Over 10,000 Laois drivers have penalty points on licence

Over 10,000 drivers in Laois have penalty points on their licence.

According to a recent report by OUTsurance, 10,251 drivers in Laois have penalty points on their driving licence.

The report shows that just 31 have one penalty point and then the figures jump significantly, with 891 drivers having two penalty points.

The most common number of penalty points in the county is three, with a staggering 6,791 drivers racking up three penalty points.

179 drivers have four, 790 have five, and 1,226 drivers have six penalty points.

The numbers reduce quite a lot in the higher end of penalty points, with just 27 drivers in Laois with seven penalty points, 84 with eight, 171 with nine, 23 with ten and 19 with eleven.

There are also 19 drivers with the maximum number of 12 penalty points.

In comparison to neighbouring counties, the figures are quite mixed and reflect the population in each county.

Carlow has a total of 8,848 with penalty points, Kilkenny has 11,260, Offaly has 9,556. Kildare, on the other hand, has a huge number of drivers with penalty points at 26,811.

Commenting on the figures, Ian Kennedy, Chief Marketing Officer of OUTsurance said: “The number of penalty points dished out to Irish drivers is up almost 8% - or 40,000 drivers - over the last year.

“We’re trying to draw attention to the need for greater care on Irish roads. The dangers of speeding and mobile phone use are huge, but there are occasions that motorists can lose sight of that once they're behind the wheel.”