Fines for speeding on Irish roads will double from the 27th of October, from €80 to €160, with new legislation signed into being by the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Ms Hildegarde Naughton.
Raft of changes to Irish laws
It's part of a raft of changes to Irish road safety legislation, which will see fines for other offences being increased as well. Fines for non-wearing of seatbelts and mobile phone use are to double to €120, while fines for learner drivers found driving unaccompanied will double to €160. Fines for non-display of 'L' and 'N' plates are doubling to €120. The fine for failing to ensure that a child is properly restrained is also doubling from €60 to €120.
There are also three new fixed penalty charges coming in - the biggest of these is arguably that parking a combustion-engined car in an EV charging bay will now attract a fixed penalty of €80. There will also be a €120 fine for misuse of a disabled parking permit, while anyone found breaching a HGV ban will be fined €200.
If you don't pay those fines within the initial 28-day period, most of them will increase to €180 or €240. If you continue to avoid payment, the fines increase again after another 28 days to €240 or €320. Penalty points for these offences are not changing at the moment, as doing so requires more legislation to be passed through the Oireachtas.
Most drivers support tougher fines
According to the Road Safety Authority, 61 per cent of motorists support increasing the current penalty for speeding, and 47 per cent support doubling the current penalty. Meanwhile, 70 per cent of motorists support increasing the current penalty for using a mobile phone while driving, and 57 per cent of motorists support doubling the current penalty.
It looks likely that more 30km/h speed limits will be brought into urban areas, as one of the key speakers at the Road Safety Authority Annual Conference will be Rod King MBE, founder and Campaign Director of '20s plenty - Love 30' who will speak on the benefits of 30km/h speed limits. Rod has played an instrumental role in empowering local communities in the UK to campaign for default 30km/h limits on urban streets. Guro Ranes, Director of Road Traffic Safety, Norwegian Public Roads Administration, will also guide attendees through Norway's approach to tackling speeding with a particular focus on graduated speeding penalties.
Speaking at the RSA's Annual Conference, Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Ms Hildegarde Naughton, said: "As of today, there have been 122 people killed on the road, an increase of 11 on this day last year, and compared to 2019. In response to the increase in road deaths this year, this summer, I announced that I was bringing forward the implementation of Action 30 in the Road Safety Strategy to review the penalties for serious road traffic offences and said that I intended to increase the fines for those offences that significantly contribute to road deaths.
Stronger deterrent
"Last week I signed the necessary regulations, which will double the fixed charge penalty for a total of 16 high-risk driving offences including speeding, use of a mobile phone while driving, failure to wear a seatbelt or use an appropriate child restraint, and unaccompanied learner driving. This increase will come into effect after midnight tonight. These fines have not increased since they were introduced, in some cases almost 20 years ago. Increasing fines for road offences will act as a stronger deterrent to those who choose to break our lifesaving rules of the road."
Minister Naughton added, "Ireland's current Road Safety Strategy outlines Safe Speeds as one of the main priority intervention areas. I'm delighted to see an emphasis, in today's annual conference, on 30km/h speed limits. Setting more 30km/h speed limits on our streets is essential if we are to make our cities, towns and villages safe".