Many speeding drivers may be avoiding penalty points by getting a partner or colleague to admit to the offence instead, according to research carried out by an insurance company.
The report comes as new figures show 263,044 penalty point notices were issued to 232,820 drivers until April 30th. This has led to more than €20 million in fines being sought from drivers. The vast majority of penalty point notices, 243,899, were for speeding.
Fifteen people have been disqualified on 12 points, and more than 100 drivers are just two points away. However, "points-swapping" is believed to be distorting the number of points accumulated by high-risk drivers as safer, more experienced drivers take points on their licences instead.
The practice was first revealed in a survey of motorists by British-based Churchill Insurance, in which 2.2 per cent of drivers admitted taking penalty-points on behalf of relatives or friends.
Jerry Purcell, head of RAC Ireland, said there was strong anecdotal evidence of a similar practice among Irish drivers, leading to concern the drivers who are going to be penalised are the safer, more experienced ones. "They are going to be taking the rap for less experienced, high-risk, less-safe drivers who are exactly the people the whole speeding system is designed to identify."
According to Mr Purcell the problem is that speed cameras offer a "glaring loophole". "When a speed camera catches a car speeding, it focuses only on the registration number. So you have absolutely no chance of identifying who the driver is.
"When your fine comes through to the registered owner, for legal and obvious reasons, the fine form that you have to fill in for payment allows you to identify the person who was driving the car."
"The danger with a system that doesn't correctly identify the driver at the time is that you get high-risk often younger drivers falling through the net and low-risk drivers seemingly taking on all the points which completely skews your statistics."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said the penalty points system was deliberately designed to ensure that dangerous driving was punished. If someone choose to deliberately return false information in a speeding fine they would be guilty of an offence under the 1961 Road Traffic Act and liable to a fine of €1,500 and/or a six month jail sentence.
Mr Purcell adds that RAC Ireland believed fixed cameras are not a solution to dangerous driving. "People become aware of where they are, slow down when the camera is there, and then speed up again. They are indiscriminate and a blunt instrument.
"As long as you have a system where people feel the gardaí are using penalty points as a revenue generating scheme, it devalues the importance of the points and people will be prepared to cut corners.
"The gardaí must be aware of the issue. If we are getting anecdotal evidence, if people are willing to ring an [ Irish] radio station and admit, anonymously, to the practice there must be hundreds at it and you can be sure the gardaí are getting anecdotal evidence too."
A Garda spokesman said he was not aware of any proceedings arising from alleged false information being supplied by drivers returning speeding fines. Nearly 40,000 people who have received speeding fines had non-Irish driving licences and it is not clear how many fines issued to these drivers will be paid.
Churchill Insurance said its research of more than 2,000 drivers was prompted by rising anecdotal evidence pointing to "points-swapping". The study also found that more than a third of British drivers would consider taking penalty-points if it stopped a partner losing their licence.
