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Figures released by the Minister for Justice on drink driving convictions early this year were wildly misinterpreted last month. Headline reports of low conviction rates spread widely even though they were obviously incorrect, while clarifications issued since have received far less coverage. This is dangerous: incorrect reporting of the statistics has led to a public […]
Tag Archivesroad traffic
Insurance industry spin shouldn’t dismiss whiplash
The insurance industry has blamed recent car insurance price hikes on the number and cost of personal injury claims. They have yet to support this claim with facts and indeed many of the statistics relied on are dubious. What is routine, however, is a dismissive attitude to whiplash claims. Take these examples: “Motor injury awards […]
Drink driving prosecutions after the High Court ruling on language of test results
[Update 13/5/16: This decision has been overturned by the Court of Appeal. Read more here.] A High Court decision delivered on Monday has thrown some drink driving prosecutions into doubt. The Government changed the law on Tuesday in an attempt to solve the problem, but what is the status of existing drink driving prosecutions? The […]
High Court rules MIBI must cover Setanta claims
Setanta Insurance went into liquidation in April 2014. Many claimants on Setanta policies, most of whom were not customers of Setanta but suffered injuries caused by vehicles insured by Setanta, have been in somewhat of a limbo since then, but a High Court judgment today helps clarify what can be recovered and from who. It […]
Get your NCT on time or face harsh penalties
With the delays in obtaining NCT test appointments in recent years drivers often failed to get a test certificate before the deadline for doing so. The consequences can be severe. Many drivers are unaware of the relatively serious penalties for driving a car without an NCT certificate. Things improved in late 2014 when the fixed […]
New fines for cyclists, but do you know the existing law?
The Minister for Transport will introduce a new system of fixed-charged notices for cycling offences later this month. There will be 7 specific offences that would each require the payment of a €40 fine. The details of the new regulations have not yet been published but it must be assumed that if a fine is […]
Are you getting the points?
You might have seen news reports last week of people “avoiding” penalty points on their driving licences by not producing their driving licence in court. This is indeed a “loophole” in the law but, to be fair to most people concerned, they are unlikely to have known they were exploiting it. All District Court summons […]
