NCT statistics Based on the official NCT statistics compiled by Applus (the company that operates the National Car Test), the top five reasons vehicles fail the NCT have been remarkably consistent year on year. Here they are: 1. Steering and Suspension This tops the list, accounting for around 15% of all failures. Worn shock absorbers, broken springs, perished bushes and play in steering joints are the usual culprits, and Irish road conditions (potholes in particular) take m

"It’s worth repeating: the law allows the Gardai to test you if you have broken the law in any way. So if you speed you can expected to be tested"

"Judge Carroll told the employer that she could not understand how any employer could not identify which one of their staff were driving their vehicles at all times"

They're a legal "goldmine"... Speeding is still the biggest offence detected on Irish roads. By far. According to the Department of Transport statistics there were 428,528 speeding offences recorded on Irish driver’s licenses' in June 2025. "Speeding offences actually dropped by 4% in Cork and 5% in Dublin. But they rose elsewhere, and in a certain part of the country, dramatically. The Southeast to be precise and the rise here was extraordinary" One year later that number ha

"Learner Driver Unaccompanied offences have surged 18.5% in one year. Its by far the fastest growing offence".

"In 12 months 40,000 new drivers received penalty points"

Cannabis, Cocaine, Codeine: How Long Before You Can Legally Drive? “I Took It Yesterday — So I’m Grand, Right?” That’s the sentence I hear the most in drug driving cases. The person feels fine. They waited a day. Maybe two. They assume they’re safe to drive. But here’s what they don’t realise: You can still test positive. And if you test positive, the Gardaí can charge you. Even if you haven’t felt high in hours, or even days. Even if it was last night. Even if it was “just a

If people are aware of this, the ‘deterrence’ power of jail has been effective. In other words, the risk of jail helps people to ‘self-police’ while on the roads, without the necessity of having police officers standing on every street corner or sending scores of people to jail.

Section 109 (A) Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023 JAMES MAX IS a tv and radio broadcaster in the UK. He writes a regular column for the Financial Times. Recently he complained about the maintenance bill for his 50-year-old Rolls Royce. He described the model as a “Corniche convertible in silver mink”. When he bought it several years ago it cost “£60,000 with just over 75,000 miles on the clock”. It’s had its problems over the years. On one occasion “the brakes locked, engulfin

Pay attention... Meta description (Wondering what the penalty is for a first-time drink driving offence in Ireland? Find out the fines, disqualification period, and what factors affect sentencing) If you’ve been caught drink driving in Ireland for the first time, you’re probably worried about what happens next. The penalty for first-time drink driving offence in Ireland depends on how much alcohol was in your system when you were tested. Below, we’ll break down the current le

"If you have a few convictions for road traffic offences in the past then the calculus changes. As far as the courts are concerned, you’re not learning your lesson. So maybe jail is the appropriate sanction here?"

Plenty of people think that. You were speeding — maybe by a lot. But nobody got hurt. No accident. So why are you being charged with dangerous driving, a criminal offence that can get you banned for two years?

"Judges get a lot of criticism online (some of it deserved) but most of it is undeserved"...

Choose your words wisely

4 bottles of beer amounts to 8 “standard drinks” and will take 8 hours to process. That’s the minimum period that should pass before you attempt to drive.

Saying that you drank after driving is all very well and good. But the onus switches to you...

"Clothes maketh the man". And woman...

You may escape disqualification the first time. You won't the second time. The third time? You're looking at jail.

"Turning to Huhne the judge remarked that he had “fallen from a great height’ and that he was ‘somewhat- but not greatly in my view-more culpable” than his ex-wife. He had stronger words for his ex-wife."

Precision matters