An independent senator has suggested that the cars of drivers guilty of certain driving offences should be impounded, crushed and forced to be searched, reports RTE.
Gerard Craigwell has made this suggestion to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, which is examining proposals under the Road Traffic Measures Bill 2023.
He said: “I’m suggesting to you that if someone is caught driving over a particular speed, is caught under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or uninsured, the vehicle should be taken from them and crushed, it should be sent to the local scrapyard and destroyed, because if you don’t have a vehicle you can’t drive…I believe we should be far less tolerant,” reports RTE.
“You crush one or two cars in a village or a town and I guarantee you people will start to become an awful lot more compliant with the rules of the road,” he added, reports RTE.
Minister of State for Transport Jack Chambers said he wanted to see evidence from countries where this had happened.
Minister Chambers said: “There’s a cohort of people that are completely reckless, that have a total disregard for fellow citizens and society around them and they should face greater consequences, but I’m not sure [about] what you’ve suggested,” reports RTE.
“As of Monday morning, there were 155 fatalities on our roads this year. That is an increase in fatalities of 37%, or 31%, compared to this time last year,” he added, reports RTE.
The new law proposes “proposes moving the setting of penalty levels into secondary legislation via amendments to the Road Traffic Act 2002.”
“To ensure the continued role of the Houses of Oireachtas in any penalty point change, this Bill proposes that resolutions from both Houses would be required for any change in penalty points regulations to take effect,” reports RTE.
Deputy Kenny stated that the Oireachtas holds the responsibility of creating sensible laws and regulations, “If we come up with laws that people think are ridiculous, they won’t abide by them,” reports RTE.
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