While most penalty points are accumulated in Dublin and other highly populated areas, new road offence statistics show that even the quietest counties are home to armies of law-breaking motorists.
In Donegal, for instance, 418 penalty point notices have been issued for holding a phone while driving since the offence was introduced in 2006.
That compares with 5,573 phone offences issued in Dublin, which is also the best (or worst) place in the State to find motorists who are driving on the wrong side of the motorway (eight notices since 2006), illegally reversing (nine), and exceeding the roadworks speed limit (1,332). In Kilkenny, by comparison, just seven penalty point notices were issued to drivers caught driving too quickly through a construction zone.
Kilkenny drivers, however, were just as bad as those in the rest of the State for failing to wear their seatbelts. There, 814 notices have been issued, and the drivers concerned fined, for failing to click in.
After Dublin, Cork was the county with the most road offences. For one category, failing to drive on the left-hand side of the road, Co Cork drivers are almost as prolific as the bad drivers in the State's capital, 175 to 176.
In the rebel county, 1,501 notices have been issued for failing to obey traffic lights, 1,031 notices for crossing a continuous white line, and 55 penalty point notices for driving without insurance. Limerick drivers are worse than their Cork counterparts for failing to comply with "No Entry" signs, the figures suggest.
The statistics throw up a few surprises.
Donegal drivers, for instance, are the second-worst in the State for failing to obey the rules at a railway level crossing. Since penalty points were introduced for the offence in 2006, a grand total of two motorists have been caught driving on to the tracks in Donegal when they weren't supposed to.
The figures don't say whether the train was bearing down on the crossing at the time. Six people did the same thing in Dublin, according to the Department of Transport figures, which were released yesterday to The Irish Times.
Penalty point notices: by offence (as at Dec 31st, 2007)
Breach of duties on occurrence of an accident 273
Breach of motorway outside lane driving rule 669
Careless Driving 2,153
Contravention of requirements at junctions 40
Contravention of requirements for reversing 32
Cross continuous white line/broken white line 9,402
Dangerous Driving Reduced to Careless Driving 755
Drive against flow of traffic on motorway 27
Drive on hardshoulder/non carriageway - motorway 1,529
Driving a vehicle when unfit 2
Driving a vehicle while holding a mobile phone 25,090
Driving along/across median strip 485
Driving on/across cycle track 30
Driving on/across footway 94
Driving without reasonable consideration 4,333
Entry to hatched marked area 3,694
Exceed road works speed limit 2,160
Fail to act in accordance with Garda signal 14
Fail to comply with Keep to Right/Left signs 53
Fail to comply with mandatory traffic signs 867
Fail to comply with No Entry traffic sign 855
Fail to comply with prohibitory traffic signs 10,981
Fail to comply with traffic lane markings 2,041
Fail to drive on the left-hand side 562
Fail to obey rules at railway level crossing 11
Fail to obey traffic lights 13,314
Fail to stop before stop sign/stop line 731
Fail to stop for Garda 155
Fail to stop for school warden sign 34
Fail to turn left on to a roundabout 36
Fail to yield right of way 371
Fail to yield right of way at sign/line 213
General speed obligation - stop visible distance 54
No child restraint front seat - child 516
No child restraint rear seat - child 1,036
No insurance - (user) 7,323
No safety belt - driver 45,816
No safety belt front seat - child 1,170
No safety belt rear seat - child 2,292
Offence relating to Overtaking 2,887
Parking a vehicle in a dangerous position 12
Speeding 450,610
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TOTAL 592,722