More than 66,000 drivers have incurred penalty points on their licences in the first year of the scheme.
No driver has accumulated the 12 penalty points that will result in a six-month disqualification from the roads. However, three licence holders - one each in Co Donegal, Co Kerry and Dublin city - have reached 10 points.
A total of 66,603 drivers have been given penalty points summarily by gardaí with a further 104 receiving points through cases processed by the courts. Over 9,000 drivers penalised were either unlicensed or living outside the State.
Publishing the figures yesterday, the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, welcomed the fact that there were 76 fewer deaths on the roads since the scheme was introduced on October 31st, 2002.
Mr Brennan said provisional Garda figures showed serious injuries dropped by about 13.5 per cent to 1,054, while Department of Health statistics indicated a "noticeable fall" in the number of people admitted to hospital as emergencies following road traffic accidents.
The Minister said it was estimated that the number of insurance claims was dropping by 20 per cent and he wanted insurance premiums for law-abiding drivers to reflect these savings.
The figures released yesterday only cover points incurred for speeding. While two other offences are covered by the scheme at present, namely the absence of insurance and non-wearing of seat-belts, penalties for them had yet to show up in the statistics, a spokesman for the Minister said.
Mr Brennan has signalled that he plans to add careless driving and dangerous overtaking to the scheme early next year.
He plans to roll out the scheme in full by the middle of next year.
Mr Brennan noted the only category of road user which had seen an increase in fatalities was motorcyclists.
Describing this as "a particularly worrying development", the Minister said he would shortly announce a package of measures "to address this critical safety issue", including compulsory practice training for motorcyclists. He is also considering increasing the minimum age of licence-holders from 16 years to at least 17 years, demanding provisional licence holders display L-plates and requiring motorcyclists to leave their headlights on during daylight.
Meanwhile, Dublin City Council confirmed yesterday that Luas works would continue in the capital during Operation Freeflow this Christmas except in major traffic-flow areas.
