ALTHOUGH ALMOST 215,000 penalty-point notices were issued to drivers in 2009, just 137 related to five new offences introduced in May last year.
A total of 115 notices were issued in relation to drivers using private vehicles more than four years old which did not have an NCT certificate.
A further 20 offences were recorded in relation to goods vehicles which did not have a valid Certificate of Roadworthiness.
Just two notices were issued arising from driving a dangerously defective vehicle.
The introduction of five penalty points for driving a vehicle without a valid NCT or Certificate of Roadworthiness resulted in a surge of applications for car tests last year, with more than 100,000 drivers booking a national car test in the two-week period prior to the introduction of the offence on May 1st, 2009.
No penalty points arose from the remaining two offences which were introduced in May last year. Offences involving drivers who use a vehicle before remedying a dangerous defect and truck drivers who strike overhead bridges – something which happened 720 times between 2001 and 2006 – have attracted no penalty points since their introduction.
Commenting on the low number of penalty-point notices issued, a spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said this was partially due to these offences being relatively new.
She added that penalty points for these offences only applied following a court conviction, and that it can take time before cases are heard before the courts.
In 2009 more than two-thirds of drivers were issued points for speeding, with just over 146,000 points issued to drivers for such offences.
The second most common offence among drivers was the use of mobile phones, with over 29,000 offences arising from people driving a vehicle while holding a mobile phone.
Over 11,000 penalty-point notices were issued in relation to the non-use of safety belts among drivers and passengers, while almost 1,700 notices were issued in relation to children who were not appropriately restrained or not wearing seatbelts.
A total of 94 offences arose from drivers who failed to drive on the left-hand side of the road, while 14 related to people driving against the flow of traffic on a motorway.
About 346 drivers were disqualified through the penalty-point system as a result of reaching 12 points in 2009. Drivers remaining disqualified from driving arising from an accumulation of 12 penalty points during the course of last year amounted to 232.
Remaining penalty-point offences have yet to be implemented. “The roll-out of penalty points for road-traffic offences is being undertaken on a phased basis,” a spokesman for the Department of Transport said, but he did not specify when the offences would come into effect.
Such offences would include demerits for public service vehicles without internal lighting, brake lights on trailers, and failure to fit speed limiters on heavy goods vehicles, among others.