Galway Bay fm newsroom:
There was a 13 per cent increase in the amount of fines paid for learner or novice driver offences in Galway last year.
According to freedom of information files, 1.1 million euro worth of penalties were settled nationwide in 2018 and 2019.
In Galway, over 42 thousand euro worth of fines were paid over the two year period.
233 offences were recorded in the county in 2018 and a further 263 last year.
Learner drivers must be accompanied by a fully qualified driver at all times and stick to other rules.
If they break them, they face penalty points and fines of up 120 euro.
Newly qualified drivers have to put N plates on their car for two years or get points and fines of up to 90 euro.
In 2018, over 5,600 drivers paid Garda fines for learner or novice driver offences - coming to 464,500 euro.
This rose by nearly a third last year, with over 7,300 people settling fines worth nearly 607,000.
A third of the fines were in the Dublin, and it's followed by Cork, Kildare, Limerick and Wexford.
Tipperary road safety campaigner Alec Lee wants the gardai to take tougher action.
Stricter laws were brought in in December 2018, which gave gardai the power to seize cars driven by unaccompanied learner drivers.
