Organisation: Welsh Assembly Government/Road Safety Wales
Date uploaded: 8th December 2015
Date published/launched: November 2015
‘Motoring offenders in Wales, 2014’ reveals that 54,449 cases were dealt with in 2014, up from 50,500 in 2013, with men accounting for 68% of all cases.
Despite a rise from 15,145 in 2013 to 16,962 in 2014, speeding offences are no longer the most common motoring offence in Welsh magistrates’ courts; at 17,496 cases, vehicle insurance offences top the list.
There was also a small rise in cases relating to driving after consuming alcohol or taking drugs – from 3,102 in 2013 to 3,128 – the first rise since 2008, when these figures were first recorded in the report.
39 people were prosecuted by magistrates for causing death or bodily harm in 2014 – up from 22 in 2013.
Three of the four police areas in Wales saw an increase in court cases in the same time period: North Wales from 7,154 to 8,039, Dyfed Powys from 7,264 to 7,438 and South Wales from 29,395 to 32,520, while Gwent saw a drop from 6,737 to 6,452.
However, the number of fixed penalty notices issued in Wales dropped by 17%, to 77,000.
There was a drop in all five of the fixed penalty categories recorded in the report: vehicle related; miscellaneous (mostly seatbelt offences); careless driving plus neglect; obstruction, waiting and parking offences; and speed limit offences.
The report also shows that of 88,800 breathalyser tests in 2013 (the latest available figures) 5,800 returned positive outcomes, the equivalent to 6%. In 2012, 8% (7,900) of 96,100 tests returned positive.
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