Donegal drivers have fewest penalty points
Garda numbers decline in county where 30 have died on the roads since 2016
DONEGAL has the lowest rate of penalty point offences per driver than anywhere else in the country, an analysis of penalty points data by the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Many have wondered why the northwest county has suffered so many tragedies.
The death of four young men in a horrific car accident last weekend brings the number of road fatalities in Co. Donegal to 30 since January 2016.
Shaun Harkin, 22, Daniel Scott, 23, Mícheál Roarty, 24 and John Harley, 24, died when the Toyota Corolla they were travelling in left the road in Gleannhulaigh in west Donegal last Sunday night. An inquest into the deaths has yet to be held.
On Thursday, large crowds of mourners gathered in Donegal to attend the separate funerals of the young men.
At the funeral Mass for Daniel Scott, Fr Seán Ó Gallchóir urged the congregation to take care on the roads.
‘Drive safely so that no harm will befall anybody. The car, as we can see, is a lethal weapon,’ he said.
An analysis by the Irish Mail on Sunday this week of Garda staffing numbers shows that while additional gardaí have been added to the ranks in Co. Donegal in the last two years, the total number of gardaí in the county has fallen by 43 since 2011.
However, that is by no means unusual, as the decline in policing resources is consistent with other Garda districts across the country.
Last year, 150 new gardaí were added nationally to the roads policing division, bringing the total to more than 700.
An additional 200 gardaí will be added next year, with plans for it to rise to 1,030 over a five-year period. A complete review of penalty points issued showed that in both 2017 and 2018, Co. Donegal had the lowest rate of penalty points in the country, yet the rate of road fatalities in the county was the eighth highest nationwide.
The rate of penalty points issued in Co. Donegal is 3.39 per driving licence in the county – almost half the rate of Co. Wexford, which has the highest rate of 6.46.
The two counties have a similar number of drivers but Wexford has almost double the amount of road traffic offences.
Chief Superintendent Finbarr Murphy, of the Roads Policing Bureau, told the MoS that enforcement and education are effective ways of improving road safety.
‘Research will tell you that enforcement and education combined can change behaviour. What we’re trying to do is change drivers’ behaviour, so if people’s perception is that they won’t be caught doing something, or that there’s no enforcement on it, they’re not enthused towards changing their behaviour.
Chief Supt Murphy said the issue of enforcement can be particularly challenging in large rural areas.
‘That non-acceptance comes from their peers, it comes from their families, everybody in the community saying that’s not acceptable you’ve got to stop.’
Speeding is the most common motoring offence, accounting for 69% of all penalty points nationwide.
‘The car, as we can see, is a lethal weapon’
‘That non-acceptance comes from their peers’
In 2017 and 2018, there were 242,115 separate speeding offences recorded in Co. Donegal.
In contrast, Co. Wexford – which has 3,207 fewer drivers – had 418,946 speeding offences, the highest rate in the country.
Despite this, Donegal has a much higher fatality rate, 16.4 per 100,000 of population, compared to 10 per 100,000 of population in Wexford.