1

Motoring Offence Statistics

for Northern Ireland

1st June 2019 – 31

st May 2020

Date of Publication:

30th July 2020

Frequency:

Monthly

Issued by:

PSNI Statistics Branch

Lisnasharragh

42 Montgomery Road

Belfast

BT6 9LD

PSNI Statistics

02890 650222 Ext. 24135

statistics@psni.police.uk

From 1st June 2019 to 31st May 2020, there were

44,741 detections for motoring offences in Northern

Ireland, a decrease of 12% on the 50,991

detections recorded in the previous 12 months.

The largest offence group recorded was speeding

offences with a total of 7,569 detections. This was

a decrease of 7% on the number recorded in the

previous 12 months.

The highest speed detected by PSNI officers in the latest 12 months was 127mph, on the Moneynick Road, Randalstown.

Insurance offences accounted for 17% of all

detections, a decrease of 492 on the number

detected from June 2018 – May 2019.

One in five motoring offences was detected in

Belfast City District from 1st June 2019 – 31st May

2020.

There has been a 39% decrease in the number of

vehicle test certificate offences when compared

with the previous 12 months. Automatic MOT

renewals coupled with reduced traffic volumes in

recent months due to COVID-19 will likely have

impacted on this decrease.

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Contents

1. Things you need to know about this release

2. Summary

3. Trends

4. Age and Gender

5. Offence group

6. Policing District

7. Further Information

We welcome user feedback on these statistics. This can be sent to the email address on the cover page or by

contacting us at the telephone number provided.

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Motoring offence statistics for Northern Ireland are collated and produced by statisticians seconded to the Police

Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

PSNI Official Statistics documentation is available on the Official Statistics section of the PSNI website.

Coverage

This report provides statistics on the number of motoring offences detected by police in Northern Ireland from 1st

June 2019 – 31st May 2020. It does not include any detections by the NI Road Safety Partnership. Figures

relating to such detections through the Partnership can be accessed via the following link – NI RSP.

The range of disposals covered includes those offences dealt with by means of a fixed penalty notice (FPN),

speed awareness course and referral for prosecution. Statistics Branch developed the functionality to report on

prosecution referrals in 2017, at which point the figures were validated and reported back to 2011. Quality

concerns due to the introduction of different information systems prevented any further back dating of the figures.

This report presents the most recent motoring offence statistics based on figures that were extracted on 27th July

2020. Referred for prosecution figures from 1st January 2018 onwards remain provisional and therefore subject

to amendment. The information is also available in tabular format in the accompanying spreadsheets on the

PSNI website.

Background information and details of the offences included in each offence grouping (Section 6) can be found in

the Motoring Offence User Guide on the PSNI website. Please note the figures refer to the number of offences

and not the number of persons detected as a person can be detected for more than one offence.

National Statistics Status

National Statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and

public value, and as producers, it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.

These statistics were designated as National Statistics in March 2020 following a full assessment against the

Code of Practice.

Uses of the statistics

Uses of the statistics, based on user engagement, information requests and satisfaction survey feedback include

policy making and policy monitoring, performance monitoring, and public interest, by a range of users including

PSNI, Policing and Community Safety Partnerships (PCSPs), media and academics.

More detail can be found in the Motoring Offence User Guide which can be accessed via the motoring offences

statistics web page on the PSNI website.

Related statistics

Sources of motoring offences data for other domains include An Garda Síochána - Republic of Ireland and

England and Wales. Related statistics include Injury road traffic collision statistics and NI Road Safety

Partnership statistics.

1. Things you need to know about this release

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Table 1 shows that, over the last 12 months:

The number of motoring offences detected fell by 12% to 44,741.

Non endorsable fixed penalties decreased by 18%.

Endorsable fixed penalties decreased by 7%.

Offences referred for prosecution fell by 13%.

Table 1 Number of motoring offences by disposal type, 1st June 2018 – 31st May 2020*

Number and Percentage

1st Jun 2018 - 31st

May 2019 1st Jun 2019 - 31st

May 2020 Change over last 12 months

Number %

Endorsable Fixed Penalty 12,321 11,428 -893 -7

Non Endorsable Fixed Penalty 7,477 6,153 -1,324 -18

Referred for Prosecution 29,864 26,057 -3,807 -13

Speed Awareness Course 1,329 1,103 -226 -17

Total 50,991 44,741 -6,250 -12

*Figures are provisional and subject to change.

Figure 1 Comparisons of disposal types for motoring offences between 1st June 2018 – 31st May 2019 and

1st June 2019 – 31st May 2020

Note that not all detections in the most recent months will have been processed at this time, particularly those referred for

prosecution.

12,321 11,428

7,477 6,153

29,864

26,057

1,329

1,103

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

1st Jun 2018 - 31st May 2019 1st Jun 2019 - 31st May 2020

Endorsable Fixed Penalty Non Endorsable Fixed Penalty Referred for Prosecution Speed Awareness Course

2. Summary

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The number of motoring offences had been steadily decreasing over a 8 year period from a total of 79,796 recorded in 2011 to 48,514 recorded in 2019 (see figure 2).

Figure 2 Number of motoring offences by disposal type: 1st January 2011 – 31st December 2019

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

FPNs Discretionary Disposals Speed Awareness Course Referred for Prosecution

Discretionary disposals removed as an

alternative method of disposal for

dealing with traffic offences on 31st July

2016

Discretionary Disposals introduced during

2011 as an alternative method of disposal

for dealing with traffic offences

3. Trends

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Figure 3 Number of motoring offences by age: 1st June 2019 – 31st May 2020

Figure 3 shows that those aged 30-49 years old accounted for over two fifths of motoring offences detected between 1st June 2019 and 31st May 2020, followed by those aged 18-29 (35%). Almost all (99%) of the unknown ages refer to non endorsable offences, which can be issued in the absence of the offender and do not require licence details to process, for example parking offences.

Males accounted for 8 in 10 of all motoring offences detected between 1st June 2019 and 31st May 2020.

1,306

15,793

18,519

6,535

863 1,725

Under 18 18-29 30-49 50-69 70+ Age Unknown

4. Age and Gender

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Table 2 Number of motoring offences by gender, age band and offence group

1

1st

June 2019 – 31st

May 2020*

Number

Gender Age

Total Female Male Other /

Unknown Under 18 18-29 30-49 50-69 70+ Age

Unknown

Breach of signs & signals 81 226 20 5 68 95 50 11 98 327

Careless driving 922 2,790 2 91 1,259 1,419 763 177 5 3,714

Construction & use2 235 1,689 2 83 1,117 478 186 15 47 1,926

Dangerous driving 155 1,175 2 59 673 448 132 19 1 1,332

Drink or drug driving 568 2,385 2 34 885 1,448 540 48 0 2,955

Driving licence 545 3,060 3 122 1,390 1,645 395 56 0 3,608

Driving whilst disqualified 78 868 0 79 304 464 94 5 0 946

Failing to stop / remain / report collision 483 1,982 0 80 963 955 350 114 3 2,465

Fraudulent use / declaration 22 221 2 4 77 117 29 5 13 245

Insurance 1,278 6,259 8 230 3,035 3,392 796 90 2 7,545

L & R driver3 224 1,262 5 109 711 524 131 16 0 1,491

Miscellaneous 60 589 1 39 270 286 47 6 2 650

Mobile phone 626 2,777 0 18 755 1,833 735 62 0 3,403

Non motor vehicle 1 31 2 3 18 11 2 0 0 34

Parking 687 938 70 1 114 100 42 2 1,436 1,695

Pedestrian 3 61 0 4 30 19 9 2 0 64

Seatbelt 178 696 0 11 277 397 168 20 1 874

Speeding4 2,078 5,489 2 121 2,574 3,212 1,511 149 2 7,569

Vehicle TADA5 / tampering 112 1,035 0 194 523 378 50 2 0 1,147

Vehicle test certificate 627 2,122 2 19 750 1,298 505 64 115 2,751

Total 8,963 35,655 123 1,306 15,793 18,519 6,535 863 1,725 44,741

* Figures are provisional and subject to change. 1 Please note an offence group is made up of many individual offences. For the full list of offences and groups see the motoring offences section of the PSNI website.

2 Construction & use offences include defective tyre, defective exhaust, excess noise, incorrect form of registration mark and no number plate.

3 The offence 'L or R driver exceeding 45mph limit' is included in the speeding offence group. L and R driver = Learner driver and Restricted driver

4 This does not include drivers detected for speeding through the Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership.

5 Vehicle TADA = Vehicle taking and driving away

5. Offence group

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Table 2 shows that the largest offence group recorded was speeding offences with a total of 7,569

detections, accounting for 17% of all detections for motoring offences. This was a decrease of 7% on the

number recorded in the previous 12 months.

The highest speed recorded by PSNI officers in the latest 12 months was 127mph on the Moneynick

Road, Randalstown.

In the latest 12 months, the NI Road Safety Partnership detected over 6 times more speeding offences

than the PSNI (47,730).

Over half of those detected for mobile phone offences were age 30-49.

Almost one quarter of all female detections were for speeding offences.

There has been a 39% decrease in the number of vehicle test certificate offences when compared with

the previous 12 months. Automatic MOT renewals coupled with reduced traffic volumes in recent months

due to COVID-19 will likely have impacted on this decrease.

Over three fifths of those detected for vehicle taking and driving away / tampering offences were age

under 30.

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Table 3 Number of motoring offences by month and offence group1, 1st June 2018 – 31st May 2020*

Number and Percentage

Jun

2019 Jul

2019 Aug 2019

Sep 2019

Oct 2019

Nov 2019

Dec 2019

Jan 2020

Feb 2020

Mar 2020

Apr 2020

May 2020

Jun 2019 - May 2020

Jun 2018 - May 2019

Change over last 12 months Number %

Breach of signs & signals 35 15 43 28 34 33 34 25 26 4 3 47 327 388 -61 -16

Careless driving 374 349 345 335 380 361 339 347 327 205 136 216 3,714 4,582 -868 -19

Construction & use2 146 132 154 110 214 192 138 150 180 125 108 277 1,926 1,777 149 8

Dangerous driving 125 129 142 111 117 105 110 121 97 67 114 94 1,332 1,724 -392 -23

Drink or drug driving 248 231 292 267 265 263 345 240 228 179 185 212 2,955 2,980 -25 -1

Driving licence 317 321 322 303 340 292 281 304 293 238 253 344 3,608 4,154 -546 -13

Driving whilst disqualified 99 92 84 88 101 76 61 88 69 57 53 78 946 1,132 -186 -16

Failing to stop / remain / report collision 251 230 281 210 215 238 278 219 187 149 90 117 2,465 2,898 -433 -15

Fraudulent use / declaration 17 26 26 20 22 25 16 21 21 10 19 22 245 288 -43 -15

Insurance 672 689 628 611 696 641 574 631 558 515 571 759 7,545 8,037 -492 -6

L & R driver3 143 145 132 97 164 145 85 112 102 99 136 131 1,491 1,468 23 2

Miscellaneous 65 67 73 46 51 53 52 51 51 34 49 58 650 692 -42 -6

Mobile phone 264 345 340 299 344 272 224 265 316 274 177 283 3,403 4,008 -605 -15

Non motor vehicle 6 1 1 1 4 5 5 0 0 3 4 4 34 28 6 21

Parking 96 153 100 163 243 159 124 153 129 79 60 236 1,695 1,801 -106 -6

Pedestrian 6 12 8 3 4 3 7 10 2 3 4 2 64 78 -14 -18

Seatbelt 81 121 69 51 80 85 54 63 77 57 54 82 874 1,065 -191 -18

Speeding4 517 769 597 674 772 576 333 680 646 455 491 1,059 7,569 8,132 -563 -7

Vehicle TADA5 / tampering 88 102 122 96 89 104 111 133 85 70 72 75 1,147 1,277 -130 -10

Vehicle test certificate 330 308 238 296 303 309 246 298 160 130 60 73 2,751 4,482 -1,731 -39

Total 3,880 4,237 3,997 3,809 4,438 3,937 3,417 3,911 3,554 2,753 2,639 4,169 44,741 50,991 -6,250 -12

* Figures are provisional and subject to change. 1 Please note an offence group is made up of many individual offences. For the full list of offences and groups see the motoring offences section of the PSNI website.

2 Construction & use offences include defective tyre, defective exhaust, excess noise, incorrect form of registration mark and no number plate.

3 The offence 'L or R driver exceeding 45mph limit' is included in the speeding offence group. L and R driver = Learner driver and Restricted driver

4 This does not include drivers detected for speeding through the Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership.

5 Vehicle TADA = Vehicle taking and driving away

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Figure 4: Number of motoring offences by Policing District: 1st June 2018 – 31st May 2020

Figure 4 shows that one in five motoring offences was detected in Belfast City District followed by a further 15% in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon district.

Mid and East Antrim and Antrim and Newtownabbey were the only districts to see an increase in detections when compared with previous 12 months.

10,115

4,281

2,032

4,921

7,654

4,104

3,007

4,201 4,146

2,657

3,773

100

8,738

3,140

1,592

4,434

6,706

3,418

2,816

3,545 3,553

2,947

3,792

60

Belfast City Lisburn &Castlereagh City

Ards & NorthDown

Newry, Mourne& Down

Armagh City,Banbridge &

Craigavon

Mid Ulster Fermanagh &Omagh

Derry City &Strabane

Causeway Coast& Glens

Mid & EastAntrim

Antrim &Newtownabbey

Unknown

1st Jun 2018 - 31st May 2019 1st Jun 2019 - 31st May 2020

6. Policing District

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Figure 5: Rate of motoring offences per 10,000 population1 aged 16+ by Policing District: 1st June 2019 – 31st May 2020

1 Population figures sourced from Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Service (NINIS), based on mid-year population estimates for 2018.

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A User Guide providing detailed information on the motoring offences statistics is available on the PSNI website.

PSNI Official Statistics documentation is available on the Official Statistics section of the PSNI website.

Referred for prosecution

Police led prosecutions for motoring offences occur when the offence is of a serious nature and has no

corresponding fixed penalty or where multiple offences have occurred or where the alleged offender wishes to

have the matter(s) heard at court. Where an offending driver has already accumulated a number of penalty

points, to the extent that a driving disqualification is now in scope, such cases must be heard at court and will

consequently also be subject of a prosecution.

Fixed penalty notices

Fixed penalties originated as an administrative way to deal with simple parking offences without referring such

matters to the courts. Such was its success that it was identified as an efficient way to deal with minor road traffic

offences and was expanded to encompass these matters in the mid-1980s. With the introduction of penalty

points for traffic offences, the scheme was expanded to incorporate endorsable and non-endorsable offences.

Non-endorsable offences - meaning those which don’t result in points on your licence incur a fine of £30. Fines

for endorsable offences are £60 and three points. More serious offences such as driving without insurance can

incur fines of up to £200 and six points. Other fixed penalty offences include No MOT (£60) or Vehicle Excise

License (£60). Fine collection and revenue reporting are managed by the NI Courts Service.

The full list of offences and groups are published on the motoring offences section of the PSNI website.

Speed awareness courses

Speed awareness courses were introduced in Northern Ireland in 2010. Drivers, depending on the speed at

which they were detected, may be offered an opportunity to attend a speed awareness course as an alternative

to penalty points. The course which is available at eight locations throughout Northern Ireland and delivered and

managed by an appointed contractor must be attended within a period of 120 days from the date of detection.

Certain restrictions apply to who can qualify for the speed awareness course option.

Revisions

Figures for 2019 were finalised in March 2020. Figures from January 2020 onwards are currently provisional and

subject to ongoing quality assurance and minor amendment, primarily due to the time taken to process all

offences, particularly those referred for prosecution or completing a speed awareness course.

To demonstrate the scale of revisions, updated figures are provided in the table below:

Revision to January - April 2020 figures

Last Month This month Change

publication publication Number %

Endorsable Fixed Penalty 3,326 3,403 77 2.3

Non Endorsable Fixed Penalty 1,584 1,585 1 0.1

Referred for Prosecution 6,751 7,527 776 11.5

Speed Awareness Course 320 342 22 6.9

Total 11,981 12,857 876 7.3

7. Further Information