DRIVERS WILL FACE higher penalties for speeding under a new law currently being drafted.

In an interview with TheJournal.ie, Minister for Transport Shane Ross said he was happy to see his drink-driving legislation being signed into law by the President recently, but next on his list is speeding offences.

“Speeding is next. It is as big a killer as alcohol and we will be introducing speeding legislation. I hope we will have a general scheme [of the Bill] before Christmas,” he said.

Speeding 

While the exact punishments have not yet been pinned down, the minister said a tiered form of speeding offences will be introduced in 2019.

“It will be graduated, the more you break the speed limit the more you’ll be punished – there will be higher penalty points, certainly.”

Motorists who break the speed limit could also find themselves banned from driving after just one offence.

“The more you speed the more you get – by penalty points or fines, or putting people off the road. We’d consider putting people off the road,” he said.

As things stand, those who are caught speeding receive a flat penalty for the offence.

Ross said that he believes those caught far in excess of the limit should receive a substantially greater number of penalty points, which would increase the likelihood of that motorist being disqualified from driving sooner.

“We just want to stop road deaths – that is the single objective: bring it down.”

Ross’ drink-driving legislation, which automatically disqualifies drivers on their first offence of driving while over the permitted 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, faced major delays getting through the Seanad and Dáil after filibustering by a number of TDs.

The minister said he expects no such delays for this new legislation, adding that the message of road safety is getting across to the public. However, he said alcohol misuse is still a big issue facing Ireland.

“Speeding will be the next one, it is the big killer with alcohol,” said Ross.