Operation of the points system in the United Kingdom puts 30,000 drivers off the road each year, according to the Automobile Association. About 1,350,000 penalty points are handed out each year to British motorists. The AA's head of road safety, Mr Andrew Howard, says the points system is better able to distinguish between "really nasty" driving offences and more routine breaches of road traffic legislation.
Mr Conor Faughnan, public relations manager of the AA in Ireland, welcomed the proposed adoption of the British points system. "Britain has the best road safety record of any country in Europe", he said. "The death rate per capita from road accidents is half what it is in Ireland."
Mr Faughnan said he hoped it would be easier to persuade people that they might lose points rather than lose their licence outright. Under the present system in Ireland drivers felt that they would be able to persuade a court not to take their licence away on the grounds that they would lose their livelihoods.
A further advantage was that the points system would be fairer and more transparent than the occasionally erratic judgments delivered by courts. Motorists became annoyed when they saw very different sentences being handed down for similar offences, according to Mr Faughnan.