Cops catching fewer speeders as insurance offences tops motoring crime sheet in Northern Ireland

Forces across the country detected a total of 34,758 driving offences, down from 41,767, across a 12-month period. Their records showed speeding incidents detected have decreased by 15% to 4,840.

However, in the last 12 months, the NI Road Safety Partnership detected almost 16 times more speeding offences than the Police Service of Northern Ireland (79,105). That’s an increase of 13,131 incidents logged in 2022 (the most recent data available) by the same organisation.

The number of speed awareness courses being taken has also increased by 6%.

The latest PSNI figures, which cover motoring offence statistics from December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024, shed more light on a wide range of other misdemeanours including those driving without insurance.

This was the biggest area of offending with a total of 5,875 detections, albeit a 22% decrease on the number recorded year-on-year.

Andy Morton, general manager of Sterling Insurance, said: “The figures make for fascinating reading but, sadly, it’s not a surprise to see so many drivers taking to the roads without insurance.

“This can have a negative impact on the cost of other drivers’ cover and it’s not helping motorists in a country that have long been hit hardest when it comes to the price of premiums. Driving with no insurance is a crime and if a motorist is involved in a collision without cover, it makes a bad situation worse for all involved.

“The good news is that prices have started to decrease a little thanks to a change in the Ogden rate, as we explained publicly recently.

“The drop in the number of insurance-based detections does provide some source of comfort and as prices continue to decrease, we expect the amount of people to fall foul of the law to drop once more.”

=It is thought widely-reported funding cuts and low officer numbers could be the main reason behind the drop in the amount of drivers being punished rather than improved behaviour on the roads. One motorist was clocked by officers doing 149mph (240kph), on the M2 Foreshore, Belfast.

The full report covers gender-based statistics as well as a breakdown of offences by region and has been analysed at length by Sterling, an insurance broker which provides cover for motorists in Northern Ireland and elsewhere in Great Britain.