Ireland & UK agree points system

On the radio this morning, it was reported that Ireland has reached agreement with the UK that driving offence penalty points incurred in either country will be added to your licence, be it Irish or UK. The system is expected to be introduced next year.
Although not mentioned in the report, I'd imagine that fixed penalty fines would also fall under this agreement? Or will in due course.

Interested to know whether other AAM'ers think this is a positive step forward - or that those with UK licences will be unfairly treated more harshly than holders of other EU licences because of the "special relationship" between Ireland & the UK.

For me, (holder of a UK licence) I have no problem in principle with this, so long as there is a clear intent to reach agreement with other EU states as a matter of priority.

I think the main reason for this new process being put in place is the fact that the Gardai had little or no powers to deal with Northern Irish drivers in the South - particularly the border counties who broke speed limits e.t.c

As somone who travels from Cork to Killarney regularily to see cars with UK regs zoom past me on their way from the ferry I'm delighted. I travel at or just under the speed limit and they left me for dead. The sooner bilaterals are in place with as many counties as possible the better.

I've even seen coaches with UK regs doing the same thing - Damn it we don't need any help in adding to our accident rate!

Is this retrospective or from now onwards?

From now on.

I'd like to see steps taken about the driving of other foreign registered carss too. They seem to be in a disproportionate number of accidents.

RS2K said:

From now on.

I'd like to see steps taken about the driving of other foreign registered carss too. They seem to be in a disproportionate number of accidents.

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There is a very obvious reason for this. A right-hand-drive car driven on left-hand-drive roads is inherently more dangerous, and less able to react to emergencies, than the average.

redbiro said:

As somone who travels from Cork to Killarney regularily to see cars with UK regs zoom past me on their way from the ferry I'm delighted. I travel at or just under the speed limit and they left me for dead. The sooner bilaterals are in place with as many counties as possible the better.

I've even seen coaches with UK regs doing the same thing - Damn it we don't need any help in adding to our accident rate!

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Best to keep things in perspective on this issue. This situation was negotiated primarily to enable the authorities to enforce speed limits on all 'Irish Drivers', north and south of the border. The fact that that now enables mainland UK drivers to fall under it, is, shall we say an added bonus for Gardai in tackling *dangersous speeding*.

Comments that suggest that people 'deserve it' just because they have the 'gaul' to pass you above the speed limit are not what it is about. It seems that this phenomenon of Irish drivers not liking people going faster than them can be the cause of many an incident in itself! Just look at any filter at the end of a dual carraigeway, you get jams on the road cause no-one has the driver skill to read the road ahead, slow and enabled everyone to filter properly and thus avoid the traffic jam.

This co-operation is a good thing, it will curb the behaviour of 'some' of the more wreckless UK reg drivers, that do seem to think it is a free ticket to use hardshoulders, speed, cut corners etc. But remember, it will be the same story on the other side when you driver your car across the ferry and have an Irish reg!

ubiquitous said:

There is a very obvious reason for this. A right-hand-drive car driven on left-hand-drive roads is inherently more dangerous, and less able to react to emergencies, than the average.

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Totally agree, but the vehicle itself doesn't usually come in for criticsm when maybe it should do in certain incidents

I have also seen Irish coaches breaking the limit!

UK reg drivers on the M1 drive me mental. The majority (though not all) drive like lunatics (in terms of speed). I like to give them a wide berth.

I wonder if there'll be an attempt in the future to standardise the points received in both jurisdictions for offences? A speeding offence in Ireland gets you 2 points, but 3 in the UK.

Judging on the success of the points system here in Ireland, I don't see any contentious issues with getting this up and running. I'm sure that it will be implemented properly to avoid any loopholes in the courts regarding fines and points......

Will this be a paper based adminstration nightmare for the gardai? Surely they will not have an integrated system for the UK reg and licences of the drivers they catch?