully computerised system, which would involve the Garda Pulse computers connecting with the National Driver File and linking to the courts, has proved hugely problematic and is not due to come on stream until the end of the year. When it does, the Department of Transport hopes, it will reducing processing times to a matter of days.
The Department claims that all those who have been awarded points will eventually have them added to their licence.
"It's like a tube of toothpaste that's being squeezed through slowly. The penalty points will all get on eventually, but it is taking longer because it has to be done manually," the spokesman said.
Speaking at a CityJet meeting in Dublin yesterday, Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said that offenders would not escape points. "Make no mistake: if you were stopped on the side of the road, they will turn up on your licence."
The difficulty in managing the speeding offences process has resulted a delay in bringing new offences into the penalty points net.
Mr Brennan has stated than non-wearing of seatbelts and dangerous over-taking would be the next offences to be subject to points. However, the Minister has been unable to set a date for their inclusion because of the manual system's problems, the spokesman said.
"The Minister does not want to add to the work of the gardaí. At the moment, they have one book for speeding tickets, he doesn't want them to have to carry around two or three," the spokesman said.
Mr Brennan is due to meet with the Garda Commissioner within the next two weeks to discuss the timeframe for bringing the two new offences within the remit of the points scheme. He also intends to bring the matter to the attention of the Minister for Justice.
