A District Court judge has said he intends to disqualify provisional licence holders who drive on the road without a qualified driver or without L-plates, from the start of next year.
Judge Murrough Connellan indicated his intentions at two separate District Court sittings in the past month. Judge Connellan said such practices showed a "total disregard for the purpose of the driving test and driving licence".
He made his remarks at Kildare District Court when he fined a provisional driver €150 for driving unaccompanied. He made similar remarks at Bray District Court, when he said there was any number of youths driving around on provisional licences with a string of offences.
The law governing provisional drivers is the Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1999, which forms part of the Road Traffic Act.
It states that all provisional drivers on their first, second and subsequent licences must drive accompanied by a qualified driver, and must display L-plates, though no specific penalties are mentioned. It was thrown into some confusion last year, when another district court judge, Gerard Haughton, threw out several offences relating to driving unaccompanied and the display of L-plates.
According to Judge Haughton, Article 20 is drafted in such a way that it does not make either of the charges brought against the provisional licence holder offences, although he did concede that such acts render a provisional licence invalid, and could have insurance consequences.
Some fellow-judges followed suit by dismissing similar cases.
The issue of the law concerning learner drivers is set to be addressed in detail when the Government unveils its new five-year Road Safety strategy tomorrow.
It is likely to recommend sweeping changes to the licensing system for learner drivers, with the replacement of the provisional licence with a learners' permit, which will end the anomaly of second provisional licence holders being able to drive unaccompanied.
There are likely to be compulsory lessons for learner drivers, and all driving instructors will be put on a statutory basis, and will be monitored by the Government.
Traditionally, because of the huge number of provisional drivers, gardaí have been reluctant to bring prosecutions, because of fears that such cases would clog up the courts.
Long waiting lists for the driving test was another factor which has often been cited as a reason why so few prosecutions are brought, despite the widespread flouting of the law.
Last year the Courts Service revealed that driving unaccompanied and the non-display of L-plates were not even in the top 3,000 cases brought before the courts in a given year. The chief executive of the Road Safety Authority Noel Brett, said there was a pattern emerging of judges taking a harder line on motoring offences.
"Clearly justices are sick of seeing some of the stuff they have to deal with in terms of motoring offences. The provisional licensing regime is in place for learner drivers for a practical purpose, and we need more people to comply with it."
Mr Brett said waiting lists for driving tests are now down to 20 weeks, and will be down to 10 weeks by next February, leaving less excuse for provisional licence holders not to do their test.
AXA Ireland chief executive John O'Neill said Ireland is outside the norm in other European countries in not having draconian penalties for learner drivers who break the law. "We need to protect young people against themselves. I would be very pleased to see the judiciary apply the laws in the state.
"It is not that we need new legislation, we need the enforcement of the existing laws of the road, and we would support the judge wholeheartedly, because the enforcement of this particular law will save lives," he said.
AA public affairs spokesman Conor Faughnan said the provisional licence system was an "utterly unworkable shambles", but he said the new road safety strategy and the greatly reduced waiting times for the driving test should make the law easier to implement.
