Seanad debates

Wednesday, 14 June 2006

Road Traffic Bill 2006: Committee Stage.

 

12:00 pm

Derek McDowell (Labour)

I support the important amendment tabled by Senator Paddy Burke. My understanding of the system as set out in this section is that one will be served with a fixed charge notice and will be informed subsequently that one has been automatically disqualified. Obviously, this measure is intended to be more lenient than a normal prosecution and, consequently, one is only eligible to be so treated if one has not been convicted of an offence during the previous five years. I assume the form which will inform people that they may pay €300 will state that they are only eligible to do so if they have not been convicted within the past five years, and that if they do so anyway, they will be liable to much greater penalties, which are set out later in the section.

Senator Paddy Burke is correct. Many people will simply not read the form. Most people, on receipt of a form stating they must pay a fixed penalty of €300 and will be disqualified for six months, will not appreciate, and probably will not bother to read, that they are ineligible for such lenient treatment if they have been convicted of an offence during the previous five years. In such circumstances, the onus should be on the authorities to know whether people have been disqualified or convicted of drink driving in the past five years and to be able to tell such people that, consequently, they are ineligible for the more lenient treatment outlined in this section.

It is wholly unreasonable to inform someone who receives a form stating that he or she must pay €300 that arising from the operation of this section, about which he or she is unaware and which he or she is unlikely to read, if he or she pays the fixed fine of €300, he or she could be landed with a fine of up to €5,000 or €10,000. This is unreasonable, as most normal people will not know enough to avoid stumbling into committing an offence under this section.

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