In October, Cavan district court fined two men . . . Leon Medina from Dublin and Saulius Gailivs from Celbridge, Co Kildare . . . 750 for dangerous driving. Lesser fines were handed out to two other men . . . Noel Lambe from Navan and Maurice Lyttle from Ballyjamesduff . . . for driving without due care. Driving bans or the confiscation of licences were not reported in any of the cases. In the same vicinity, a motorcyclist was sentenced to six months imprisonment and disqualified from driving for five years for dangerous driving, showing the variations.

Judges argue that no two cases are the same; for example, speeding in a built up area versus speeding on an empty country road, influence the severity of the punishment.

But the widely varying attitudes towards sentencing are still evident in the courts. Last week a judge in Donegal struck out a dangerous driving charge on the basis that the wrong charge had been brought. Paul McAteer, 19, was brought to court for speeding at 197km/h in a BMW with four passengers, but Judge Derek McVeigh at Donegal District Court dismissed the charge.

The lack of detailed guidelines for the judiciary adds to the variety of punishments received in the courts in similar cases. The introduction of a mandatory punishment for specific offences is a legislative matter for the Oireachtas.

In September, Judge F Neilan at Mullingar District Court came under severe criticism from the chairman of the Road Safety Authority, Gay Byrne when he handed down a 2,000 fine to two men who had been racing each other at speeds of 190km/h. Byrne told the Sunday Tribune that the men's licences should have been taken from them.