Car ownership in Ireland has reached a new high with one private car for almost every two adults living in the State, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) transport figures for 2006.
The total number of licensed vehicles stood at 2.3 million at the end of last year, with private cars accounting for 77 per cent of those vehicles.
The total number of cars on the road in 2006 was more than 1.7 million, up from 1.6 million in 2005. That's one car for every two Irish residents aged 15 or over.
The CSO annual transport statistics highlight a diverse range of information in relation to road use, concentrating on driver behaviour and the types of vehicles used on Irish roads.
The information includes the number of penalty points awarded, the number of people killed on the roads, driving test pass rates, the age and make of cars on the road as well as details in relation to the public transport sector.
Men earned 3.5 times more penalty points than women last year, with speeding accounting for almost 80 per cent of points issued to both men and women last year, the CSO says.
While the number of vehicles licensed to either gender is not known, the number of tests undertaken by men last year (84,845) was just ahead of those sat by women (75,896).
However, male drivers earned significantly more penalty points than their female counterparts.
Since the introduction in October 2002 of the penalty points scheme almost half a million points (462,420) have been issued to drivers, with just over 186,000 issued in 2006. Men picked up the vast majority of points last year, 78 per cent, compared with 22 per cent earned by women.
However a large proportion of the points issued cannot be prosecuted because the vehicles concerned are not registered within the State - 19 per cent were left unassigned because "no vehicle number was available", according to the CSO.
The reasons both genders were given points are similar. Some 78 per cent of all points were issued for speeding.
More than 230,000 new vehicles were licensed in 2006, and despite a growing emphasis on the contribution of motoring to climate change, just 1 per cent of these vehicles used alternative fuel, either electricity or biofuels.
Almost half or all new cars bought were in the €15,000-€20,000 range, with Toyota being the most popular make of car bought in either the new or used market.
More than 90 million public transport journeys were made in 2006.
The number of driving tests conducted increased by 15 per cent in 2006, while 396 people were killed on the roads.
