§ Lady HermonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been convicted of(a) dangerous driving and (b) drink driving in Northern Ireland since January; and what the average penalty has been for these offences. [121921]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyThe table sets out the number of convictions and resulting court disposals in 2000 for the offences of dangerous driving and drink driving. The statistics are based on a principal offence rule, that is, where proceedings involve more than one offence dealt with at the same time, the offence recorded is that for which the greatest penalty is imposed. Where more than one disposal is given for the principal offence, only that disposal which is considered the most severe, is recorded. Thus, while both dangerous driving and drink driving are both punishable by mandatory disqualification under the Road Traffic (NI) Order 1995, the figures reflect that this is often in conjunction with a more severe penalty.
336W
Dangerous driving Drink driving Number of convictions 312 2,037 Court disposal Immediate custody 44 11
Dangerous driving Drink driving Suspended custody 26 28 Community Supervision 17 29 Fine 218 1,958 Other 7 11 Average custodial sentence length 6 months 4 months Average fine (£) 179 164