There really is no excuse anymore. People should not be using their phones while driving especially when hands free kits and bluetooth are so readily available. It’s so dangerous

if these idiots can afford to buy cars and phones why not a bluetooth radio or handsfree kit…. it beggars belief

one second Must pull into the next layby to vote

Double the points but also increase the enforcement.

A friend of mine was knocked off his motorbike lately by a young woman who was clearly texting while driving right at him. he managed to floor the bike and avoid hitting the car head on She is denying she was on her phone – put down your phones you l kill someone some day

It only takes a split second for a driver to lose concentration resulting in carnage in our roads! It is plain to see that everywhere you go in the country people blatantly flout the mobiles phones laws! The fact that a hands free kit almost the same price as the fine of €80 leaves no excuse! Up the points and people might think twice!!

Genuine question, why so many no votes?

I think they should increase points. I know someone who updates their facebook status and tweets while driving (!!!)

as someone who drives for a living, I see a lot of poor driving practices on a daily basis. the majority’s these are people of both sexes, but to be honest mainly female, driving while on the phone, and not concentrating on the road 100%. if it were upto me, driving while on a mobile phone and speeding excessively should both carry mandatory 6points. thing is, if people get caught only twice doing either of these they get disqualified, that would automatically reduce speeding and use of mobile phone and reduce the risk of accidents on the roads. if someone gets caught doing both at the same time, car should be taken off the person until after the next court sitting. person should then be brought before the next court and asked to explain themself. it should carry a mandatory 1 yr suspension for 1st time getting caught and 2 years for every consecutive time. these couple of simple changes would save lives. this comment isnt going to get many thumbs up. but I would imagine if anyone gives a thumbs down to this comment, they are most likely guilty of these offences on a daily basis. the penalties that are in place at the moment are simply not enough a deterrent and that is why people continue speak on phones (mainly female) and continue to speed (mainly male)

Doubling the enforcement is half the battle. Along with this, and increasing the points, the Gardí should be able to access and check recent mobile phone records of those involved in both incidents and accidents to see if talking or texting while driving played a key factor resulting in a particular crash.

A girl I used to carry read me the riot act after I went thru 2 roundabouts yapping on the mobile….she was quite correct and I never did it again,and that was before the law, even with hand free the concentration does dip.

Triple the points. And by the way for those that try to hide the phone with their hand over their ear and phone. Your unnatural position and yapping mouth is a giveaway.

Enforcement of existing laws and lead by example.
No exemptions for garda.

Yes most Definatly, how can ppl say that they can concentrate on the road and driving safely while using a mobile. Look at the lives that have been taken from this world because of this. Come on ppl isint ur life and the lives of ppl around you more important than taking a call or texting

Honk if you love Jesus. Text if you’d like to meet Him.

The comments don’t seem in line with the poll. There is obviously not a big enough deterrent not to drive down the road with one hand pressed to your ear lost in your own world. I see it daily. people driving really slow holding up traffic or else drifting out of lane and swerving back. Now imagine a child running after a ball across a road…It’s unacceptable folks. an increase in points might help get the message across. It’s actually as dangerous as driving under the influence and yet most people would never do that.

What I find weird is clearly well-off people, in modern, expensive cars, talking on their ‘phones. The cars just have to have bluetooth, and even quite old ‘phones likewise. So, it’s got to be something else. Perhaps they want to show world that they have mobiles; or maybe that safe-driving and observing the rules of the road is for little people, just like taxes. If we pedestrians thought quickly-enough, we’d photograph them and their number plates and hand the pics into the Guards.
The worst of all, though, is truck-drivers on ‘phones – that’s genuinely scarey, especially when they’re swinging around a sharp bend, one-handed.

The points and fine are ok: it’s the non-enforcement that’s the problem.

i think truck drivers should have them doubled for sure

Points, fines???? Why not simply force the perps to drive over their precious phone a couple of times to see how heavy a car is.

It’s all very well but how many are getting caught?
The statistics on the massive rise in text messaging are worrying too. A LOT of people (particularly under-30s) are almost permanently texting, and I don’t believe some aren’t doing it while driving. That is even more distracting than talking on the phone. Either way, its obvious that if a person is using a mobile and driving then they’re NOT in control of the car. How often do we see the news when a single vehicle fatality occurs due to the “car going out of control and leaving the road”? Another funeral. What distracted the unfortunate person, was it connected to mobile phone use? I suspect it might have been in some cases.
I’m seeing motorists, lorry drivers, taxi drivers and bus drivers flouting the law daily. It’s all very well having the laws and the penalties in place, but how is it being enforced?? Really it isn’t , for most people most of the time.

There’s no penalty points for simultaneously reading a copy of hello, applying make up and drinking a latte while driving…

Not when nearly every guard I see driving had a phone stuck to his/her ear, really no excuse with all the headsets and car systems available

They really need to enforce the law in the first place.

No. Your licence should be suspended, or terminated for multiple offences.

Why would somone vote no!? why?

Never mind increasing the points, increase the policing of it. I don’t know a single person who has points for driving on the phone.

Does the current law include texting, or is just speaking on the phone illegal? Mobile phone use can mean many things.

Just enforce the current law for a start

Definitely & tripled for guards that use mobile phones while driving. Biggest culprits on the road.

The 46% that voted no are obviously those that recklessly use their mobiles while driving….there’s no excuse for it!!!

Anyone driving and calling without using a hands free kit is a potential murderer and should be treated as such.
Driving and calling, loose the license for a month. Di it again in a ten year period and loose it for a year and accompanied with a minimum of €300 fine.
This country is way to soft on drivers!
Speeding, tailgating, dangerous overtaking and the list goes on!
People act like lunatics on the roads and when caught, or worse, blame the Gardai and the Government.

Dear Journal.ie the poll for penalty points doesn’t seem to be working. It shows “poll results” but no graph or data.

Im amazed that the vote is against it, myself and my children were almost ploughed in to when some woman driving and talking on her phone ended crossing on to the wrong side of the road i almost
Ended up in the ditch swerving to avoid her, this is no joke, off the road for three months would sort it

Because they’re idiots Damien…..I’m sure when they lose someone close to them because of some idiot driver using their mobile phone they’ll change their minds! It seems to be people who have been directly affected by such tragedies that can see sense!

They should do something about the Guards who talk on their phones while driving Squad cars.

It should be standard for new cars to have bluetooth fitted and eventually these cars would work their way into the second hand market .it only costs 200.00 Euro to fit into a ford and you just hit a button on the steering wheel and talk .anyone driving with a phone in one hand should be.banned for a month ,that would work

granted no one should use there phone while driving, maybe garda should get the same treatment there always driving while on the phone its rediculous and the customs aswell

Confiscate phone.Remove and Return sim card.

Why do the poll if you don’t have an opinion?! 184 Don’t Knows??

Right-on Piotr.
Problem is: the kind of folks whose “work” features on your site are probably the least likely to care-enough to visit it and even if they did, they’d probably not understand ‘what’s wrong with the picture’.

Not only should points be doubled if not trebled for using the Mobile without a hands free ‘Ear-hanger’ or similar.
Nobody can claim that it is prohibitive expensive any longer. But the best would be if the drivers, would simply set the phone on silent while they are in their cars, then call the missed numbers when they have a chance, after they have stopped the car in a safe spot, or even got to their intended place, be it home or work. It would also help if the economical out-lay (read FINE) was upped to €150.00 or €200.00 as a minimum for breaking this particular peace of legislation.

Look, what’s with the zero-sum, ‘what-about-the’ argument that the Guards are on the ‘phone?
OK, they are clearly and blatantly in the wrong and furthermore are guilty of diminishing the stature and authority of their institution by so-doing.
However, that is in no-way whatsoever a reason for everyone-else to flout the laws of the land. So, enough with specious guff already!

Separately however, there was a pilot scheme, I think in Co. Waterford, some years-ago, whereby the Guards, or the RSA, can’t remember, had a 1850 howsmydriving-type line operating.
You could get yourself into high dudgeon about somebody’s driving and call it in.
The theory was that, while it had no legal standing, a dossier would build-up about a car ( via its reg-plate ) and if there were a certain number of complaints, this would prompt the Guards to make some enquiries, given this suggested a tendency towards poor driver behavious.

I agree – the biggest offenders are the Guards and truck drivers

If some of the phone companies actually developed a voice recognition system that works it would be a big help.all the hands free systems i have used you still have to pick up the phone to diall

Smokescreen. The main causes of accidents and deaths on the road are drink driving and excessive speed. What is needed is serious enforcement of the laws that do exist, in particular, compulsory disqualification on accumulation 12 points and a minimum ban of two years for drunk driving and driving uninsured.

http://www.theworstdrivers.ie

I use the phone and drive all the time.

Turkeys voting for Christmas?

I’d prefer to see evidence for penalty point changes before deciding on them. If it transpires mobile phone use is particularly dangerous, then yes. Otherwise it seems like a cash generation exercise.

Take the away from them

Put in mobile signal blockers on all the bridges

2 points for receiving a call 6 points for making one

Caught drunk driving automatically banned for life. Speeding in excess of 20km speed limit automatically. Banned three years. No excuses caught on phone banned two years. That would teach people.

Nobody enforces the laws in Ireland. How much fines have the Garda received for people throwing litter out of cars? How much have CIE or Dart collected in fines? I would suggest if people are caught on their phones or texting they have their phones taken and given to charity.