222 drivers have lost licence on 12 penalty points

To date 222 drivers have lost their licence for six months after accumulating 12 penalty points, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has said.

RSA spokesman Brian Farrell, said the system was working efficiently. "Penalty points are working exactly as they are meant to do. As far as the gardaí are concerned, it is 'detect and forget' and is a very simple system to use."

The latest penalty point data to the end of April shows that 420,119 motorists have collected just under half a million penalty points between them.

However, a significant number of drivers continue to avoid points because they do not have an Irish driving licence. Just under 100,000 drivers have escaped points for this reason.

Penalty points cannot be applied when it is not possible to identify the driver's licence number. This includes drivers from Northern Ireland, tourists, holders of other licences driving in the Republic, and Irish citizens driving under a licence gained in Britain or another country.

Drivers who do not have an Irish registered licence are committing some of the most serious road safety violations on the roads. Of the 402,736 drivers caught for speeding, almost one in five could not have points applied to their licence.

Of the 5,350 penalty points issued for driving without insurance, the vast majority - 5,089 - could not be applied as the offender did not have an identifiable driving licence number.

Interestingly, 82 of the 88 drivers that were given points for breach of duties at a crash did not have an Irish driving licence.

A significant proportion of penalty points allocated for the non-wearing of a seatbelt were to non-Irish driving licence holders, with 7,412 of the 40,207 points given to this group of drivers.

Out of the 1,532 penalty points allocated for careless driving, 1,439 were to drivers who did not have an Irish licence.

Unfortunately, this cohort of drivers does not feature at all among those motorists penalised for turning right on to a roundabout.

All 27 points handed out by gardaí for this offence were applied, meaning every one of these drivers holds an Irish licence and cannot plead confusion, as a tourist might, as to what side of the road, or roundabout, they should be on.

Some 8,803 penalty points have been given to drivers who insist on driving while holding a mobile phone, an offence that attracts two penalty points and €60 fine if the fixed charge notice is paid. If the driver challenges this in court and loses, the penalty is four points and a €90 fine.

The vast majority of drivers have just two penalty points, with just under 60,000 drivers having four.

The penalty points breakdown

• 420,119 drivers have penalty points

• 99,780 drivers penalised do not hold an Irish licence

• 402,736 penalty points issued for speeding

• 40,207 drivers caught not wearing seatbelt

• 27 drivers penalised for turning right on to a roundabout

• 8,803 penalty points given for mobile phone use

• 59,470 drivers have 4 penalty points

• 1,906 drivers penalised for overtaking